Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Symbol of A Soldier ❯ ...will call upon your soul.. ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
She wandered lost in the darkness for what seemed like hours, it was cold, a vast lot of nothingness that stretched on endlessly. It frightened her, how she couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything but the chill. The vanishing images of her mother, her family her friends, they all did nothing to ease her. Her feet stepped back as the images stopped all together. When the floor sank into a hole beneath her, Pheobe screamed.

"Setsuna?" Pheobe called desperatly for the guardian of time, pleading for her comfort.

"It's me, Makoto."

Pheobe opened her eyes, looking at the thunder soldier. "Makoto. Did you find them?"

"We managed to get one of the monsters, everyone is still looking for the last two. You looked frightened."

Pheobe nodded. "It was a bad dream."

Makoto nodded. "Setsuna told me about the story."

"She did?"

Makoto nodded. "Actually she told me the rest in case you woke up. Helicaon just convinced Clio to prepare for war right?"

Pheobe nodded.


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It took the consent of all the ruling planets to go to war without the consent of the Moon Queen. It wasn't something Clio wanted to do, but she couldn't deny the darkness she had felt seemed to be growing closer. She looked outside as they neared Mars. The planet was one of the first to visit, it's surface centuring much on warfare.

"We'll be landing soon my Lady."

Clio nodded to Parthenie, watching as the ship began to descend on the red planet. She hated this, the very thought of a war frusterated her to no end. But Helicaon was right, and everyone was in grave danger. There was one thing she knew, Phebe had to be found before it was too late.

The landed not far from the castle, where Clio stepped out with Parthenie. She refused to take any bodyguards, despite the dangers that surrounded her. Not many people had readaly approved of the young astral, expecially with her new status. There was always a danger to travel off world, no protection was out of the question. But Clio had insisted her plans be kept silent for fear of panic, as such the visit to Mars was made to appear as a social call.
Despite the efforts taken the passer-bys could not help but to stare as they made their way to the palace. Ocassionally Clio recieved a few angry glances but more often she got a brief stare before their heads immediatly turned away, pretending not to notice. For the most part Clio ignored them, it was obvious she stood out, but there appeared to be less resistence then she had prepared herself for.
It was only until she reached the main doors of the palace when she actually ran into some difficulty. Two guards stood before her, blocking passage. Clio recognized them as the elite soldier, women in the highest position of the guard. They wore the traditional sailor suit and color of their ruler, but lacked the power of the Sailor Soldier they served. Their uniforms void of the bows and tiara, gloves that were not white, but the color of their skirt. Two stood in her path, weapons ready to cut her down should she try to break through.

"I need to see the queen"

It was the first woman who replied, her sapphire hair pulled back by a large barette. "The queen is busy, move along."

It was Parthenie who spoke up. "This is the Queen of Clios!."

"Everyone is treated the same, you'll just have to wait"

"There isn't any time!"

"Parthenie." Clio placed a hand on the attendent's shoulder in atempt to calm her.

The guard looked at the girl with a scowl before replying. "We'll let her know you came around."

Clio nodded. "It may be too late, would you let her know immediatly?"

The other woman narrowed her eyes. "We don't take orders from you Astral."


"Is there a problem?"

The guards straightened immediatly, standing at attention. Clio and Parthenie turned around in curiosity. It took only a brief moment for Clio to recognize the woman. Her hair was a long raven black that reached to her knees, the fine bone structure of her face made her look regal, a rare beauty of violet eyes. Her dress was a rich blood red color, designed in perfect elegance to fit her stature. This was the Queen of Mars.

Clio shook her head lightly. "These women were just about to inform you of my arrival."

Mars nodded, dismissing her attendants before turning to Clio. "Walk with me." She nodded to Parthenie. "Your attendant may remain in the palace."






"Not many people travel the planets lately unless it's important. Why are you here?"

"Something's coming." Clio stopped. "In fact it's already reached this system."

Mars glanced at the young queen. "Did your Astral abilities pick that up? Or do you have more proof?"

"The Moon picked it up as well, I'm surprised your planets hasn't yet sensed it."

Mars began walking, forcing Clio to follow. "I haven't seen anything of great danger. It's likely there is no threat and if there had been, The Queen would be here, not you."

Clio scowled. "Phebe is missing, I'm asking for your help."

Mars paused. "Phebe is missing?"

"Yes, I need full planetary support to bypass the Queen's permission to fight."

Mars nodded, continueing to walk. "Go home Clio, We'll take care of it."

"Have you been listening to what I've been saying?"

"Yes, and I'll contact the other Planets, we'll find Phebe then determine whether or not what you felt is to be considered a threat. This is our problem, not yours."

"I don't believe this. Your just going to ignore this?"

"Our first priority is to locate Phebe."

"But you don't want my help. I'm a Sailor Soldier, this is my responsibility too. Or is it because I'm an Astral?"

Mars shook her head, stopping beside a field to bend over and pull a plant by it's roots, showing the item to Clio. "Do you know what this is Clio? We call it Ankara Root. We grow it all over this planet, it's very useful, and do you know why that is?"

