Info: A little briefing on what this story is about. Gemstone's Oath, if you can tell from the title, is about the four generals, Kunzite, Zoisite, Nephrite, and Jadeite. This story takes place in Crystal Tokyo with Rini after the Dark Moon Kingdom and is related to the manga. This story focuses on all four Generals, so you would find the narration switching from one general to another quite often. Feel free to e-mail me any comments you may have. E-mail: ml_eclipse@hotmail.com Disclaimers: Sailor Moon and all its characters and likeliness belongs to its creator Naoko Takeuchi and respective companies. << >> = thoughts ========================================================================== >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GEMSTONE'S OATH <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ========================= << By Cosmos >> ================================== Chapter 2: Unlocking the Past Crystal Tokyo…two thousand years later. The soft warm night breeze blows silently through the large open window to play with the grand silk curtains that adorn the frame. The two entities dance together like two lost lovers under the pale light of the moon. Slowly the moonlight floats away from the window to cast its enchantment on four beautiful stones that lay within a protected glass container atop a blue marble column with strange golden swirls adorning its smooth surface. The pale light caresses their glistening surfaces gently. The moonlight creates a strange aura around each gem giving the illusion that they are glowing, but upon close observation I realize that it is no illusion. A strange light does shine from each stone. The faint color of lilac, a faint emerald green, a faint glow of turquoise, and that of pale blue lights radiate from each stone invading the darkness of the night. The gentle caresses of the pale moonlight brought unknown warmth to these four lonely gems, a warmth that they have long forgotten. The light penetrates their soul, stirring a strong emotion hidden deep within. In the silent room, a sad sigh escapes between cold lips that have forgotten the warmth of a kiss…lips that once knew how to smile, but now only moan in the lonely night under the pale light of the moon. The faint light catches on beautiful sparkling pairs of eyes gazing longingly at the moon, reflecting a yearning for something lost long ago, a lost memory perhaps…or a lost love. Magnificent pairs of eyes that once shone with laughter and love, but now conquered by tears. The light from one of these stones increases in intensity until the entire room is filled with the color blue. The faint image of a tall young man appears in front of the stone. His long wavy blond hair tied with a thin strip of blue silk ribbon waves silently in the invisible wind that blew around him. His faint form, like the soft silver mist that now covered the sleeping roses in the garden below, floats toward the window. His somber blue eyes glance mournfully at the smooth marble floor beneath him. <>. His form casts no shadows. Instead the pale moonlight drifts right through him and the wan silk curtain floats pass him as if he is not there. He looks up at the moon as a tear escapes his eyes. Again the celestial body in the heavens evokes a stir of strange emotions, emotions that he once knew but have forgotten. For reasons unknown, the moon captivates him. Its beautiful calmness reminds him of someone he had once known, but he knew not where or when. A dim image of the silhouette of a slim figure surfaces in his mind. The stir of hidden memories tickles his senses and causes a strange pang in his heart. He wonders why the moon does this to him every time he gazed at it? Is there something linked with the moon? A memory? A person? A past? For a long time he simply stood there watching the moon in silence as tears drift uncontrollably down his handsome face. <> he laughs with irony and thinks <> With that he raised a hand and placed it on his chest trying to feel the beating of his heart, but he feels none. Suddenly an unknown voice sounded in his mind. The voice is so familiar, soft like a spring breeze, but familiarity is all that he recognizes. He hears words…familiar words spoken so long ago on a night much like this one where tears were shed and emotions awakened. "…my love for you will never cease even when my life blood does." <> Unknowingly, what he recalls are words he had said in a time long gone. His eyes darkened with confusion as his soul and heart demands him to remember...to remember of that time...of that night... so long ago. Behind him, across the dark room, another image of a young man emerges from a lilac colored gem to float over a rich blue velvet seat giving the illusion that he is sitting on the chair. A large oak table stood nearby beside another grand window. The pale light of the moon soaked through the ocean-blue silk curtains to cast pale bars of light on his solemn face as if to imprison him in his misery. His shoulder length white hair drifts around him while his gray-blue eyes stare vacantly in front of him. Deep in thought, he sees nothing of the chamber, only of what is awakening in his heart. Much like his companion across the room, he also senses something being aroused deep within him. A strange but strong force is awakening from deep within his mind and his heart. Yet, he cannot pinpoint its exact nature. He cannot name the nameless. <> The emotion warms his soul for the first time in a long time. He does not fight it; instead he welcomes it with open arms. It soothes