Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Revolution Prophecy ❯ Starting All Over Again ( Chapter 20 )

Starting All Over Again

 

"So… tell me about yourself."

A few days had passed while Rianna waited for Usagi and company to acclimate themselves to their new surroundings. Usagi had spent most of that time with Rianna and Hiro, learning the history of Altaris from their new host. Jamin and Alyssa spent their time getting used to the heightened gravitational pull of the planet with Marina, Stephen and Erynn. This left Andarri alone with Krista, whom had finally accepted Andarri's persistent company after many attempts at dissuasion. Unnerved by his silence, she broke the quiet between them herself.

"What do you want to know?", he replied.

Krista shrugged. "I'm tiring myself trying to walk, I feel like I'm fifty pounds heavier, and you're staring at me, not saying a word. I don't understand why. After all, if you were going to stare at anything, you should really aim for the front end. That's what people notice about me, anyways."

Andarri laughed, shocking Krista with the tone in which he did so. "You believe that I am evaluating your suitability to be my mate?", he asked lightly.

"Suitability to be my mate? What the hell is that?", Krista asked in frustration, sitting down on the ground with an audible huff. In a mocking tone, she finished with, "Do you always talk with such proper language and etiquette? You are such a well-mannered young man. Mother and Father must be so proud of you, Billy."

"I have told you my name already. It is Andarri, although my friends call me Andy. As for the way I talk, it is simply the way I was taught to converse. And I do not have any parents… other than those who created me, that is."

Krista looked up at him. "Created? What does that mean?"

Andy sat down across from her and crossed his legs together comfortably. "I was created, many millennia ago."

Krista sat silently for a moment. "You mean to tell me that you are thousands of years old?"

Andy nodded. "Yes. I was created from the energy of one thousand Sailor Soldiers who died fighting Chaos during the Sailor Wars. It was hoped that the combined energy of many Senshi would give me enough power to defeat it. Unfortunately, Sailor Galaxia did not heed the wishes of the Council and went to confront the essence of Chaos. Seemingly victorious, she returned after her victory and it was assumed that I was no longer needed, so I was put to sleep."

Krista watched him with rapt attention. "Are you… human?", she asked.

Andy smiled and nodded. "As human as you are, Sailor Venus. Just created."

Krista thought quietly for a few minutes while Andy watched her. Breaking the silence once again, she asked, "If you control the power of one thousand Senshi, how is it that you can't just eliminate the Dark Lady on your own?"

Andy sighed. "It is complicated… I was created by those who needed a warrior with my power, but these same individuals were frightened that after I defeated Chaos, I might realize that my own power could be used to rule. The spiritual binds that give me life also bind my power considerably. I am able to break the binds, but in doing so, I would die. There is also no way to be sure that the extent of my power is enough to stop Chaos completely. If I were to die and release the power inside me with Chaos still in existence, the results could be devastating if Chaos were to steal that power.

Andy sighed once more. "I am like you, Sailor Venus. I do not want to die. Although my existence is different, I still have my own soul… my own spirit."

"So how long have you been `awake'?", she asked.

Andy barely thought about the answer before replying with, "I was reawakened many, many years ago when the Golden Queen was rampaging throughout the universe… but I was not really asleep. I was conscious for more millennia than I can remember, comforted only by my own thoughts."

"Alone…", Krista said in genuine amazement.

"Very much so, Sailor Venus.", he replied simply.

"Any normal person would've gone insane…", she said.

Andy smiled. "Have we not established that I am not normal?"

For the first time in many years, a genuine smile graced the face of Sailor Venus. "Yeah, well…", she said. "By the way… you did ask me for my name. You can use it if you want. I'm not Sailor Venus all the time."

"Then I shall, Sa… Krista. Thank you.", he replied. "Now that you have tasted a small portion of my history, I will admit that I am more than intrigued to know a portion of yours. I have watched your interactions with your Senshi team. You seem to be the outsider. Why is this?"

