Chapter Seven. Final Chapter
Assembling outside, it seemed that the Namigas and Cassiopeians were actually working together for the first time in five hundred or so years. The King commanded the Cassiopeians and the Group of Elder Namigas, minus one, commanded their people. They had figured out that it was Mizunokierer who had given access for the Unholy one to enter the shrine. They gave the Cassiopeians full permission to deal with him as they saw fit. The command had been given to kill him. They were forming armies and preparing for Cassiopeia to appear once again. Hundreds gathered.
All to defeat one little twelve year old princess.
The Chambers are to the north of the castle, underground around one mile� that way.. Sailor Cassiopeia looked in a direction. That�s where they�re keeping Mizunokierer.. she thought.
�Mizunokierer�� She whispered and pointed her staff at the wall of the room. She screamed then began sending power out to blast a tunnel through the ground towards the chambers.
Out in space�
�Not quite how I would have done it but I guess it�s effective enough�.� A dark shadowy figure petted a black puppy with a white belly stripe that came up and covered his nose and neck, who sat on his right side. He eyed a screen that showed Cassiopeia making her way to her friend. There was no sound coming out of it. He spoke to the puppy and pointed at the screen.
�If you were fully a Constellation then we would place you as her guardian. But Oh well! You�re just a dumb puppy with a symbol on his forehead who can�t even talk!�
The Man thwapped the puppy upside the head and only got a confused look in return.
�Hmm� If only you had a human persona. Then you would be the true constellation Leo.� He scratched behind the puppies ear. The puppies leg started running in place then he lost his balance and fell over. A bright light washed over him.
The D.S.F. blinked. �What was that?�
Leo jumped up onto his lap. �Do it again! Do it again!� He yipped
.
�WHAAA!!??� The D.S.F. fell out of his chair. �L-L-L-Leo??�
�Yup! Oh cool! Whee! I can talk now! Yup I can! I was a Mage! Yup! You bet I was! I was a darn good Mage! But then I died! And now I can talk! I�m hungry! Scratch my ear again!! Pleeeaase?� The dogs bright blue eyes beamed up at him.
�Oh dear�� The D.S.F scratched his head. A sweatdrop formed on his head.
Cassiopeia had just finished blasting through the last bit of ground when the smell of death and decay filled her nostrils. Ignoring it and pinching her nose, she walked forward searching for Mizunokierer. She walked through the catacomb-like structure of the torture Chamber and heard someone whimpering. It didn�t sound like a Cassiopeian. She ran over to it. She was very tired; she had used up nearly all of her powers. When she saw whom it was her blood ran cold. Mizunokierer was chained to the wall, covered in blood. His wings were missing. He was moaning and in great pain.
�It�s all my fault� It�s my fault��
Cassiopeia began to cry. She moved to unchain him then stopped not knowing how to get him down without hurting him. She lightly touched his fur. He cried out in pain.
�The Princess! Caprice! My little Caprice is gone! Cassiopeia is back! It�s all my fault� Where�s Caprice..? Something�s wrong� I can�t feel her presence anymore�� He began to sob and whimper again. Every racking sob was putting stress on his back and hurting him further.
Cassiopeia began rubbing her arms as if it were cold. This seemed to be all her fault. She didn�t have the power to heal� She didn�t know anyone who did. Even if she could get him down he was still going to be in great pain. Her mother would hunt him down. And he wouldn�t want to live without his wings� his beautiful wings�
Her vision blurred with tears then she shut her eyes and made her decision. She felt something inside of her die. She opened her eyes, no longer crying. She called upon her power and entered his mind.
His thoughts were jumbled and confusing. He thought about Caprice, his youth, Cassiopeia and the Pain. Thoughts of the first time he took her flying� The first time he flew with his father� His father flying in battle to face the great evil that was threatening their planet, Cassiopeia� Caprice smiling up at him in pride when she was four after completing her first painting� Picking up a sleeping Caprice in his arms and very carefully walking to the palace. He thought of Caprice as his best friend.. an adopted daughter� Someone he had vowed to protect� He thought of her being hurt and his thoughts went wild.
Cassiopeia sent him an image of herself sleeping in bed with a message: calm down, dear friend She spoke to his mind with Caprices voice.
�I�m ok. Really. You shouldn�t be acting so upset! It�s not like I died or anything.� In his mind she wore the dress that she had been wearing the last day they played together. She stood there with her hands on her hips smiling mischievously. Her eyes sparkled.
Cassiopeia sent out a numbing wave so he would stop feeling the pain.
�How� Thank god.. I thought something had happened to you. Everyone is screaming that Cassiopeia is alive� I thought that she had gotten you.. hurt you.. or even-�
�Don�t be silly! That witch couldn�t lay a finger on me! She would be too scared!� Caprice joked.
�Don�t act like it�s nothing at all caprice. If Cassiopeia has awakened I want you to hide. Get as far away from her as possible. She�ll kill you. Don�t think that she won�t!�
Caprice walked up to him and hugged him. �I�ll be fine. I promise you.� She looked up at her only dear friend, Mizunokierer. �You don�t have to worry about me anymore. I�m at home sleeping safely. We just finished making cookies� we had a tea-party by the falls earlier in this day. It was a good day. Nothing was wrong. Put it out of your mind completely. You need to rest now. You�re very tired��
�Yes� what a fool I am, dear� I didn�t know that it had gotten so late� I�m very tired. You rest up too now. You�re still only twelve years old. You�re still growing and need your rest��
�Of course. I know this, Mizu-san� Sleep now and rest� I�ll be here when you awaken� I�ll always be waiting here� right here for you��
His mind faded back and back in the real world Mizunokierer smiled and fell asleep. She felt as if the last little part of her that was Caprice had faded away with him.
