Name: The Winds of Fate: Part 5 Author: Black Gryphon Rating:PG E-Mail: blackgryphon21@hotmail.com ---------------------------------- The Winds of Fate: Part 5 by Black Gryphon Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, they are the property of the people at DIC and all other companies involved in the production and distribution of Sailor Moon. Because of the abrupt ending to production of the North American version of Sailor Moon I decided to take matters into my own hands and write a season of my own. This season is frozen in time between the final battle with the Doom Phantom and The opening of Season 4. For the most part, all the previous points apply. Comments are welcome, look at the end for my address. On a separate note, while I am very flattered by some of the fan mail, please note that I am a straight male, thank you. Plus, for any guys reading this; you may want to skip the parts with Lita, Amy, Serena and Luna near the beginning, this is an important chapter, but those parts are probably considered sickly sweet. Enjoy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode 5: Allegiances and Bared Souls Serena sat on her bed, quietly staring at the full moon through her window. Behind her, Luna padded back and forth on the small table. "What's bothering you anyway, Luna?" Luna stopped and looked at her charge, "Nothing important." Luna started to pace again and Serena continued to look at the moon, perhaps a minute passed before the blonde sighed and continued, "Tell me about him." Luna stopped again and looked at the young girl. "What do you mean?" Serena turned on the bed and looked at the cat, "Alex, tell me about him," She said plainly, a little sympathy in her voice, "Not the things that happened to him, Him." Luna's eyes softened slightly, "How could you tell?" Serena smiled slightly, "I've known you for two and a half years, Luna. Besides, I may be sixteen, but I know how to read people. Anyway, you've been beating yourself up since he came here. If any of those shows are true, then you need to talk about it." "Get comfortable Serena, this will take a while." She waited until she was ready and continued, her eyes closed and her voice was filled with remembered happiness, just barely edged with pain. "He was a good boy, strong-willed, but knew his limits. He took to everything that was given him, he was born to take up his heritage. It was him who taught me about honor." Luna laughed lightly, "A nine year old teaching the guardian of a princess about honor, you'd think it would work the other way, but there you go. Soon after I met him we became close. Closer than friends." Serena had her chin resting on her hands, she gently asked, "Did you love him?" Luna looked at the girl surprised, but it was replaced by a smile, "Yes, I loved him as though he was my own son, I still do. With his parents in the mine and him in the artisans chamber most of the time, he didn't see much of his real parents. I would have given anything to have been his mother, if he survived the things he's been through I think I still would." "What do you mean IF he survived?" "I don't know he's still the boy I left behind. I know he will never forgive me for what I did, but he put it behind him. To do that takes either a very strong personality to do that... or a dead one." "Then let's pray for the former." Luna nodded slightly, but did feel a bit better. ******************** Darien stood in the airport waiting for his flight. He couldn't believe he was going to leave the scouts at this kind of time. A new threat and an (apparently) unallied third party. Yet, he needed to do this, to complete college he needed to go on this trip. He would only be gone a month, but it only took a moment to lose a life. He was going as a very temporary exchange student in Canada. Amy had given him a list of things to look up about their new friend, as he was going to his homeland. The plane had landed and he started down the terminal. Soon he was in the plane and in his seat. He had heard of the botched raid on Alex's home, he now had a reason to hurt his beloved; though he probably would have done so while she was unconscious in the apartment, still... Glancing out the window he noticed that the plane was starting to move and was soon in the air, he watched the city shrink beneath him, *Just be okay until I return.* he thought to Serena. ******************** Raye lay on the steps to her temple, looking up at the morning sky. Serena and Luna had been up most of the previous night talking. She had been here for nearly an hour, there was nothing to do. All the chores were done, she didn't have any prayers that needed saying, there was no one at the temple and thus no one to talk to. She was about to go inside when she heard Mina call to her, "Hey, Raye! Whatcha doing?" She looked to see her friend standing at the base of the steps, smiling at her. "Just cloud watching." "Can I join you?" Raye shrugged jokingly, "It's a big sky." Mina sank down beside her friend, their heads at the same level. "You're feeling low too aren't you?" Raye smiled sadly, "Am I that transparent? What's got you low anyway?" "Love, and yes you are." Raye turned her head towards her friend with a raised eyebrow, Mina continued, "The lack of