Krista's frown found its way back to her face. "I am not a part of their team. When they fled, I stayed to fight. While I sacrificed my childhood to become a defender of my planet, Usagi escaped to the past, and the rest of them took shelter and hid. I had no choice. And Usagi… he looks at her like she is the universe and everything in it. I felt for him, loved him… but he locked himself away in his little house and prayed for Usagi's safe return while I risked my life day after day. Was there ever any prayer for me?"

Andy watched in silence as she continued, a fire burning deep in her eyes. "He knew what I was doing, even if the other two didn't. He knew because I told him. I asked him to come with me, but he couldn't tear himself away from those ruins. The other two shirked their responsibilities and ran off together, and he lived in those ruins. Oh, but now that SHE'S back, they all decide that they can finally bring themselves to fight. Oh, how we MUST protect the Princess. Hell, the royal family was destroyed four years ago! She's not even the Princess anymore."

Krista looked down him, noticing his attention focused on her. "How can you listen to this?", she asked.

"I did ask you why you seemed to be the outsider of your group. Is it not respectful to listen to your answer?", he asked.

"Polite to the bitter end, aren't you?", she asked, smiling.

Andy smiled back at her. "There is an old euphemism among the people of your planet. How does it go? `Kill you with kindness', is it?", he returned.

Krista laughed, a warmth she hadn't felt for a long time beginning to settle over her.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I am Rianna, princess of this planet and Sailor Altima, leader of the sworn defenders of my people.", she said. "We are here for one reason and one reason only: the liberation of the planet Earth. Unfortunately, all other considerations come second as of this point in time."

"I am Usagi, princess of the planet Earth and Sailor Moon, leader of the Sailor Senshi that defend the Milky Way galaxy. Starting right now, our teams will form an alliance that is essential to the freedom of Earth. Rianna and I have agreed to share leadership of our combined teams, and I ask of my Senshi to cooperate fully. For the sake of our people."

Rianna stepped forward again. "The Star Senshi are at your disposal, Sailor Moon. Our best interests are intertwined with yours.", she said, nodding shortly towards Usagi. "Training begins tomorrow, and we will be split into individual teams. Five Star Senshi and five Sailor Senshi equals five teams. One Star Senshi and Sailor Senshi on each team. Obviously, Sailor Moon and I will be the first team, and as for the remaining teams, I will now hand Usagi my list of recommendations.", she said, finishing by handing Usagi a short slip of paper.

Usagi accepted it and read for a moment. "The teams are listed as follows. Sailor Starlight will be paired with Sailor Mercury. Sailor Solaris paired with Sailor Jupiter. Sailor Lunaris paired with Sailor Mars. Finally, Sailor Polaris paired with Sailor Venus. Before we set these teams, I will make a change. Sailor Jupiter should be paired with Sailor Mars."

Hiro and Jamin leapt to their feet quickly, protesting loudly. Rianna regarded them for a moment before speaking up. "I agree with Sailor Moon. It shall be changed that way. Be thankful, Solaris and Lunaris. You'll end up being paired together anyways.", she said. "Let's move on, shall we? You will learn everything that there is to know about your partner. There will be frequent skirmishes and partnerships among our teams in order to hone our skills. Finally, we will not attempt our liberation of the Earth until we have traveled across this planet on foot. We will cross three expanses of water along the way, but other than that, we will walk under our own power."

Usagi continued at this point, having discussed with Rianna earlier as to how the meeting should go. "By the time we make it back to this camp, we will either be a closely-knit team, or we will be dead. Which of these is a choice that we are free to make. Rest well tonight, for our lives will change unlike anything we have ever experienced before."

Rianna nodded. "Very good. Star Senshi, come forward!", she commanded.

Nods from the four preceded their coming forward. Stepping in front, Marina bowed her head slightly before Usagi. "I am Marina, princess of Altaris and the Sailor Warrior Starlight. I pledge my loyalty to you, friend in life and death.", she said before moving off to the side.

Sailor Polaris came forth and got down on one knee. "I am Andarri, vessel of one thousand souls and the Sailor Warrior Polaris. I pledge my loyalty to you, friend in life and death."