his worn spirit, but strengthens the loneliness within his heart. "What is it that we are sensing, Kunzite?" a voice drifts to him, "Is it a warning? A premonition? Might Endymion be in danger, do you think?" He looks over his shoulder to find his two other companions sitting at the dark leather couch looking at him with confusion reflecting brightly in their eyes. "I do not know, Nephrite," he replied quietly, "though I wish I did. This…this is something I have never before encountered…at least I don't remember ever coming against such a strange stir of emotions before." "Neither do I," Zoisite spoke up by the window. "It feels like a long lost memory…from a dream," Jadeite whispers from the couch. "More like a long lost part of my soul," Nephrite mumbled in the darkness. "Since the day we were brought back as…as these forms…as spirits trapped within the hard walls of these gemstones, I have always felt a strange emptiness…a rift between my heart and my soul." "Maybe it is," Kunzite says. "Maybe it is something that we have forgotten when Beryl brainwashed us during the Silver Millenium. Perhaps if we can recall what this missing memory is that hollowness within our hearts will at last be filled and we will finally feel whole again." "But what is it that we must remember?" Zoisite questions. "Must?" Jadeite asks him. "Hmm…," Kunzite says thoughtfully, "Jadeite is right. Why *must*? What makes this strange past event, thing, occurrence, whatever you may call it, so important that we have to remember it? And why is it now that this *memory* is finally awakening? Why didn't it resurface thirty years ago, 20 years, or even yesterday?" Silence envelops them. Questions. So many questions and so few answers. Is it possible that a simple emotion can raise so many questions, and stir to life so much in one's heart? They sat there as no one spoke. Each lost deep in their own thoughts as they try to understand this new emotion that now invades their lonely hearts. Surprisingly, they do not feel fear toward this unknown invasion. Instead they feel warm and protected…and almost happy, if not for the incredible feelings of loneliness that is evoked in them. As each sat trapped in their minds, a faint image appears in their thoughts along with voices…such angelic voices…so gentle…so warm. Each of them hear a voice unique to them…voices that sounds so familiar to them…voices that they have all yearned to hear for a long time. "Promise me you'll come back to me," the voices say its tones sound so sad that it broke their hearts. Tears…beautiful eyes of blue, raging violet, pale blue and strong green appear in their minds, but they were crying. These beautiful pairs of eyes were flooded with tears. At first surprise, Kunzite whispers aloud, "W-what is happening to us? What are all these images and sounds?" In his mind, Kunzite sees tears invade a certain beautiful pair of sky-blue eyes. For unknown reasons, he feels a strange aching pain within the depths of his soul. <> <> He feels helpless to stop the onslaught of these unrelenting tears in this beautiful pair of fiery violet eyes. Strangely, he senses that he knows these eyes; he has seen them before. <> Zoisite sits entranced by a certain pair of clear blue eyes that now appears in his mind. A strange warm light seems to shine in them, but they are hidden from him by the floods of sorrow. <> Wishes…so many wishes…and none have come true. How long has he been wishing? Over a thousand years? Since his rebirth as a gemstone he had always hoped…had always wished that he could be what he once was…a human…a person…alive. But he wished in vain, because he is still what he is now, an inanimate object of sheer beauty and value…but lifeless and emotionless. And now he wishes again, only to add to the mounds of other hopes he had dumped into the dark closet of his mind, knowing that this like all his other dreams will never come true. <> His brows knit together in confusion. Why is he so affected by the tears being shed by these lovely emerald gems? Why does he feel so torn and lost inside? He sighs sadly. <> "Promise me you will return to me," the voices ask again. "Please promise me." Strangely, their hearts are not giving them any peace. With each cry…with each tear they can feel their souls contort in agonizing pain. They cannot stand to see such grief and despair. The unseen spirits' misery acts like daggers that cut deep into their hearts, and their voices are like mournful ghosts coming to haunt them. The Generals have suffered much pain already, why must they suffer more? They are confused. What is happening? Who *are* the owners of these voices? And why have they appeared to only haunt them and make them suffer the same miserable fate? Why? Again it is the why that is obscured. "Please promise," the voices plead. <> They don't know. They just can't understand, but they know that there is something familiar about all this. This has happened before…so long ago. But why is it happening again? And why is it happening to them? They're all confuse…so very confuse. Their minds are questioning all these strange images, voices, and emotions, but their hearts are demanding for them. Knowing that they will never have peace unless they give what these spirits demand, the Generals each give these voices of the past their promises to something unseen and unknown but emotionally needed and desired. "I promise." Their words are echoes of what they have said long ago, over two thousand years ago. Suddenly, floods of images…of long forgotten memories and emotions