aka Eric den Biesen http://www.eagle.ca/~greywolf/ Ok, Sailor Moon fans! Without further ado, here is chapter one of Guardians. Here, you will meet the Guardians for the first time. I hope you like them. Special Thanks: "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl for editing, good ideas and comments, and providing me with Sailor Moon stories to enjoy! Thanks Will! Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi and all terms, names etc associated with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. The Guardians and everything pertaining to the Star Kingdoms are MINE! Sailor Moon: Guardians of the Star Chapter One: Return to Alare As the patrol topped the hill, the leader viewed the country ahead thoughtfully. Dense forests broken periodically by farms, large and small, covered the land. he thought, He also thought it was the best of all the Kingdoms of the Star, but he was a bit biased he admitted to himself. The white haired leader's name was Ashe. The stylized flame symbol on his forehead proclaimed him to be one of the Guardians of the Star, defenders of the Kingdoms of the Star. The symbol also showed his power over the element of fire, the most destructive of the five elements. Ashe, however, was unconcerned. He'd been a Guardian for many years and was comfortable with his powers. He was about to motion the patrol forward when his mount's mindvoice interrupted. Ashe looked where his war unicorn indicated and spotted the small white form lying in the grass. He motioned to his men, and the patrol left the road and cantered across the field towards the mysterious figure. When they reached the figure, Ashe leaped down from his mount and approached. he thought as he knelt next to her supine form. She was wearing a short blue skirt with a big red bow at the back. Her blond hair was done in two balls with very long pony tails descending from them. Red boots almost reaching her knees, covered her lower legs. She was lying face down, but Ashe was struck by a memory. This clothing was very familiar. He HAD seen it before but just couldn't remember where. He noticed her broken right arm with alarm. He got up and rushed to his mount and opened the saddle bags. "She was attacked!" he snapped to his men as he removed splints and bandages from his packs. "Spread out and search for anything out of the ordinary. Something tells me to get you to keep an eye open for others dressed similarly to her. Now go!" The eight riders scattered in all directions while Ashe returned to the injured girl's side. He carefully took her uninjured wrist and found her pulse to be a little weak, but not dangerously so. Sighing with relief, he turned his attention to her broken arm. Grabbing wrist and elbow firmly, he slowly pulled the broken bones into alignment. A soft moan of pain came from the unconscious girl, but at Ashe's quick glance, she showed no further sign of consciousness. When he had finished splinting and bandaging her arm, he reached for her shoulder and gently turned her over. Another red bow was at chest height with a crescent moon broach at its center. When he looked at her face, his eyes widened with shock. Memories swirled through his head. Memories of the fight against Morgoth, the vastly powerful Death Dragon. A fight the Guardians were losing when the Sailor Senshi and their leader came out of nowhere and threw their powers into the fight. With the combined powers of Guardians and Senshi, Morgoth was cast down, defeated. His last sight of this girl was when she and the others were returned to their own universe through one of Syrypus' World Gates. He snapped back to the present and noticed the large bruise on the side of her head. He probed it gently, but could find no fractures in the skull. "Well, Princess," he muttered under his breath, "What are YOU doing here and in THIS condition?!" "Oh man! What a babe!" an admiring voice came from behind him. Preoccupied with his memories and the Princess, he had not noticed the return of his men. His face flushed with anger, he turned to confront the speaker. "Unless you'd care to spend the rest of your life digging latrines, Corporal," he growled, "I'd suggest a more respectful tone when speaking of Princess Serenity!" As the other men exclaimed in surprise, the corporal's face turned red and he stuttered an apology. Ashe nodded curtly. One of his men brought a blanket from his saddle pack and they wrapped the unconscious Serenity within its warmth. Ashe climbed back into the saddle and one of his men handed