Quests for Truth, Chapter Four, by Sailor GlitterGirl & Rose Aquarius, August, 2001 GlitterGirl: Do you guys have ANY idea how long it took us to even START on this chapter? Both of us had what had to be the hardest Writter's block in the history of writers. Rose-chan: *nods solomly* its true. *yawns* this took us forever and was VERY tiring. It took a LOT out of us. Raven: So you'd better appreciate it! GlitterGirl: Read on and enjoy! DEDICATED TO WOMEN WHO HAVE SAID NO TO ABORTION *****@ THE UNIVERSAL GALAXY SAGA @***** ~The Quests For Truth~ Chapter Four: The Quests Continue Rated: Pg (per usual) By: Sailor GlitterGirl & Rose Aquarius At: SailorGlitterGirl@sailormoon.com Rose Aquarius@aol.com Hotaru's bottom lip shook, and Serena, Rini's hand in hers, went to sit by the girl on the small sofa. Hugging the two girls to her, Serena let her tears fall. Laxa and Raven were so intertwined in each others arms that it was impossible to see who ended where and where another began. Versia was very obvious with her body language that if Eclipse touched her, she would knock his lights out, while still being very loving in the action of holding Rose's hand. The inners stared stonily at the book, Orion with his arm around Mina. Silence reigned, no one wanted to make the suggestion that they leave, all wanted to stay until the foursome returned safely. Finally, someone stood, and sighed. It was Rose. "Sitting around here won't do us any good," the teen said firmly, seemingly taking command. "There's no telling when they'll come back. Plus I doubt the Shadow Kingdom could have ignored such massive bursts of energy, so close to one another. We should all go home and get as much rest as possible." "I think it'll take a whole bottle of sleeping pills to get me to so much as blink," Lita muttered. This caused a few nervous, forced chuckles. Serena sighed, and wipped away her tears. "Rose is right," She said, throwing a thankful glance to Rose. The raven haired teen nodded, then sat, rose red eyes glistening with unshed tears of worry. She may not know these people well, but she knew them well enough to care for them and worry for their safety. "Homeward bound, I guess, then," Mina unconsciously leaned closer to Orion. Despite their predictament, Laxa and Versia noticed the exchange between their half brother and the senshi of Venus. Versia chuckled. Laxa said in a perfect French accent, her voice mockingly innocent. Versia couldn't help but laugh. It was a few minutes before anyone moved, when Laxa and Raven moved towards the door, not bothering to utter a farewell; the atmosphere was too heavy. Slowly, one by one, the Senshi all filtered out, and Raye gathered up the discarded straws and took them away. Soon after, Eclipse followed suit, and slipped on his coat and headed for the door, after throwing a last longing look to his love over his shoulder. He was taken aback when he caught her mirroring her look. Versia gasped as she realized Eclipse had caught her staring after him as he slipped into his thick jacket. She looked away quickly, her eyes scanning the room, looking for something else to distract herself from the intense way his deep, fathomless emerald eyes had looked at her with such caring and longing, hope, and...and such powerful love. To her it was ten times more frightening than the most evilly potent auroras, or a thousand soul wrenching Tests. And yet...at the same time...it was like when he had kissed her, like she was a barely living desert survivor coming across an oasis of love and protection, yet not daring to hope it was real, beleiving that it was simply an illusion. The memory of waking up from her feverish state to find her love looking at her with such care and devotedness...then that kiss... Just the thought of his lips on hers so passtionately made her tingle and shiver with love and delight. Swallowing, she could resist no longer, and Versia looked over again, to see him still staring at her. "Vicky..." He whispered. Versia's throat caught at the use of the old, beloved nickname. "I have to go," She whispered suddenly, her voice course as she rushed past Eclipse, grabbing her furlined jacket on the way, and darted out of the temple. Eclipse sighed, tears coming to his eyes, before whisping four words after her. "I love you, Vicky," This time, just like every time, he recieved no reply. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Versia watched from a thick bush as Eclipse slowly walked away from the temple, tears running down her face unnoticed by her own conscious. As soon as he was gone, Versia collapsed to the ground. "Logan..." She sobbed. "Why can't I let myself love you?" Hardly realizing what she was doing, Versia stumbled out of the bushes and barreled into the temple once more. Sobbing, blinded by her own tears, she tensed and gasped as someone caught her. She looked up, half expecting to see Eclipse, but dissolved into tears once more when she saw the sympathetic and understanding eyes of Raye. "Raye, I-" "Sshhh..." The Princess of Mars hushed, and pulled the weeping Universian Princess back into her embrace, rocking her as if you would a child. "I know, Versia," Raye whispered, strocking Versia's hair. And she did. She remembered how all the way back to the Silver Millennium the two were like this. Always loving, yet always hating. "I remember." *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* It seemed like an eternity since Setsuna had taken the leap in being the first to enter the Book of Truths' domain willingly. Yet all she saw for as far as she could see was a black eternity. Not all that different from the Chronos Domain, where her eternal guarding place, the Gate of Time resided. While the Senshi had never asked, it was obvious they were always wondering what she was doing on Earth if she was supposed to be guarding the Gate of Time. Setsuna gave one of her rare smiles to the obsolete eternity, thinking of her 'substitute' for when dire times called for the Guardian of Time to leave her post. Diana certainly was brave for her tiny size. Luckily, the laws of time did not need a trained guardian, only someone to just be there, to warn someone else if trouble arrived. That was what Diana was for. Setsuna scowled as she shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself. She hated not knowing what was going on, not being in control of a situation. Not being on top of things, not being able to make sure things went smoothly. She'd always been like that. She had almost been considered a gossip queen, in her youth, as she was always the first to know anything and everything. The difference was that she rarely opened her mouth to give away the many secrets she obtained. Her father had been like that, the son of Queen Chronosia. No one knew it, but the late Queen Serenity was Setsuna's older half sister. Oddly enough, it was Serenity who was the daughter of Queen Serenity Tranquility and Emperor Chronos -Serenity's first husband- ruler of Pluto, and it was Setsuna was was the daughter of Serenity Tranquility and Dorimio, the son of Queen Chronosia, Laxa and Versia's aunt. Technically, that meant that it was the late Queen Serenity who should have been guardian of Pluto, and Setsuna who should have been queen of the moon. Yet the powers of the Moon and Pluto had chosen their heirs, and no one was able to argue it. Serena, the sweet girl, Setsuna knew suspected her family ties, but had never said anything. Setsuna saddened at the thought. She wished she could tell her Princess, yet duty and wariness that she might change the timeline kept her from it. Puu sighed. When would that darn book get her test done and over with? She was too well desciplined to shout out loud, but she wanted to. She wanted to stomp and scream and yell and for once demand that someone listen to her- "Then why don't you, Guardian of Time?" Setsuna nearly lost it as the great, booming voice came out of nowhere. Only her training kept her from stuttering her astonishment. "Who's there?" Setsuna demanded. "That is not of importance." The voice said dismissively. "But what is important, is your...test, believe you and your comrades have been calling the paths of learning you have been taking in my domain." Setsuna remained silent, as she had nothing to say. "I see you will be a difficult one," The voice sighed, almost with a tenderness. "But come; I shall show you what you must ackowledge, and know." And before her, a large, ornate golden door materialized from the smoke. Wariness thick around her, she cautiously stepped over the golden threshold. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Darien coughed and waved away the thick black mist. It seemed to be as thick as water. He continued walking on, his body tensed beyond what he thought possible, waiting for some monster to leap out at him. He didn't like to admit it, but he was getting worried. Worrying led to fear, and he rarely let himself get that far, but he felt it coming on. He didn't like fear. He knew there was nothing wrong with being afraid, but he didn't like it just the same. "Is that my test?" He asked suddenly, calling out into the darkness. "My dislike of fear?" Not expecting an answer, he reeled back in shock when a loud, booming, commanding voice spoke out. "In part." A sound like the thunder trying to speak assaulted Darien's ears. "You