appear to them, overwhelming their senses. They begin to feel dizzy as the past is revealed to them…of the war that devastated their home, killed their Prince, and separated them from the ones they have loved long ago. "I promise." One single phrase made up of only two simple words is the key to everything that they have lost on that mournful night; and it is this phrase that will lead them to their destiny…and to the one particular thing that they have longed for but have been barred from for so long…love. So now the key has been turned…and their true reincarnation begins… [flashback to Silver Millenium] "No Beryl!" Endymion shouted, "Don't do this! Don't do something that you'll regret later." "Why would I regret killing that little brat?" Beryl shouted back. "She stole you away from me! I am the one who is rightfully your queen!" "NO!" Endymion screamed in anger, "You can *never* be my Queen, because I will *never* love you! Selenity is the *only* one I love and will ever love! Get that into your head, Beryl!" "But why?" Beryl questioned her voice like daggers in the dark air. "What is it that you see in her? She is nothing but a weakling Endymion! Come, come and join me. I am the one who holds the power and the victory!" "You want to know why I love her?" Endymion whispered through his clenched teeth, his deadly steel blue glare piercing into Beryl. "Because she is the opposite of what you are! She is kind and considerate. You are cruel and greedy. I can never love a snake like you!" "Aaarrgghh!" Beryl screamed hysterically. "You will pay for that, Endymion! Everyone will pay for all the pains I've suffered!" Beryl held Endymion's challenging gaze with her own and whispered in a low deadly tone, "Fine then. Have it your way. You both can be together…together in hell!" "NO!" Selenity screamed as Beryl stabbed her dark sword into Endymion's chest. Four other voices also screamed in the distance as unknown pain seared into their minds. "Endymion!" Kunzite shouted. "Prince!" the other three screamed as they all rushed toward their prince, but they were all too late. What met their eyes shocked them cold to the core. They saw their prince and dear friend dead in the arms of his love. Selenity's crystal tears bathed his pale face as she held him in her arms; her beautiful white dress now soaked red with his blood. They were too late. Oh God! They were too late…too late. "Beryl," Kunzite hissed, "you will die for this!" Beryl looked at him unconcerned. "None of you can defeat me!" she screamed demonically. "Your Prince is dead…and so is your weak kingdom. *I* am now Queen of Earth. You should bow to me, General Kunzite." "We will *never* serve a traitor like you, witch!" Nephrite shouted angrily at her. "*You* are the traitors, not me! You all have spent too much time with the Moon weaklings. They have softened you to mere pulps. You should join me and help me conquer this world. *I* will make the Earth Kingdom what it should be, the sole ruler of the Silver Planetary Alliances. Earth will be the most powerful Kingdom of the Silver Millenium…not those arrogant Moonlings! We will destroy those foolish Moon cowards! Come, join the winning side!" "You are *not* part of the Earth Kingdom, Beryl, not anymore! You are nothing but a puppet of the dark Queen." Kunzite shouted back. Zoisite added, his blue eyes blazing with fury, "You are blinded by your greed, Beryl! Can't you see that Queen Metallica is only using you? Can't you see what your greed is doing to the kingdom? You are not making Earth stronger. You are destroying it!" "*I* am not the ones who are blind," Beryl said in a mocking tone. "I have seen that the dark force is much stronger than you cowards. I am only choosing the winning side." "Enough!" Jadeite shouted. Intense green flames of rage and hatred burned within his blue-green eyes. "There is no use talking to a greedy little monster like her! You are a traitor to our kingdom and you are a damn murderer! There is only one punishment for you and that is death!" "Die Beryl," Kunzite whispered in an icy tone as bright light began to gather in his hands, "Die like the treacherous dog you are!" Two large light blades appeared in each of his hands. He quickly threw the blades straight at Beryl, but she easily deflected it with her dark sword. "Is that all you have?" Beryl held out her hands and a long black staff appeared in them. "You are fools!" She whispered between her clenched teeth. "I can kill you all with a mere swipe of my hand, but I will not. Fortunately for you I need your services." Their eyes widen in surprise…and fear. The last phrase she spoke pierced their minds as its meaning sank into their brain like concrete in water. <> But she was too strong. There was nothing they could do. Before they had a chance to react, she attacked them with ruthless brutality. Within the hour's end, they have all been killed and their souls captured by the dark forces. In the next few weeks, she would have them fulfill a mission that they have all feared…even more than death itself. She would have them attack the Moon Kingdom…and its four Royal Sailor Guardians. [end flashback] ======================================= A reader e-mailed me to point out an oversight which occurs in this story. In Gemstone's Oath, I have Nephrite with green eyes, but according to the Anime/Manga--he has light blue eyes. I could not remember his eye color while I wrote this, so I went with the color of his name, which is a green gem (more appropriate don't you think?) Right, Chapter 3 Part 1 coming soon!!!!! <>