love, do you ever think we're being too picky?" "How so?" Raye was honestly curious with where this was going. "Look around us, everyone's in love, often in strange places. Serena and Darien HATED each other when they first met, but now they're all but engaged; Amy and Lita are just plain beautiful in how much they're in love, even with a gender gap; Melvin and Molly, they were at completely different sides of the globe not too long ago, and you saw how Melvin saved Molly not too long ago. Maybe our destined love was once, or is, right under our noses, but we're too much of perfectionists to see who it is." Raye thought about it, "Maybe you're right, I don't know. Maybe one of us is destined to be with that Mystic, or maybe we're meant to be alone, or maybe..." They turned to look at each other for a moment, after a few seconds both started laughing uncontrollably. Mina was the first to recover, "Thanks, I needed that." "Me too." Raye said wiping a tear of laughter from her eye. "What's on your mind today?" Mina asked. "I just wonder if its all worth it. The constant fighting, the pain, the loss of our happiness to the case. I mean... what have we done? We've saved the planet three times, but for what? We're back at square one now anyway." "What would you rather we do?" Raye sighed sadly. "Have you ever wanted to look away for once, just to go to sleep one day and wake up without any monsters in the world, good or bad?" Mina thought for a minute before answering, "I think we all have, but if you want to turn away, even once, think about Luna. She still bears the scars from when she did, if they ever healed at all." "I know, I just wish this was a better world all round." "Isn't that why we put on the uniforms?" Raye stared up at the sky for a minute, "I guess you're right, thanks Mina." "Anytime, Raye." ********************** Amy lay on the couch in Lita's apartment, she had recently come to all but live here. Her mother was actually happy that she in this relationship, Lita was working on something in the kitchen. A few more minutes passed and Lita emerged, Amy sat up to let her sit and then leaned back against the brunette. They sighed lightly as they leaned against each other. "Amy?" Lita asked gently. "Yes, Lita?" "Have you ever thought how much easier if would be if the Negaverse had never come?" She asked in a quiet voice. "All the time, why?" Amy asked, her curiosity perked. "Have you ever wished that they had never existed? That we could have lived our lives like normal people?" "Up until about two months ago, yes. Not anymore though." "Why not?" The brunette asked as she held her girlfriend close. "Because if I hadn't become a scout I would never have met my friends, never have had a mentor a good as Luna, never have had the chance to fight for good. These last two years have been the best of my life, no matter what problems have come up, we faced them together. We became close-knit friends, as precious and strong as silk. And the day I stopped wishing that we could be normal was the same day a flagpole landed on my head." She turned and wrapped her arms around Lita. "How about you?" "If we could stay like this then yes. Otherwise no, I'd never give this up." ******************** Artemis ran through Fairview Park until he saw what he was looking for. He ran up a tree and went out on a large limb. He laid down on it and looked below, "Hello." He called down. Beneath him Alex was tending flowers and he quickly looked up into the tree. He looked for a minute trying to place where he had seen the cat before. "You were with the girls that day in the park, right?" The white cat nodded. "Well, what would you like?" "Just curious as to why you saved Luna." "Are you complaining?" He asked the cat confused. Artemis laughed lightly, "She gets on my nerves sometimes, but no, I'd like to thank you." "Why do people keep saying that?" He was amazingly sincere. "It's... That is to say... You really don't understand, do you?" The cat asked with pity. "No. I don't understand a lot of what emotions are. I've read about them but they still stick to my tongue like a foreign language." Artemis' eyes softened while the boy spoke. "What did they do to you?" "I just don't know that which I haven't seen. The Negaverse isn't a great place for spiritual growth." He told the cat. "I think you know more than you know." The white cat thought for a minute. "How many people have you helped since you escaped?" Wyvern shrugged, "Maybe one or two hundred." "Why?" Artemis asked simply. "I didn't want them to face what I had happen to me." The cat smiled, "THAT'S compassion." He said with a lot of force behind it. The young man's legs seemed to go boneless for a minute until he had sunk to a sitting position, he slapped himself in the forehead and ran his hand down his face. "I can't believe it. It's so simple." He laughed in a self-mocking tone. "All these years, the books all make SENSE now." He looked up at the smiling cat, "Thank you, can you explain love?" The smile vanished, "No, I don't think anyone can. Its something that you should have grown up around, I can't help you there. Can I ask you something?" He nodded forcefully, still sitting, "Anything, its the least I can do." Artemis thought again on how he should