deal with fear of monsters and evil and danger very well, my so-called Prince of Earth." The voice came again. "What do you mean 'so-called?'" Darien demanded. The thundering voice chuckled, sounding like an iceberge ramming into a mountain at the speed of light. "Young earthling, you claim to be the heir to the Terran Throne. You claim that you are Prince Endymion the Second, bethrothed and beloved of the High Princess Serenity." The voice seemed almost amused. "Tell me, your highness, have you any grounds that you can honestly claim this right?" Darien opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. The voice was right, he realized. Other than the words of the descesed Queen Serenity, Luna, and Serena, he had no evidence that he was prince of Earth. Not that he did not believe his loved one and trusted others, but other than Queen Serenity, who was just a hologram, they did not have full memories either. For the first time since his awakening, Darien questioned his belief that he was truely Prince Endymion. "Who am I?" Darien whispered. "I will show you, warrior of Earth," the Voice came, thundering loud, ringing in Darien's bones. "I will show you. But first, you must believe, and to believe, you must remember, and to remember, you must..." "I must what?" "You must face your Truth." "The truth?" Darien asked. "Not 'the' truth, *your* Truth." And that was when Darien realized that he was standing on a road, at night, with a car speeding towards him, the lights glaring in his eyes. Through the windshield, Darien saw a face, and somehow, without remembering ever having even seen the face, he knew who it was. "Daddy..." *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* For Amara there was no mist, no barren plane or deserted dimension. From the moment she dropped out of the sky, she was under attack. Monsters and living vines in a forest so dense she could hardly move were coming at her from all directions. She was un-transformed, her sabor sword the only thing keeping her alive. As it was, cuts and gashes and bruises littered her body. She sensed that her left leg bone was cracked, but she ignored it. Never for a moment did she allow herself to fall into the illusion that she might lose. She had to lose! Was this her test? Defeating all these youmas and possessed plants? Even Amara, warrior of Uranus, who believed that fighting was essential in life, whether it was good or not, found that hard to believe. 'In order to obtain the Light Crystals that belong the heiresses to the Silver Millennium Planetary Kingdoms, you must first *know,* deep inside you, that you *are* the princesses! The True Sailor Senshi!' Princess Universia's words rang in her ears. She knew she was of Uranus! She *knew!* Didn't she? True, she didn't remember, but it was what you knew in your heart that counted, didn't it? Amara had learned that from her Princess. During the battles against Pharoah Ninty and Mistress Nine, her heart had told her that Sailor Moon was right; sarcrifices *weren't* nessessary if people would just trust and believe in each other! Amara fought on, crying out in pain as a vine lashed at her shoulder, taking a chunk of her flesh away with it as she choped the vine in two. 'This isn't my test; someone is toying with me!' The Uranusian thought furiously. Yet as she was mad, she was also aware that these monsters were all too real. And if something didn't happen soon, she would die. As if responding to her thoughts, a figure swung down from the trees above, blasting the monsters and youmas back. A cape was around him, and in his plundge downwards, it concealed his face. "Take my hand!" He cried, as he still clung to a rope. Glancing up, she glimpsed more figures in the tree tops, ready to pull their comrade back up. Amara narrowed her eyes at the figure, and growled. "Like I'd fall for that one," She growled, and whirled just in time to block a down sweeping blow, running the creature through with the same motion. "Look out!" The voice of the man that had tried to help her called out. Amara spun, just managing to register that an energy blast heading straight for her. Her eyes widened, and she was unable to accept the fact that she was about to die... There was a blast, and Amara was rammed into a tree. The man was on top of her, his body limp. Amara rolled him off her, trying to get up before the youmas closed in again, when she noticed the blood, pools of it, mingling with her own gashs. She looked down at her rescuer, whom had taken the blow for her, and gasped, choking down a scream. His head was just a bloody mass, completely unlike humanlike. And yet, just barely, Amara was able to make out a glowing insignia on the 'man's' forehead. "Michelle!" Amara choked, and realized for the first time that her would be rescuer was her own cousin, not even the man she'd thought her to be, but Michelle! "*WHAT IS THIS???