Solaris and Lunaris came afterward, bowing respectfully together. "I am Stephen, sole survivor of a civilization long since destroyed and the Sailor Warrior Solaris.", he said. Lunaris came in shortly, saying "I am Erynn, sole survivor of a civilization long since destroyed and the Sailor Warrior Lunaris.". Together, they finished with "We pledge our loyalty to you, friends in life and death.

Rianna then turned to Sailor Moon and got down on her knee. "I am Rianna, leader of the Star Senshi and the Sailor Warrior Altima. I pledge my loyalty to you, friend in life and death."

Usagi smiled, blushing a bit. "Ummm… thank you. Thank you, everyone.", she said, nervously running a hand over her hair.

Krista watched her for a moment before turning and walking away. Rianna looked up from her position on knee and sighed for a moment before turning to Andarri. He merely nodded and went off in Krista's direction.

"We are not a fluid team yet, Sailor Moon.", Rianna said apologetically. "I am unsure as to whether your Sailor Venus will ever come to share our views. But if the legends are true, we are the last hope for the entire universe to remain free of the iron grasp of Chaos."

Usagi nodded slowly. "The battle for the freedom of all begins here, on this very ground we stand upon."

~~~~~~~~~~

"I do not understand why you are unwilling to cooperate. Our goals are the same, and our paths lie together. We are more powerful united, but only as strong as our weakest link."

"So that's how you see me, right? As the weakest link?", an irate Krista responded. "She stands up there, ready to assume command of a team and she knows NOTHING of this situation. She would call herself my Queen? HAH! I'll die before I bow before that brat. She's just the same as she was before she fled. An arrogant, spoiled little child."

"And if she is?", Andy responded. "If she is so unfit for her position, it only means that we must assist her all the more. You cannot allow your personal feelings to stand in the way of what is best for your world. Do you not long for the day when you can relax, not having to be responsible for the lives of countless millions every second?"

Krista breathed in deeply, expelling it in a drawn-out sigh filled with irritation. "What would you have me do?", she responded. "Of course that's what I want."

"Then fight alongside me.", Andy said simply. "I am your friend, and you will need friends for the trials that lie ahead. Let your personal demons rest until the day that we bring the dawn of peace back to your homeworld. You cannot fight alone this time, Sailor Venus. The mere gravitational differences of this world will hinder you in battle. If you cannot stand on your own two feet, the Dark Lady would surely destroy you."

Krista looked up at him. "You can go back to your mistress now, and tell her that little Sailor Venus will mind her manners and remember who is boss around here."

Andy frowned at her. "If you think I came to `fetch' you, you are sorely mistaken. Have you truly accepted loneliness and solitude as your only friends?"

"If you're not here under orders, then why are you here?", she replied without answering his question.

"Because I know you. I understand you. You are very much now as I was after the first few years of my consciousness. Bitter… spoiled by the hatred of your existence. Most of all, your soul has been touched by the stinging cold of isolation and has grown a shell to keep anything else from wounding it ever again.", he said quietly.

"And if I am bitter? So what if I hate the fact that I'm alive? I deserve to. Look at them over there! Paired off. It makes me sick just looking at them. My mother condemned me to this life. Her curse haunts me, and I'll never have love. Her powers invaded me, and I'll never have anything even slightly normal. Look at me! I'm physically tired after a day of not being even ten percent as active as I was at home. This GRAVITY fights me, even. I have to fight for everything I have…"

"There are things that you have that you did not have to fight for, blessings that you do not even recognize because you did not have to struggle for them. Your friends stand, willing to accept you after all that you have said to them. No questions asked. Princess Rianna would accept you as her ally when you have told her more than once that you would end her life and not think twice about it. And I… I would be your friend. I have no expectations of you."

Krista fell silent for a few moments, the tension between them thick enough to slice through. Sensing her indecision, he stepped forward and held his hand out to her. "Come with me, Sailor Venus. I will show you the world. We shall be travelling across it anyhow.", he said, smiling lightly.

