Cor. I'm writing a Sailor Moon fic.... Written in response to all the new-male-character SM fics I've seen. Think "Anno Hideaki directs Sailor Moon". Dark, angsty, and meant to play with your head at least a little. Ah, and please forgive my unfamiliarity with Sailor Moon. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Iason, you have a visitor." The wiry 17 year old youth looked up from his work at his father, running his hand through his short brown hair. "Who is it?" "Just come and see." The older man smiled. ------------------------------------------------ It was a fine day in Tokyo. Bright and sunny. Very nice. Seidou Ryoku, third-year student at Kongou High School, was taking a stroll with his parents and little sister. It had been a good week, overall. A little stressful, to be sure--but that was what this relaxed walk through the park was for. What a great day to be out. ************************************************ An Oddzilla Productions piece. ************************************************ "From...from Lady V-Venus?" stammered Iason. The large man smiled. He absolutely dwarfed the youth, and that smile inspired a bit of mild terror in Iason. "Yes. I am her personal aide and representative, Vitus. I have come here to speak to you on her behalf. And for the Younger Venus, as well." "Er...." "My boy! Do not be so timid! You are not in any sort of trouble!" Vitus laughed and slapped him resoundingly on the back. "*kaff* Y-yes, sir...." "Iason, lad, as you know, Venus is the leader of the Senshi. And as leader of the Senshi, she has a protector. A personal guard. You know of Aias, do you not?" "Um. He is the Elder Venus's protector?" Something at the back of Iason's mind was starting to nag him. "Indeed. The Younger Venus will be assuming the role someday, of course. And she, in turn, will have a protector." Iason blinked. ------------------------------------------------ "Ryo-niisan, what's that?" Karin pointed over something that seemed to be moving around in a particularly thick bunch of trees. "Eh? No idea.... Let's look." The Seidous ambled towards the grove, prodded by mild curiosity. Along the way, Ryoku started to feel a little disoriented. He just put it off to his lack of sleep. ************************************************ A fanfic by Andrew Huang. ************************************************ Iason stood on the bridge of the Wing of Aphrodite, watching Earth pull away on the viewscreen. Destination: the Moon. He was excited, and still a little dumbfounded. He had a talent for fighting, yes, but he would never have guessed-- "Hey...what's...over there...." He pointed. With that, the fall of the Silver Millenium began. And within two minutes, it all ended for Iason Porakos. ------------------------------------------------ Ryoku stared in absolute horror at the explosion.... Chunks of concrete flew outward.... He could only stare, helpless.... His mother, father, sister fell.... He fell.... And before he lost consciousness, he saw a flash of colors. "I am the beautiful sailor-suited warrior...." Too late. Damn you. Too late. ************************************************ Mourning Star. Based on Takeuchi Naoko's Sailor Moon. ************************************************ Chapter 1 Ryoku awoke slowly. The wispy remnants of an odd dream, of beginning some sort of journey, clung on the borders of his mind, and faded away. He stared at the white ceiling above him, for the last time. He was going to be discharged from the hospital. Finally. A month later.... He had missed the funeral. Hell, he was barely out of his coma, when that happened...Father's eldest brother, Gomi-ojisan, had taken care of the details. (Three faces he'd not ever see again.) But since waking up, he had recovered remarkably quickly for such serious injuries. This soon, the doctors said, it must be a miracle. Ryoku had just shrugged. It wasn't a miracle that he had cared for, particularly. For now, Ryoku would be living in an apartment that his uncle was putting rent up for. The least he could do, he said. No, no trouble at all. Besides, you'll be going off to college soon. You did well on the juken...you can go wherever you want. Any university that suits you. Ojisan was going to help pay for that, too. It was nice to have a rich uncle. "I'd rather have my family," Ryoku whispered. (Too late. Damn you. Too late.) The nurse came in, to give him one last quick checkup. ------------------------------------------------ Life goes on, you see. Kind of, at least. A month and a week ago, the Senshi had felt absolutely terrible-- distraught wouldn't even begin to describe it--at the fact that almost an entire family had been killed by that attack. If only, if only they had gotten there even one minute earlier! And why, suddenly, had deadly force become involved? As bad as their previous opponents had been, they had been limited to draining life energy, which might put their victims out for a while. This, on the other hand.... Then again, it was strange that they managed to get there when they did at all.... Minako had gotten this odd "feeling", and led the Inners to the park, to find the creature just as it began its rampage. They consoled themselves with the fact that, at least, the young man had managed to survive. Poor guy--but at least he was alive. He could carry on his family name. And now, one month and one week later.... "Minako-chan, you're _still_ feeling weird?" "Well, yeah." She turned to face the other blonde Senshi. "Except that it...it's not so focused. I can't tell where. I just know that something is out there." The