When Clio didn't reply, Mars continued. "When stripped down it can be made into a very strong fabric, more durable then most metels, but incredibly pliable. So we use it to make uniforms for our Elite Soldiers. But not us, our Sailor uniforms came from the cauldron Clio, fate chose us to be Sailor Soldiers, the guardians of our planets. You however, were hand picked by our very own Phebe, your uniform was made from this root." She tossed the plant aside. "You are not a true Sailor Soldier. As far as I'm concerned your just a Soldier playing princess, and that is why I do not want your help. Because I don't need it. We need your help as much as we need another war."

Clio narrowed her eyes, angry at the fire soldier's comment. "Another war? You have yet to awknowledge the previous. For nearly a decade my people were shunned, suppressed, Murdered! And you all chose to do nothing. You took no action until it was too late. My mother was murdered. I have 1 sister when I should have eight! Half my people are illiterate! You all sat on your thrones and watched, and when Vladimer took over, you ran instead of fighting! I walk down your streets and people stare because I'm not like them! I am denied access to your palace simply because of who and what I am! Don't talk to me about War Mars! I've seen more war then I care to admit. You think I want this? Believe me I'd love to ignore it, just like you do! But I will not see more deaths, Lunarian or Astral, it doesn't matter. I will NOT see another holocaust!"

She paused, looking up at Mars. The Queen was in shock, unable to believe Clio's sudden outburst of anger. Clio nodded, turning away from the woman. "If you will not help me, I'll find someone else, and if still nothing happens, I'll do it myself."

Without a word she walked away, ignoring the stares of those who had witnessed the incident.






"Clio?"

Parthenie glanced back worridly at her queen, who had been quite for over an hour after leaving mars. "Clio what happened?"

"Nothing happened Parthenie, thats the problem. Mars only saw me as a common soldier."

"Are you sure she meant that?"

Clio scowled, gazing out the window. "She told me herself. Phebe is the only one who manages to hold these people together. Without her they seem to just break apart."

"Couldn't you talk to Venus?"

Clio looked back to the young girl. "Venus?"

Parthenie nodded. "She's supposed to be a leader isn't she?"

Clio brightened. "Parthenie your a genius. We'll go straight to the top."




Venus was beautiful, that fact was undisputed. The planet was often itself a thriving vacation spot, rich in architecture and theatre. Clio frowned as she looked out the window, Venus was also the planet where her mother and sister had been killed. Seven years had done nothing to ease the pain, the past still came back to her stronger then ever, remembering the day she and her sisters had gone into hiding. Clio had returned to pluto many times since it all ended, each time she searched for weeks, as long as she could manage to get away from Clios, desperate to find Thalia. Every time she returned with nothing, her youngest sister still missing while Clio still refused to give up hope.

It was slightly better on Venus then their past experience with Mars. However it was difficult to determine whether the reason was because of the planet, the people, or timing. Still the surface remained to be a celebration of dance and joy, where even Clio could not help but smile.

The palace itself was unequalled in beauty, roses climbed the walls near the entrance and the entire building was built from a white marble. Each tower was tipped with an orange cone while the main entrance remained without a door, allowing access to anyone who cared to visit. Venus herself was dressed in an elegant yellow gown a pale yellow fabric cut unevenly laid atop the main fold of her skirt. Her long blonde hair was held back by a large red bow, designed to resemble the image of a rose. She nodded to Clio before leading her and Parthenie into a more private area where Clio guessed was used for conferance and discussions.

Venus nodded, indicating the two to sit before she took her own place on the other side of the table. "Mars told me about Phebe."

"Did she also tell you about her ideas on war too?"

Venus looked at Clio, replying calmly. "She informed me about your outburst Clio. You have to understand many of the planets don't recognize Clios as part of the system. Many of the Sailor Soldiers consider you as Phebe's attempt to replace Charon."

"Is that they're only excuse for ignoring this threat? Or is there a better reason?"

Venus sighed. "I know why you came here. You couldn't get Mars so you came to me right? Do you relize how many threats we've faced that come from outside the solar system? Those strong enough to be detected have often been elimitated before causing any problems. This evil you detected is probably being destroyed as we speak, our priority is to find Phebe."

Clio sighed. "Look maybe you haven't detected it, but I know what I felt. It's not destroyed because I can still feel it, and I'm certain the moon is still detecting it."

Venus nodded. "I'm aware of Astral abilities, I'm also aware they can be difficult for some to control proporly. As for the moon it's detection system was just rebuilt a year ago, the device may still need adjustments. I am well aware of your warnings Clio but so far no other planets have detected this threat. I can't put out a call to arms on the suggestion of a newly built detecting system and the words of one Astral."

"Phebe would have done something instead of just dismissing me."

"I have no doubts about that, but Phebe isn't here and I need to consider other possibilities."

It was Parthenie who stood up to look out the window, it was that moment when both Venus and Clio began to notice how dark the sky had become. The two stood up to stare, peering closely at the black cloud the had descended upon the planet. As the cloud neared closer to the surface of the planet, individual forms became seen by everyone. Transparent creatures of black smoke, black angels, beasts with daggered teeth and claws which made the people scream.

"Would you like to consider another posibility Venus?"





On Clios the Astrals gathered withen the shrine around twelve elders, joining hands in chant. The auras began to glow in unison before joining into a white light which extended as a beam into the atmosphere before encompassing the planet in a shield while a black cloud began it's approach.

==================End of Part 2=================

"Pheobe?"

Makoto froze, her eyes staring straight at Pheobe who had gone eerily still. Her gaze moved to the monitor which slowed just before the flatline.

"Ami!"