the blanket wrapped Princess up to him. He carefully settled her in front of him, one arm around her to hold her in place, and turned to his men. "The rest of you continue the patrol," he ordered crisply, "Corporal, you come with me!" "OK Ari!" he said to his mount, "Make for Caladon! The fastest gallop you can muster!" The rest of the patrol sat and watched as the two riders disappeared in the direction of Caladon, four miles distant. Ashe and his companion stopped on the last hill and looked out over the Reu River valley. The valley stretched for miles and was filled to overflowing with the city of Caladon, Throne City of the Star Kingdom of Caladonia. The city was surrounded by massive battlements of glowing white, nearly thirty feet high and the Royal Palace at the City's center could easily be seen, its massive spires piercing the sky. As they watched, a large three masted schooner lifted off from the StarPort, bound for the Moon Kingdom of Tarandar judging from the colors on its flag. Although science and magic had melded to create the great star sailing ships and make them the safest way to cross the vast spaces between the Kingdoms of the Star, Ashe HATED traveling on those graceful vessels. They looked so flimsy, he kept seeing one fly apart while deep in the aether, miles from safety. An irrational fear, he knew, but no less strong for all of that! He shook his head impatiently, and with his companion behind him, headed for Caladon's main gates at a gallop. As they thundered through the gates, the guards, recognizing Ashe, saluted briskly. Ashe reined to a stop and turned to his companion. "Corporal, go straight to the Temple of Shalhanna and ask Soloman the Grey and Nonja the Silent Shadow to come to the Royal Palace at once!" he ordered. His companion saluted wearily and galloped up one of the side streets, soon disappearing from sight. Ashe continued on his way to the palace. He was deeply concerned. Serenity had not shown any signs of awakening during the whole trip, and that was a very bad sign. He knew her real name, of course. All the Guardians did, even the ones that never met the Senshi. Here though, their ranks would carry more clout than their other identities, and so the Guardians had made sure that outside their ranks, everyone else knew the Senshi only as the Princesses they were. Now, here was one of them, the leader of them all, in fact. Her wounds had been tended and still she did not wake. He could sense, vaguely, that she was also wounded in a way he couldn't see. He was so preoccupied, that he never noticed the Guards at the palace gates salute as he thundered through. Reining to a halt at the main doors to the Keep, he leaped down so nimbly, the girl in his arms never stirred. He ran up the steps and through the doors the guards held open for him. Greywolf and Aisllynnia stood waiting for him. Greywolf was a tall elf with gray hair and eyes. High Chief of the Shaelite Elves and a Guardian commanding the powers of light, shown by the three concentric circles on his forehead. Aisllynnia, or Lynn for short, was Crown Princess of the Star Kingdom of Tarandar on Alare's moon. She was a Shalhananite Elf, the second of the three elven races. With waist length silver hair and violet eyes, she was a striking woman, She was also the most powerful of the Guardians as she commanded the fifth element, aether, and the eight pointed star on her forehead proclaimed this. She was also Greywolf's lifemate after having Pair Bonded with him two years past. "Ashe, what's up?" Greywolf asked worried. "I don't know if you'd believe it, Wolf! Lynn," Ashe said turning to Aisllynnia, "You were very close to this child when she was here. Take a look and tell me if I'm hallucinating!" Apprehensively, she approached Ashe and gently moved the blanket aside to get a better look at the girl's face. She paled immediately as she recognized her. "Usagi!" she whispered, horrified, "What happened, Ashe? How'd she get back here and why is she in THIS kind of shape?" "Your guess is as good as mine, Lynn," he replied, shaking his head, "We found her in a field about four miles from Caladon. No sign of anything else. She's shown no sign of coming to." As they were talking, they were being lead to another area of the palace that Ashe knew held rooms for visitors. Lynn opened a door and quietly lead them inside. As Greywolf pulled the covers back, Ashe laid his burden on the bed carefully. Aisllynnia sat on the side of the bed and stroked Usagi's forehead soothingly. The short