Despite herself, Krista cracked the most diminutive of smiles and nodded, placing her hand in his in with an unsure motion. He grasped it lightly and pulled her to a standing position. He placed his other hand above hers, saying, "This is a bond. A flower of trust which will blossom into a connection that will stand against all that would break it. However much trust you place in me, I will give back to you in kind."

Krista nodded, saying, "Lead the way. This is your world."

And with that, they walked off into the distance in silence, her hand still holding on to his.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next day came, and ten individuals who comprised the universe's greatest hope woke up with the groggy demeanor of a child woken after only a few hours' sleep. After eating breakfast as a single unit, Rianna stood up and yawned openly, eliciting a small laugh from a few of her companions.

"Look behind me and view the dawn. It is the new beginning for all of us, and it will be recognized immediately. Remember the partners chosen for you yesterday and stand with them. Then we will break camp and begin our journey. Our first stop will be the village of Rheynsalia, and it is four days trek from here."

Everyone nodded and paired up, some reluctantly.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hiro and Jamin worked together silently to pack together the supplies provided for them. Hiro paused to look over the list detailing all of their gear for a moment before Jamin looked up.

"Can we hurry and get this done and over with? Having to be paired with you is only made worse by having to do all the work. But it's always been that way, hasn't it?", he asked, his voice laden with scorn.

"Just seeing what we have so that it can be sorted evenly, you idiot. Or is that what you want? To pack all the light objects in your knapsack so that your journey is easier?", Hiro retorted.

Jamin dropped his knapsack on the ground and quickly rose to his feet, looking down at Hiro. "If you think that our forced partnership means that I won't beat you down, you're wrong. You're unfit to be my partner, unfit to be Usagi's guardian, and as to your little CRUSH on the Princess? Dream on, you little punk."

The hair on the back of Hiro's neck stiffened as he fought to contain his anger. "Yeah, that got to ya, didn't it? Little Hiro loves someone that he'll never have. Usagi would know better than to lower herself to something like you.", Jamin continued, smirking.

Hiro tackled Jamin out of the blue, knocking Jamin's legs out from underneath him with a quick swipe of his staff and then holding the end less than an inch from Jamin's windpipe. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't crush your windpipe, because I'm tired of your mouth."

Jamin laughed, only fueling Hiro's rage even more. Hiro raised the staff quickly before bringing it down, but it wasn't fast enough. Jamin grabbed the staff and used the momentum against Hiro to toss him a few feet. Jamin leapt to his feet in a defensive stance as Hiro fought off his disorientation. "You don't want to play this game with me, boy.", Jamin said. "I've been fighting a lot longer than you."

Hiro struggled to get to his feet, grunting at the extra exertion needed to even get up off of the ground. Once to his feet, he merely walked back over to the provisions and began sorting them once more.

Jamin stood in his position for a few moments before sagging a little bit. He went back to his own packing and after a close call, the two returned to their silent partnership and went on about their way, trekking across the unfamiliar ground, underneath the unfamiliar sky.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marina laughed good-naturedly as Alyssa had to stop every 30 minutes or so to regain her breath. Alyssa looked toward Marina, who was resting comfortably on a rock a few feet away.

"This is so unreal, Marina.", Alyssa said, looking to the horizon and seeing the twin stars shining brightly in the sky.

"Just Rina will be fine since we'll be paired up for a while. Might as well be comfortable with each other's names, right? And what's unreal?"

Alyssa smiled. "Just this new world. After living in the darkness on that planet so long, it was just recently that the sun began to shine again, and now I'm here. A world that has two stars shining down on it, but it isn't quite so bright as I remember from the Earth in my childhood. And this gravity! I mean, honestly. I think I might die."

Rina laughed again. "In time, you'll learn to get used to it as natural, just like you did with the gravity on your world. And when you return to your world, you will realize why we are doing this. With the pull on you lighter than it will be for the time that you are here, you will be faster, stronger… You'll truly be able to overwhelm the challenges that will come before you. Just like we were able to."