girls sat, lay, and lounged in various positions in Rei's living room. Their attention was suddenly drawn by Artemis padding in. "Artemis, y...." Minako trailed off. "Artemis? Are you okay?" The white cat turned slightly glazed eyes towards his charge. "I'm.... There's something...." "Hitting the catnip again, are you?" muttered Luna. _That_ snapped Artemis out of it. "Oh, shut up." Then, to the general audience-- "I saw something. Someone." "Definitely on the stuff." "LUNA! I'm serious!" yelled Artemis. This made everyone blink. Him shouting at Luna.... "Someone is about to remember." Remember? ------------------------------------------------ Sense of failure. Sense of an unfulfilled duty. Sense of great pain. Sense of.... Someone. Yes. But not just someone-- Ryoku's snapped awake. "Crap." He looked down at his math homework, sitting in his lap. "I hate complex analysis." He sighed. Homework was a bit of a bother, after having missed nearly a month of school. Falling asleep while doing it wasn't good either. Ryoku wiped at his eyes, began to scribble down the next complex integral, and nearly fell out of his chair as he saw the blood. It was a small smear over the back of his hand. Gingerly, he touched his right eye, the one he had just wiped. No pain. With growing horror, he walked through his new apartment to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. There, there it was...a thin trickle of blood, seemingly coming from the corner of his eye. He blinked a few times. A slight reddish tinge covered his vision. He sprinted to the doctor. ------------------------------------------------ "Do you...do you mean, another person from the Silver Millenium?" "I can't think of anything else it could be." Artemis stirred uneasily. "I haven't got the faintest idea who, though." "It's obvious that it has to do with Venus, though," declared Ami. "You and Minako are the only ones who seem to have any sort of... connection here." Luna frowned--at least, she frowned as best as a cat could. "You don't suppose...but they never found him." "What's with being so cryptic?" asked Rei. "Who are you talking about?" Luna drew herself up. "As the leader of the Senshi, Venus has always had a personal guard, a protector who came from Earth--" "Like my Mamo-chan?" "Er, in a way, Usagi-chan. Um. At the time of the...the Fall--" the girls could almost hear the capital F, and knew what exactly it meant, "--they had been searching for this guardian for the Younger Venus. They hadn't found him, though, so...." "Hmm...." came a dreamy voice. The girls sweatdropped, turning to look at Minako. "If that's true...I sure hope he turns out as...uh, why are you all...am I thinking out loud again?" They nodded. "Ah, heh, never mind." Rei turned to Ami. "Will your computer detect this?" "I doubt it. I mean, we don't even know anything about who we're supposed to look for. If he's there, at all, that is." "Give it a try. In the meantime," said Luna, slowly, "I'm going to go talk to Pluto...." ------------------------------------------------ Ryoku plopped back down at his desk. No blood. None, by the time he got to the doctor. Where had it gone? All that was left was the smear on his hand and a bit on his face, and that was hardly anything to go on. He sighed, tried to do more work, and gave up after a fruitless five minutes. One week since getting out of the hospital. He spent most of his time there in stony silence, staring out the window. He hadn't cried or visibly shown any grief since waking up and finding out the news. Well, that wasn't quite accurate. The doctors had been a bit surprised when he asked for newspapers from Kyoto. You already have all the Tokyo newspapers from...the day after, they said. And those newsmagazines, too. Why more? Why from Kyoto? And not just Kyoto, but from all over Honshu, and then from cities in Hokkaido, and.... Well, they weren't able to get copies from The Day After from every major newspaper, but there were many. And then from the rest of that week. And a few from the week after. The ones from while he had been in the coma, still.... The clippings now filled a two centimeter binder. Ryoku pulled out a notebook, kept next to that binder, and read something he had written shortly after coming out of the coma. The Sailor Senshi. Always thought they seemed a little silly, wearing those outfits of theirs. Strange attacks, too. Hey, they got the job done, though. No reason to complain. But they didn't get the job done. They got there too late. I hate them. I know it's irrational...they can't be everywhere at once. They probably have other things to worry about, too. And it's not like people hadn't gotten hurt before, during other monster attacks. But I still feel like grabbing them, and showing them the graves, forcing them to look at those pale gray markers. It was their job to stop the damn thing, and they got there too late. I hate them. And I hate myself for hating them. I don't like to hate people. Maybe it would have been better if I died with Mother and Father and Karin-chan. I couldn't even protect Karin The paper was ripped at that point, ending the entry. He closed the notebook, and sighed. There was nothing he could add...not at this time, anyway. Then he went to bed, early. Very early. ------------------------------------------------ "Hey...what's...over there...." He pointed. Vitus looked. "I've no idea. Helm! How far are we from the Moon?" "Only thirty minutes at standard intrasteller cruising speed. We--" *CRASH* The pilot's words were cut off as something rocked the ship. Vitus whirled. "What was that?" he