word it, "Can you tell me who's side your on?" Alex stood up quickly and drew himself to his full height, he shook his head slightly, "I can only tell you that it will be made clear soon enough." He went back to the flowers and Artemis knew he wouldn't get any farther, yet. ****************** The following day a meeting of the scouts was being held at Lita's apartment. Luna had talked them into working on battle strategies for any later attacks. Amy, Lita and the cats were going over a chart that Amy had made on her computer, Raye and Mina were already stumped by the quick talking and were waiting for a translation, one of Lita's new roles as well, and Serena was working on her twenty third chocolate chip cookie in five minutes, though they had been there for half an hour. Amy was still arguing her point with Luna, "But if its going as our counterparts than we still have air, water and power to contend with. Well... maybe lightning instead of air, but the point is there." Seeing confused faces she expanded the idea, "I use water, Lita uses lightning, therefore air, Mina uses sheer power, Raye uses fire and Serena gets power from the Crystal which is a STONE." Luna sighed, "But how can this new threat even know who you are before it came. Brie'Og was at least seven years old when it was destroyed. It's got to be the elements. We only need to worry about two more." "If I may..." Lita said softly, but firmly. Soon the three were looking at her, "My parents used to tell me to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." The two cats and Amy nodded, "I'm not saying Amy's right, I'm not saying Luna's right. If we're really lucky then there were only two constructs and we don't need to worry about lifeless monsters anymore and only the old type now, but our luck isn't that good lately." She finished a little low. Raye was trying to hold even with the others when she cut in. "Am I right to ask if you're asking how many more of these earth or fire or whatever things there are left?" They nodded, "Then why don't we just ask Alex, he's on our side." Serena stopped munching to ask Raye, "How are you sure?" "Well, he saved us, didn't he?" "So did Tuxedo Mask when he was under Beryl's spell." Mina pointed out. "All right, all right, I won't put him under any headings for now." Raye said annoyed, "Let's get back on track, whoever is sending the constructs is obviously starting with the strongest and working down, the fire-thing did a lot less damage than the Earth one. Let's just assume that its the elements for now, I'm guessing that the next is air." "Hey!" Amy said from the other side of the table. "Nothing personal, but your powers are defensive." Amy nodded understanding and she continued. "Is there any way we can track them?" Amy thought about it and started punching keys on her computer, "I think I got a scan of the last two heart-stones, that's what I call the crystals that hold the monsters together, and I think I can use an energy signature to find them." She kept punching keys for a minute, "All right, that should do it, just have to keep an eye on it and we can find our next monster." She put the computer away. Artemis looked around him at the girls, "Is it just me or are you all happier today? Especially you, Luna." The black cat smiled, "Serena and I had a long talk the other night." Mina smiled, "Raye and I had one yesterday too. It got some weight off our shoulders." Lita came it too, "Amy and I too." "Come on, give, give." Serena pushed gently. Artemis sighed and walked away. "I have got to learn to keep my mouth shut." He said when he was out of earshot of the girls, "I really need to get Alex in this group, it'd be nice to have another guy to talk to." Back in the living room the girls were talking, Amy and Lita were a little nervous of sharing their conversation with the others, being on a private subject. As their turn drew near Amy heard a beeping from her pocket. She pulled it out and stopped the conversation. "Guys, we've got something here." She said pointing at her computer. "Already?" Luna asked amazed. "Where?" Some of the color left her face as she read the coordinates. "Fairview Park." She said weakly. "Oh boy," Lita said quietly, "This can't be good." **************** "Remember," Sailor Mercury said as the Sailor Scouts ran towards the park. "Try and get it into the lake and I'll freeze it, the air won't be able to escape the ice." "Okay, Mercury." Sailor Moon said, "It'll be okay, I'm sure we can handle whatever is there." "Besides," Mars added, "The Mystic will probably be there, he all but lives in the park now." "That's what I'm afraid of." Mercury said lightly, ahead the park was coming into view. As they approached they were met with an unexpected sight, near the lake was a large being made of ice, not air; it was about nine feet tall and looked like a knight from England. They quickly ducked behind some trees to assess the situation. "What do we do now?" Venus asked. Mercury had her computer out, and was running a scan. It hurt all the scouts to wait as the monster drained about thirty people in front of them and threw the spent figures into a pile that seemed to hold dozens. "Okay, its heart-stone is in its chest like a human heart..." She trailed off. "Its