"In fact, I almost didn't want to leave.", Rina admitted. "I was strong and fast there, not like here. In fact, the pull of our planet is affecting me, too. After having been in your world as long as I was."

Alyssa nodded lightly, looking about. "So, are you sure that we should have split up the way we did?", she asked, noticing two figures traveling in the distance.

Rina looked off in that direction. "That's Stephen and his girl.", she said lightly. "And yes. The palace would contact us the moment any unrecognized travelcraft entered our system. Our world is peaceful, Sailor Mercury. Until we left for your planet, I had only had to transform into my warrior two times, only to deal with minor threats. It was quite a bit different when we reached your world. I was rarely in my normal form."

Alyssa nodded. "Tell me about them.", she said, gesturing towards the two figures as they increasingly moved farther into the distance.

"Stephen and Erynn? I don't know them as well as I probably should. They are from another world, just like you. The world was part of our allied system of planets. Only… their world was destroyed. Their leaders put them to sleep against their will and sent them here, to us. So that they wouldn't be destroyed like their people."

"They are cold… pretty much only showing emotion in front of each other. There is love there between them, and I think that living for each other is the only thing that motivates them to live. But, they are powerful. Their world had one Senshi protector for the longest time, but when the power was passed, it split somehow and passed into both of them. They are strong when apart, but together… I don't know anything that could possibly resist the power of their Eclipse Wave."

Alyssa remained quiet, listening, but her mind was on something else. Unfortunately for her, she didn't seem to be very subtle about it.

"Why don't we get on our way again and you can tell me what's on your mind?", Rina said lightly, giving the girl a quick nudge.

They stood up and began walking again, ever towards the east.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: Let's continue with introductions.

Erynn

Senshi: Sailor Lunaris

Abilities:

Lunar Rings - Sailor Lunaris unleashes waves of dark rings to overwhelm her foes. Rings of dark energy emit from Sailor Lunaris' wrist bracelets.

Eclipse Wave - Working together as a team, Sailor Lunaris uses her Lunar Rings in tandem with Sailor Solaris' Solar Beam to create a powerful blast.

Age: Unknown

Background: Sailor Lunaris is the only survivor from her world, destroyed by the power of the Golden Queen Galaxia. Technologically advanced, she fled from her people in a spacecraft to a neighboring star system before she could go no farther, unwilling to lose her soul to Chaos. She landed on a planet there, welcomed by Sailor Solaris, the Senshi native to that planet.

Together with Solaris, she gathered the courage to fight against Sailor Galaxia, but it was to no avail. The Golden Queen marched onward on her quest and laid Solaris' planet to waste. Erynn fled once again, this time with Stephen in tow, past the Milky Way galaxy and ending up on Altaris Prime.

Vowing to hone their skills with their new allies, the Star Senshi, Erynn and Stephen found peace at last when news of Sailor Moon's victory over the Golden Queen reached Altaris. With the arrival of the new Sailor Senshi to Altaris, she and Stephen have vowed their lives to help Usagi and her Senshi defeat the Enemy once again and reclaim their planet, unwilling that anyone else should suffer the loss of their homes.

Stephen

Senshi: Sailor Solaris

Abilities:

Solar Beam - Similar to Crescent Beam, Sailor Solaris fires a beam of intense light from his hands, blinding his adversary as well dealing damage.

Eclipse Wave - Working together as a team, Sailor Solaris uses his Solar Beam in tandem with Sailor Lunaris' Lunar Rings to create a powerful blast.

Age: Unknown

Background: Sailor Solaris is the only survivor from his world, destroyed by the power of the Golden Queen Galaxia. Technologically advanced, he fled from his people in a spacecraft to a neighboring star system before he could go no farther, unwilling to lose his soul to Chaos. He landed on a planet there, welcomed by Sailor Solaris, the Senshi native to that planet.

Vowing to hone their skills with their new allies, the Star Senshi, Erynn and Stephen found peace at last when news of Sailor Moon's victory over the Golden Queen reached Altaris. With the arrival of the new Sailor Senshi to Altaris, he and Erynn have vowed their lives to help Usagi and her Senshi defeat the Enemy once again and reclaim their planet, unwilling that anyone else should suffer the loss of their homes.