time they had known each other was not short enough to prevent her from becoming very fond of this child. Usagi returned that affection, calling her Aisy-chan, an affectionate nickname if she ever heard one. Her memory drifted back to two years ago, after the defeat of Morgoth. The Senshi had returned to Caladon with the Guardians because at that time, they had not yet learned how to open the gate to Earth to allow the Senshi to return to their own universe. During the research to find a way to do this, Senshi and Guardian grew to know each other very well. During this time, Aisllynnia had gone for a walk in the palace gardens. She became aware of the sound of weeping, and following it to the source, came upon two of the Senshi, Usagi and Rei. Usagi was crying and Rei was trying to comfort her. Rei, however, was not known for her patience and was trying not to let Usagi see that she was getting fed up. Aisllynnia stepped from the bushes and walked over to them. Rei looked up hopefully. "Do you think you can talk some sense into her, Aisllynnia?" Rei asked her, "I'm not having much luck here!" Lynn nodded. "You can go, Rei," she responded, "I think I can help her this time. I believe I know what she feels." Rei nodded and left them alone. Lynn sat on the bench and pulled the sobbing Usagi onto her lap and rocked her while making soothing sounds. She was sobbing about responsibility, she wasn't up to it, she wanted to be normal, she couldn't lead. All the things that Lynn remembered sobbing on HER mother's lap about, not so very long ago. Lynn just rocked and let Usagi cry herself out. When the crying stopped, Lynn spoke. "You are not unique in feeling sorry for yourself, child," she said calmly, "Not too long ago, I wept on my mother's lap for the same reason you're weeping now." Usagi looked startled at this revelation. "But, you're so calm and collected!" she exclaimed, "You know your full power AND you're a born leader!" Lynn smiled. "I was not born that way, little one!" she laughed softly, "At your age, I was as insecure and as unsure of my power and ability to lead as you are! The trick is, do not listen to the complaints of others unless you KNOW they speak true. The only one who truly knows if you're doing your best is you! You will find, in the long run, that you, yourself, are your hardest taskmaster!" She smiled again. "Just do your best and hold back nothing and as you get older, you will gain far more than you'll lose!" Usagi smiled back and hugged her. "Thank you Aisy-chan!" she said gratefully, "I needed that. I gotta go. The others were worried about me!" She watched Usagi leave the garden with a soft smile on her face. She was brought back to the present when Soloman and Nonja quietly entered the room. Without fanfare, Soloman knelt next to the bed and gently took Usagi's injured arm in his hands and concentrated. Nonja sat on the opposite side of the bed and placed both hands on the sides of Usagi's head and soon both healers were deeply entranced. Greywolf and Lynn watched anxiously while Ashe was busy preparing something near the fireplace. After about a half hour, both healers sagged as they came out of their trances. Soloman wearily removed the splint from her now healed arm. "That was......difficult!" Nonja said wearily, "Like swimming against a current. Her PHYSICAL injuries are healed now." Greywolf turned to her quickly, catching her emphasis on the word _physical._ "Are you saying she has non-physical injuries?" Nonja shrugged but Soloman nodded. "Yes we are. You know we can only detect the physical, but, look at her!" They looked, and despite the healing, she was very pale with dark shadows under her eyes. "She should be glowing with health after that healing!" Soloman continued, "Instead, she looks terrible! I'd say something has wounded her spirit." Greywolf shook his head but Lynn interrupted. "He's right Wolf!" she exclaimed, "I'm looking at her with Mage Sight and the Ginzuishou is glowing faintly to my Sight! I can almost see it feeding her energy! We need Haeth and we need her now!!" "If her soul is wounded, then Haeth is already on her way!" Greywolf replied, putting a comforting hand on his lifemate's shoulder, "You know that Soul healers can feel an injured soul anywhere on the planet. The Shieldwall, however, is a good distance north of here and even in her natural form, she likely won't arrive before tomorrow." All attention turned to Usagi as she moaned. Her eyes fluttered open to see Greywolf's concerned gray ones staring back