barked. "Energy beam! We're being attacked!" "Ready wea...." The large man's words trailed off. "Damn scout ship isn't armed." Iason, first confused, suddenly felt angry. "I don't like this--" Another crash. This time, the power went out. Emergency lights blinked on, bathing the bridge in an eerie glow. Frustration set in. It wasn't supposed to be like this! He should be doing something. "Dammit! I--" A third blast. Iason pitched forward, smashing the right side of his face into the corner of a chair. The world exploded in agony and suddenly, he couldn't see.... "Dammit...." he gasped out, clapping his hand over the damaged eye. And the world exploded. For real. Then the world came back into being, as Ryoku opened his eyes. "What the HELL?" ------------------------------------------------ Mamoru sat up straight in his chair, his ten page paper momentarily forgotten. The sigil of Earth started to glow on his forehead. "Who?" "Venus's guardian. That is who," stated an ageless voice. Mamoru started out of his chair, spinning around to face Meiou Setsuna. He shook his head. "Please don't do that to me." The long-haired woman stepped out of the shadows. "Do you remember Aias?" She saw the slightly puzzled look on Mamoru's face. "I am talking about the Silver Millenium, now." He frowned in concentration for a moment, dredging up his memories of that ancient time. "Venus's...Elder Venus's guardian. All the Senshi of Venus had their guardians, as leader of the Senshi." He blinked, and looked up. "You don't mean--" "Yes, I do." "But...they never found him...the fall happened before he was discovered." "They did find him. But it was too late--Elder Venus sent her aide to get him on that very day." Mamoru didn't need to ask which day she meant. "But that was in time for Queen Serenity's command to send the souls to Earth?" "Yes." Mamoru's face broke into a wide grin. "That's great! We can use any allies we can get...what's wrong?" It was Pluto's frown that had alerted him. Rather unsettling, too. "It will not be that easy to recruit him. Do you remember the battle just over a month ago?" The young man's shoulders sagged. "The one...." "The one where all but one member of a family died," stated Pluto bluntly. She was never one to mince words when something had to be told. "All but one." He grimaced. "You don't have to be so harsh about...." He suddenly caught the slight emphasis on the word "one". "Oh, no." Pluto nodded. "And he has begun to remember his past, unlocked by that tragedy. It is an echo of the trauma that ended his previous life." "What do we do?" "You and the Inner Senshi will go to him. I have to stay out of this for the time being. Go to Ami and Minako, first. They will help you find him." "I...understand." Actually, Mamoru didn't, but this was Pluto, after all. ------------------------------------------------ Ryoku put the phone down and smiled bitterly. "Wow, you're out for a month, and you miss everything, don't you?" His best friend was out of the country, and would be for months. An offer that couldn't be refused, Jun's mother had said. He left a week after the incident, to visit someone...Ryoku had tuned out somewhat then, due to his disappointment. Must have been really important. Oh, they had sent him a note, for when he woke up, but it must have gotten lost in the hospital somewhere.... Why didn't he think of trying to contact Jun sooner, anyway? He had been awake for three weeks by now. Alone! So horribly alone. Of all the times to be alone. Mother. Father. Karin. There was a knock at the door. "Yes...?" A man slightly older than himself, and two younger girls, both very pretty, one with a white cat. Ryoku did a double take with the cat. A crescent? So perfectly formed in the fur? "Um. Seidou Ryoku?" asked the man. Ryoku nodded, shifting his eyes from the cat to the girl holding the cat. He thought he saw a momentary flash of...disappointment? Something odd in her eyes. As it was, no spontaneous twinges of romantic feeling or embarassed unease that would result popped up in anyone at all. "I'm Chiba Mamoru, and this is Mizuno Ami," indicating the short- haired girl, "and Aino Minako," pointing to the other. Ryoku finally looked back at Mamoru. "And?" He was feeling a growing sensation of uneasiness, and...something else. "We would like to talk to you. Please?" ------------------------------------------------ Frustration is really a terrible, terrible thing. A student works on the problem set that simply will not die. A writer stares at the screen of his word processor, finding no words to be processed. A singer just can't hit that one damned note right.... Then there is the frustration over things which have already happened. Failures that gnaw at a person, consumes him days, weeks, years after they happen. Some people can move on, and others...can't. Can you imagine a frustration that has festered for millennia? And what happens when it collides straight on with a frustration that has been burning for a month? ------------------------------------------------ "Ryoku-san? Are you all right?" Ami timidly waved her hand in front of the young man's face, now frozen with shock. "Artemis! What did you do?" Minako rounded on the white cat. "What's wrong with him?" "He's really remembering now. That's what's happening," Artemis answered, sorrowfully. "Wha...he's bleeding! From his eye!" Mamoru jumped up. But before he could quite do anything, Ryoku stood up, took a few steps, and fell over. Ami whipped out her computer and began scanning him. "I wish Pluto had prepared me better for this," murmured Artemis. End Chapter 1