*" Amara screamed out, leaping to her feet. She ran at the monsters blindly, unshed tears blinding her. With an angonized war cry, she lunged at a youma. Amara sucked in a breath, wincing from the pain in her lungs as she found herself on the ground, gasping. All was quiet. Looking around, she saw that the youmas and vines and monsters were gone. Looking behind her, over her shoulder while she was still on the floor, she saw that Michelle's body was gone. She was alone. "No, Warrior of Uranus, protector of the Princess," A voice boomed. It was somewhat harsh, as if disgusted with her. Amara leaped up, spinning around, trying to find the source. Her Sabor Sword came to her hand. "Who are you?" She called. "What is all this?" "You know the answer to that," The voice said, and you could almost hear the frown. "But even if I told you, would you beleive me?" "Good point," Amara sniffed. "Was that my test? Am I done, now?" "No, Amara," The voice sighed, and Amara blinked in slight surprise from the use of her earth name. "No, my child, we are far from done." "I want out of here!" Amara snarled. "How do I know that I won't be dead by the time that we're 'done?'" "You must..." "Must what?" Amara prompted, still panting from rage. "Trust me." *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Michelle gasped as she was suddenly thrust out of the watery enviroment she had landed in. Gasping for breath, dripping wet, she stumbled through what she would later recognize as a curtain. Quickly regaining her balance, she whirled as she felt the familiar sensation of millions of eyes on her. Michelle thought for her Test she might be in a mortal battle, or learning of her past, but instead... She was on stage. She looked around her in awe. The place was packed. It looked to be twice the size of a football stadium. Full of people wanting to hear music. *Her* music. She swallowed, barely taking notice that she now wore an excuizite gown of ice blue silk completely covered in aqua freshwater pearls. 'What is this place?' She thought. 'What's going on?' Then the reality that she had to perform before so many people overtook her. 'I have to to perfect!' She thought furiously. 'I must not fail!' Taking a deep breath, she detached herself from herthoughts and picked up her violin that sat on a stool nearby. She sat on the stool, near a microphone, the lights bearing down on her like she was in the middle of a desert, and got ready. Letting out a deep sigh, she drew the bow across the strings, exactly as she had every other time when she began this song, staring with a low, gentle hum... A high pitched squeal shrieked from the violin, the sound multiplied by the violin. Outwardly, the only giveawy that she was completely mortified was a wince. She messed up in front of thousands of people! She felt like crying. 'I'm not any good.' The thought rammed her like a bouldergon. And suddenly everything dissipated in an instant. "Wha-? Huh?" She said though her still mortified state. "You rely too much on your confidence, Michelle." A deep booming voice roared. "How-" "You must trust in yourself before I can help you regain your memories, and therefore, your birthright." And with the last remark she vanished from the stage as well. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Versia woke up with a whimper at her side. Versia groaned mentally. She *really* did not want to wake up. After that bout with Eclipse the night before, she had waited till she was sure he had gone, then had doubled back to the temple, wanting to talk to someone, anyone. Raye, she had felt, was the best to talk to since she knew that the priestess now had all her memories back. They had had a night full of laughter recounting various events from the Silver Millennium, and comparing memories. Eventually, they had gotten around to arranging for Versia to give Raye lessons on mastering her telepathic skills, which, Raye was quite surprised to remember, she *had't* had on the Moon Kingdom. At least if she had, it was so weak it was hardly there. A force like and earthquake shook Verisia, and she finally forced herself to open her eyes to see a frantic Rose at her bedside. "What is it, sweetheart? You have a bad dream?" Versia asked in a voice still hazed from sleep. Rose shook her head furiously, fear evident in her eyes. Versia finally took full notice of her foster daughters predictiment, and her head popped up, she knew what Rose was afraid of. An evil presence. Versia