at her. Ashe gave her a brief glance before returning to his concoction. Nonja took her pulse while Soloman looked over her shoulder. At sight of Lynn, however, Usagi's eyes brimmed and overflowed and with a hysterical wail, she threw herself into her friend's arms. Lynn wrapped her arms around the wildly sobbing girl and motioned the others silently out of the room. Quietly, the others left Lynn alone with Usagi. Ashe stopped to place a glass on the table beside the bed and then left silently with the others, closing the door behind them. Lynn rocked the younger girl in her arms as she listened carefully to the story Usagi managed to tell between heaving sobs. Several times during the tale, Lynn's eyes widened in shock, but she gave no indication of this to the grieving girl in her arms. Finally, her story told, her sobbing slowly subsided and she leaned wearily against Lynn's shoulder. Lynn thought with horror, Gently, Lynn reached up and removed Usagi's tiara revealing the glowing crescent moon beneath. Usagi looked up questioningly and noticed that Lynn's star is also glowing. "I need more information, Little Rabbit," Lynn explained, "I believe I know who did that to your guardians, but I need to hear the voice to be sure. I'm afraid we must mind-link for this." "Afraid?" Usagi questioned. Lynn nodded soberly. "Yes, afraid. The link will give me the information we need, BUT, it will be traumatic for both of us because we both will relive that event!" Usagi looked very frightened at that, but nodded. Both their symbols began to glow brighter as Lynn initiated the mind-link. Scenes of chaotic battle and horror as the Senshi are struck down, one by one. The Soul Eater speaking. At this, Lynn whimpered in terror. She heard this voice for the first time when she was kidnapped two years ago and taken to Black Spire Reach, Morgoth's dark fortress beyond the Reach. Abruptly, the link concluded. Usagi had little time for grief, Lynn was trembling violently and whimpering in terror. This terrified Usagi even more and before long, they were both sobbing on each others shoulders. "M..M..M..org..oth!" Lynn stuttered shuddering with terror. Lynn closed her eyes and with a supreme effort, managed to gain control over herself, but she was still deathly pale. "Here," she said, taking the sleeping draught Ashe left on the table, "Drink this or you'll never sleep, and you need to." Usagi took the glass but didn't drink it. "Will you help us, Aisy-chan?" she pleaded, "I know how afraid of Morgoth you are, just as afraid as I was of Metallia. Will you help us?" Lynn nodded reassuringly, despite her fear. "Yes, we will help because we must!" she promised, "Morgoth is a threat from THIS universe that yours is ill equipped to deal with!" Reassured, Usagi downed the draught, making a face at the bitter taste, and in moments, was asleep. Lynn placed Usagi's tiara and the empty glass on the table beside the bed and quietly left the room, closing the door behind her. She noticed the guards standing on each side of the door and smiled. Her lifemate always was one to read her thoughts. "Allow no one past you who is not a Guardian!" she told them. At their salute, she turned and headed for the Star Chamber, the meeting hall of the Guardians. After leaving the room, Greywolf turned to Ashe. "Place two guards on this door" At Ashe's nod, he regarded Nonja. "Nonja, summon the other Guardians, besides bringing them here, Haeth will sense the summoning and may fly faster as a result!" Nonja saluted and ran off. Greywolf motioned to Soloman and, together, they proceeded to the Star Chamber. Greywolf smiled as he heard the Summoning Bell's deep mournful call. The others should be here in minutes. And sensing the Bell, Haeth will make maximum speed in getting here. Greywolf and Soloman entered the vaulted door leading into the Chamber. A vast room with a large table on one side, and empty floor on the other, on which was etched the symbol of a huge eight pointed Star. They moved to the table and seated themselves and waited for the arrival of the others. Nonja and Ashe entered the room five minutes later. Kaylen the Shadow Tracker arrived at a run, with the whirl wind symbol on his forehead proclaiming his control of the powers of Air. Kreigh and Ivee entered shortly after. Both bore the circled tree symbol representing the Earth powers. Syrypus followed, the spiral gate symbol showing his control of Gates, Portals and Doors of all kinds. Shortly thereafter, Lynn arrived, and they all moved to the