behind three inches of ice, I don't think you can penetrate, Mars." The scouts watched as another young man was picked up, biting back any doubt Mars jumped up, "I guess we'll find out." She ran towards the monster with the others in tow. "Hey creep! Pick on someone your own size! Mars Celestial Fire Surround!" The huge beast turned and looked shock for a moment, the circles of fire hit it and it instantly exploded, water spraying everywhere. Sailor Moon quickly drew her scepter thinking the fight was over, however, before the weapon was complete out the beast was already reforming and the stone was safe from the attack. Mars tried again, but only a small puddle formed on its chest. "Great, it adapts too." Venus said, "Be ready Sailor Moon. Venus Love Chain Encircle!" The magic chain-and-sickle shot out, unfortunately the beast caught it in one of its fists, granted it did cut and the energy melted it, but the monster quickly adapted and refroze around the blade and pulled, sending Venus flying several feet, but she rolled the impact out and was okay. "One last try," Jupiter said, "Jupiter Thunderclap Zap!" The ball of electricity shot out and, like the fire, caused the monster to explode. Sailor Moon started even before the ball had hit, "Moon Scepter Elimination!" But, between the last word and the time the beam hit the target, enough ice had built up the protect the crystal. "Is it any weaker?" The leader asked Mercury. "No, nothing happened except for new immunities." The blue scout said sadly. "I have an idea!" Mars said and ran off. "Where is she going?" Jupiter asked. Mercury looked where she had gone and said, "I don't know. Look out!" She dove sideways pulling Sailors Moon and Jupiter to the ground just before a large shard of ice would have hit them. "Thanks, Mercury." Moon said getting up and going behind a tree. "I owe you one I guess," Jupiter said embarrassed. "I thought we weren't going to make a habit of this?" Mercury smiled down, "Actually, you owe me three now. Would you prefer I let you get hit?" "No, can we finish this later?" She asked getting up. Mercury nodded and they ducked behind some trees, protected from any further ice shards. Off in the near distance they heard an engine starting up. A few minutes of dodging ice later they heard Mars yell, "Get ready Sailor Moon!" They turned and saw Mars riding a large bulldozer. The monster laughed at her for a minute, knowing the blade couldn't really hurt him. However, Mars didn't use the blade as he expected, she raided it to protect herself. The monster tried to block the machine, but Mars turned quickly and ran him over with the tread, a constant cracking noise was made as she did so. As soon as she went over his head, she put the blade down and put it in reverse, this scattered the shards all over. Without the explosive heat behind it, the Ice-construct did not melt and therefore didn't have the speed of water. Sailor Moon pulled out her scepter again, "Moon Scepter Elimination!" She cried out, this time the beam caught the crystal alone and cracked it. They all slumped to the ground to rest, Sailor Moon remembered something and grabbed the cracked stone. She looked up to see a very large ball of energy hovering over where the monster had died, she moved to place the crystal into it, but it passed through a gate before she made it, she made a note to call a hospital later. Venus came over to the group and sat beside them, she turned to her black-haired friend, "How do you know how drive one of those?" She smiled tired and said, "A few years ago Grandpa had some things done to the temple, I had one of the workers teach me how to run it. Good thing they left these here after the incident with Mr. Baxter." "Oh, God." Sailor Moon said worried. "What?" Mars asked, her answer was a pointed finger, the other followed and saw, on the other side of the lake, a single figure: dark and clothed in a long black cloak standing watching them. "Why didn't he help us?" As she asked the question, the figure cast a black gate before him and walked through. "I think we have a problem." Venus said. ******************* The dark figure stood before the throne that once belonged to Queen Beryl, now it was occupied by her brother King Obsidian, whom she had cast into Eternal Sleep one night while he slept; he was a dark man, he wore a cloak similar to that of his general, only his seemed to pull the light away from the area, not just be black. "What do you have to say for yourself?" His voice was deep and powerful. The figure smiled beneath the hood of his cloak. "I believe it was a success, my Liege." "How so?" The King asked annoyed. "While the first three were unsuccessful, they were to test the strength of the Scouts, nothing more. Now, granted we lost the Water-Construct, three hundred people came to see the carved stones, and we have their energy." "I see," The King said considering, "I like the energy, but I do NOT like the loss of a minion. Improve or suffer the consequences, I will not be as kind with you as my fool sister. Understood?" "Yes, My Liege." "Dismissed." He bowed deeply, fist to his heart, and walked away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for reading, send any comments or questions to blackgryphon21@hotmail.com