leaped out of bed and ran down the hall, dashing into her sister's bedroom and yanking the covers off her sibling's bed. "YOUMA!!!!!!!!" She screamed at Laxa, and dashed out of the room, leaving the still blinking Laxa to pull her mind back to the waking world. Sliding into the bathroom, Versia snatched up her old communicator. Grasping it as she muttered, "Tommorrow I upgrade this." And she pressed the Martian symbol. "Raye here," Raye answered sleeply. One look at Versia's expression and tone yanked her the rest of the way awake, and promptly paid attention. "Rose and I have senesed an evil prescence in DownTown Tokyo." Versia said placidly, the tone she used when she was most worried. This was the time they *least* needed an attack! "Wonderful!" Raye grumbled. "Why now?!" Raye said slapping her own forehead. "Youma or just residue?" Versia quizzed suddenly. No time like the present to see if her lessons the night before had paid off. Raye thought for a moment, her brow scrunched in concentration as her insignia flashed briefly. "A youma." "Thought so." Versia said. This was it! Versia was *sick* and *tired* of youmas waking her up in the middle of the night! Bad enough they showed up at all, but when they took away from what little beauty sleep time she had as it was? Oooooh...this youma was going down. "How many? And does it have a director near it?" Versia asked. "A evil general." Versia clarified at Raye's confused look. Directors were what they called the generals that stood by while the youmas did their dirty work. "Nope. Seems independant. And yes, only one." Raye rubbed her brow. "Shouldn't take too long; seems like a weaker one. I'll get the inners, you get your group; we'll meet you there." Raye said, Versia nodded. "You got it. Versia out." She closed the old commuincator and cursed under her breath. Looking out the bathroom window at the sun beginning to peek up over the horizon, she knew that this would be the start of a LONG day. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Sailor Universe arrived at the scene in the middle of downtown Tokyo alone after having to knock Laxa out of bed. Again. She sighed and headed towards an alleyway that had suddenly sprouted the green light. Turning into the alley, she saw Jupiter was there. The two smiled grimly at eachother, before heading out of the alleyway to find the others. Suddenly, Sailor Universe's knees buckled, and she fell. Jupiter was at her side immediately, helping her to her feet. Sailor Jupiter didn't bother to ask what was wrong; all the senshi knew of Verisa's weakness to extra dense negative energy. Universe growled inhumanly. She had to warn the others! This youma was *not* weak, despite Raye's analasys. She should have remembered that the Shadow Kingdom had never wasted weak minions on the Sailor Senshi. She turned her head slightly to whisper to Jupiter that she was ready to move forward, when suddenly she felt a blunt object make contact with the back of her skull. Black encompassed her vision and her last thought before the darkness filled her was, 'Why do I always have to get nearly killed?' She stayed down after that. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Sailor Galaxy slid around the corner of a sky scraper, and narrowed her eyes at the scene. However, she did not have time to analyze the situation, for she was drawn in right from the get go. Without time to think, Galaxy ran and tackled Mars out of the way of a boomerang attack that Mars had just dodged. Growling, the two stood again, and without a pause thrust her staff towards Mercury, who was desperately trying to scan the youma and find a weakness while under attack. Running over the blue haired scout, she gasped and her steps faultered as her knees suddenly smarted, stinging as if she had scraped her knees. Whirling around, she saw that no one was behind her, and the youma was heavily occupied trying to disrupt Mercury and fend off Mars and Venus. Jupiter had yet to arrive. So had Universe. It struck Laxa as odd that her sister wouldn't have been here before her. She had left, transformed and ready to go, when Laxa had still been yawning. Another pain, this time she felt like she was hit in the back of the head. That was when it struck her; the pain wasn't hers. Versia. To Be Continued... Hey, Cat! I did what I could right now. I just *had* to add the part where Versia wants to know why she almost dies a lot! I get that in our chats, I had to put that in! You can change it, but I had to put an inside joke in there! ^_^ Well, this could be the end of the chapter or we could add more. We'll talk about it when you get online. Happy Reading! ~Rose-chan aka Versia