table to discuss the current situation. "OK people!" Greywolf opened. "We have a serious problem on our hands! A few hours ago, one of our patrols, led by Ashe, found an unconscious young woman lying in a field, four miles from here. Closer examination revealed her to be none other than Princess Serenity!" "What!" "You're not serious!" "What happened?!" Greywolf held up his hands to cut off the exclamations. "If you'll be patient, we'll tell you! Now, she suffered from a concussion and her right forearm was broken. Both injuries have been healed, but the Healers inform me that they think she has a spiritual injury and Lynn's Mage Sight seems to confirm it!" Ivee turned to face Greywolf. "We need Haeth, then! Do you know where she is?" "She should be on her way and will probably arrive tomorrow," he answered. Greywolf looked at his mate. "Did Usagi give you any idea of what happened?" Lynn nodded somberly. "Yes, she did. Prepare yourselves, it's worse than we could have imagined! First off, they were attacked by a Soul Eater!" Syrypus spoke up. "That's impossible! Soul Eaters are native to THIS universe, more's the pity. They don't exist in her home universe. Believe me, I know!" Lynn smiled at him and nodded, but her violet eyes were haunted. "I know, but I mind-linked with her, and their attacker was unmistakable. It was definitely a Soul Eater! Now, the Senshi should have been able to defeat it, but it was controlled by something they couldn't beat. Usagi was banished here on purpose, so that she'd die alone. Make no mistake, she IS dying. It's thanks to the Ginzuishou that she's still alive!" Greywolf looked seriously concerned at that point. "Will she last long enough for Haeth to get here?" Lynn nodded. "Yes, provided she doesn't need to use the Ginzuishou's power for anything. As long as it has power to feed her, she won't die, but, she WILL get sicker! The spell that was used on the Senshi IS reversible but we may have to fight Morgoth to rescue them!" At that name, pandemonium reined. Greywolf moved immediately to his mate and placed his hands on her shoulders. She sighed and leaned back against him. The others quieted as they noticed how pale she was. Obviously, she had not forgotten Black Spire Reach or what she had suffered there. "There's one other thing you should know," she stated shakily, "There have been changes since we last met the Senshi. Including Usagi, they are no longer five, but ten!" "Well", Greywolf said uneasily, looking down at Lynn, "Our first order of business is obviously to rescue Usagi's guardians, but with nine to rescue instead of four, well, our chances of having to fight our old foe are that much greater!" Syrypus looked up thoughtfully. "I can build a gate to the battleground if Lynn will link with me and give me the feel of the place." Lynn nodded her agreement. Kriegh and Ivee exchanged glances and Ivee nodded as Kriegh stood. As all eyes turned to her, she spoke. "Ivee and I can go through the gate and teleport the Senshi through. It'll be tiring, but faster than carrying 'em! We need to be fast, you KNOW the Dark One will sense the gate!" "I'll go through too," Kaylen offered quietly, "I can use my air powers to cast a shield over the area. It may hold him off long enough for us to get them all here." "It just might," Lynn returned thoughtfully, "He used a great deal of power the defeat the Senshi. He won't have recovered yet and should still be weakened!" Lynn moved to Syrypus and took his hand. He stared into her eyes for a moment. "OK, I got it! One gate coming up!" They all moved across the room to the large eight pointed star etched into the floor. A Guardian moved to each point and Syrypus moved to the center of the star to build the gate. He looked around at the others. "Everyone ready?" At their nods, he turned his attention inward, to construct the Gate. He extended his arms and after a short time, his hands and symbol began to glow with power. A spiral swirling luminosity began to form in from of him. It glowed brighter and brighter, until, with a blinding flash, the Gate burst into existence. The Guardians crowded around Syrypus as he peered through the Gate. Beyond, they could see a large green area, with trees scattered about. The large area of dead soil and the statues scattered about indicated that they had indeed found the right place. Syrypus turned to the others, grinning tightly. "OK, who wants to go first?" End of Chapter One NEXT: Battle, rescue and Mamoru too! Be There! Chapter 2: Rise of the Shining Star!