Cassiopeia opened her eyes and whispered. �My dear, dear friend.�
She sent out an energy blast to his mind and killed him.
He was still smiling slightly even in death. She felt her heart grow ice cold.
A few men came down to the Chambers on orders from the Queen to kill Mizunokierer. They stopped as something dark green glowed in the darkness. They screamed and tried to run and an energy blast took them in the back killing them.
Her staff grew warm with power and she walked outside.
The people were gathered on the bridge rallying their courage and getting weapons when she walked out towards them from the forest. Once they saw her they pointed their weapons at her and yelled for the others to get ready. People ran at her and were instantly killed as they ran into her energy barrier. They stopped coming and stared at her with fear and outrage. Cassiopeia smiled evilly at them.
�As I told the one that killed me. We are never really gone. I have risen again to fill my prophecy. Run. Run if you value your lives.�
Her words had a devastating impact on nearly the entire army. They panicked and tried to flee. She sent out cyclones of energy after them, not caring who or what they hit. Wanting to punish those who had hurt her� hurt her friends. They would all pay dearly.
The sun had risen a few hours ago. The smell of blood and death was everywhere around her. It covered her. Seven eighths of the army were dead. Yet time went on. The birds gave out their normal morning calls as if nothing was wrong, the clouds rolled in. It looked like it was going to storm later. It was going to be a hot muggy day. But a cool breeze blew in the scent of blood, which betrayed the normal awakening of the new day.
Cassiopeia stood on the remains of the collapsed bridge looking down and shutting her eyes. Her mother and the last party of people were trying to hide in a cave of rocks that the bridge had created when it was blown up. No one had come to save them. There was no golden figure waiting in the mists to bring down justice. There was only Cassiopeia.
She held her hand out for her staff. It floated into her hand and she opened her eyes and looked at the cave. She was going to end it. She leapt down onto the rocks below her and landed on one that was surrounded completely by the river.
She had stopped talking and yelling ten minutes after the battle had begun. She did her work in silence, which seemed all the more frightening for the people. There were muffled gasps and screams coming from the cave.
Cassiopeia jumped across the river using other rocks. She had made it to the other side quite easily. The top of the cave floated off and landed in the river. The remaining people scattered. She spotted her mother, who stared back at her with hate. Nothing but pure unadulterated hate. Guards who were trying to hide him surrounded her father. But Cassiopeia had eyes only for her mother. She walked to her and looked at her. Her mother was crouched on a rock, not moving.
�I should have drowned you at birth.� That simple sentence struck something deep in her heart. She shut her eyes for a second then looked back at her mother.
�It�s over.� She held her staff pointed at her mother. Her mother shut her eyes and waited for the final blow.
�Lord Chronos. Father of time. I ask a boon.� Her staff began to glow brown, yellow and green. Her mothers� eyes sprang open and she stared at Cassiopeia.
The staff rose into the air and Cassiopeia silently prayed. The staff came down and touched the rock that Cassiopeia was standing on with her mother. Waves of power seeped out of the staff and began to freeze everything in time. The waves went around Cassiopeia, ignoring her.
Her mothers� eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as the waves touched her.
Cassiopeia sat down on the rock and just waited for it to be done. She sat there for three minutes then stood as she felt it finish. Everything on this planet was completely frozen in time. Every animal person and plant. Even the clouds had stopped moving.
Cassiopeia threw her head back and tried to take a deep breath but even the air was stale.
Conclusion.
The first thing she did was go back up to her old room in the castle and sleep. She left her staff down by the frozen river. She couldn�t touch it unless she wanted to undo the spell Chronos had given her. By parting with her staff she was cutting herself off from some of her power. No matter. She was still rather strong without it.
She slept for four hours until awakened by a dog barking. It was a strange and foreign sound and it startled her right out of sleep. She immediately opened the secret passage and climbed through the portrait to go outside. There she met the D.S.F.
She agreed to work with him and to travel space gathering power for his empire. She was planning on taking the empire away from him as soon as it was created. He probably knew that but didn�t say anything because he knew nothing like that could ever happen because of his own power.
And then she met Leo. As she and the D.S.F. entered the spaceship, a large ball of fluff came leaping out of the doorway onto Cassiopeias chest, knocking her back down onto the ground.
He licked her face and begged her to scratch behind his ears and instantly Cassiopeia adored him although she refused to show it. Her astonishment was absolute when she learned of who the little pup was, other than being her guardian. He followed her around where ever she went on the ship and she finally got annoyed with him and thwapped him for the first time. It seemed that neither she nor Leo could remember much about their previous relationship at all.
Three years later they had set up camp around a small planet called earth. Cassiopeia claimed to hate the planet but frequently went down visiting. It was there that she fell in love with Alex Trebec and created her ulterior persona, Capri Nulasnam. She fell in love with nearly all types of art except photography. In her opinion it was cheating. Not really art.
She mellowed out slightly in her role as Cassiopeia and very slowly began to grow stronger without her staff.
And here, readers, is where Neo-Constellations takes the story over.
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