A fan fic by Caleyndar. Rating: PG. Notes: This is the beginning of Part Five in "The Name Endymion...", and it follows straight on from Part Four. This is the introduction to a new section of the story, and is fairly important to what follows. Also, in my notes in the previous chapter, I said that reading on may be unwise. I referred to the final ending, though that does not mean it will be a sad ending. I was just warning you. Comments? Send them to: caleyndar@tac.com.au If you care to visit my web site (SM Fan Art submittions need!), the URL is http://members.xoom.com/portalsms/ Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me; only the few I make up. The story, however, is mine. The Name Endymion... Part Five: The War of Peace... Chapter One... Hearts were not meant to be broken. Perhaps that was why they could never be mended sometimes, no matter how gifted the healer. Yet humans, with their almost unnatural ability to adapt to the cruelest emotions, were often left only changed, not broken. If I were ever to give my beloved Serenity a ring to symbolise our immortal love, then I would give her one with the precious gem humans have named diamond. For it was the most beautiful in many respects, and the hardest known substance in our fragile universe. And it was clear, like glass, only infinitely more valuable, as she was, and it was untainted, like the love between us. It also seemed the most unlikely element to change over time, for I hoped our love would never change, only perhaps grow stronger as the years slipped by into eternity. My assumptions were wrong. Even the hardest gem changed under pressure, under pain. But I was foolish to have thought that the Prince of the Black Moon Kingdom would not be touched by seeing the one he loved embrace another, and kiss him with such pent up passion. Even in such simple and logical situations such as this I was a fool! I was no mettle fit to be a prince! Perhaps it was the heated glare of his icy blue eyes that finally made me look away from Serenity and back into the nightmare that surrounded us. His eyes which blazed with cold blue fire that they burned into mine, hating me with such energy and emotion I felt sure he would attack me on this bloodied battle field. I did not falter physically even if I was sick at heart. I silently stared back at him, almost challenging him, until he threw up his hands is anger and frustration and turned his back on everything, including his brother who tried to comfort him. I think I felt pity for him. I understood what he felt well. That utter despair when your guiding star died from you dismal life, and you felt lost in the pit of darkness which was bottomless. And did I feel guilt too? Making him feel such loss and pain? Perhaps. Because I was all to human at heart. I felt too much. It was my weakness. My heart, my soul. Slowly I stood up. Serenity supported me in doing so. My body was still weak from the poison. Kunzite quickly took over from Serenity, giving me a small smile. Sparing a glance towards my wound, I saw it was still bleeding, and to my despair, I found I could not use any of my power. I could read no mind, move nothing without physically touching it, and I could not materialise my weapons nor teleport. As much as I tried to conceal my shock and disappointment, both my generals who were blood bonded to me, as well as Serenity with whom I shared my soul, felt these emotions run through me. "Endymion, we will find some way to return you to your kingdom. Do not concern yourself with that now," Kunzite spoke up from beside me, trying to calm me down. "But what can I do! I am mortal like this!" I whispered back. "Until I regain enough energy, I am all to mortal and venerable! And the worst thing is, I can not protect Serenity." "My Lord, there is no threat now. Do not concern yourself with something which does not exist! In time, you will have your powers back, but you will not do so by expending what little strength you have now worrying over nothing!" Kunzite replied, shifting my weight across his shoulders. I shook my head, wanting to protest, but I knew he was right. But then, why was I so edgy? As if some great danger loomed on the horizon which no one could see but me? I looked down at Serenity who was a little distance away, talking softly to her soldiers and my other three generals. She was so dear to me. I never wanted to see her hurt by another, nor myself. I merely wanted her safe. "Endymion," Marius?s voice said in front of me, calling my attention away from Serenity. "Perhaps you could take the Weapon?s space craft? They would have to had come in such a contraption for they do not have the power of teleportation over such vast distances," he said softly, hands clasped in front of him, dazzling red velvet cloths dancing before my eyes. "Thankyou, Lord Marius, for that suggestion. It may be the one which will pull us through this predicament," Kunzite said, answering for me. Marius smiled gently. "There is no need to call me ?Lord?. Times change. I may have once bore that title, but now, I am just another man on the streets trying to survive." Marius spoke to me directly then, forcing me to listen to his kind voice. "Endymion, go as soon as you can. If you do take this space craft as your transport back to your kingdom, then it will take you some time to arrive there. Lestat, Louis and I will meet you there. And then we will talk to Armand. You may find what he has to say interesting, as I am surly to. Do not think though, that because two of the Weapons are dead, and for most part, the Shadow Kingdom is defeated, and that you and Serenity will so bring to a close this eternal war, that peace will flourish." He paused and looked towards my deceased family. "Is there anything you would like me to do for them?" I dared not look again at their bodies. I feared I would break down and cry. I shook my head, biting my lip. "No. I?ve said goodbye to them," I whispered, willing myself not to form my endless tears. "I do not think they would mind how there bodies are erased from this world. I think it would be better to make it look like an accident to my relatives here on Earth. They also knew I was back. If you can, please, make it look as if I died with them," I said, my voice faltering, words sticking in my throat. "And there is one last favour I must ask of you. I have told of my existence, my life, to two of my friends. I do not want them to think I have died. Please tell them I have left, that I am happy." Marius nodded, and looked at our house, the one I had grown up in. I caught the image of flames from him. He turned away, shoulder length blonde hair illuminant in the dim light. I watched as he motioned for Lestat and Louis to follow him towards the bodies, three silent and deadly hunters of mankind. Even their movements were graceful like that of dancers, giant cats who hunted the great plains in some counties on Earth. And in my light heady state, did I see them cut their wrists with their shape eye teeth to heal the broken flesh? The bodies of my family were whole once more, and these they carried with them into my home. The police officers were not happy with this development, though they were all still dazed by everything that had happened before their eyes. Things which they could not explain. Despite their confusion, they finally decided to step in and intervene. Few steps were taken when a flash of light radiated outwards from where Serenity and her Soldiers stood. I started, yet unable to run to her aid. But before any rash action over took my weakened body, I realised that the light did not touch any of us. Only those humans who looked on: the police officers, the families in their homes. And they froze. Pluto, her dark sea green hair a great silken mass behind her, kneeled on one knee in front of Serenity who told her to rise. The garnet orb of Pluto?s staff pulsed with living fire, keeping the world around us still whilst we breathed and lived. The three immortals returned, empty of their burdens. Marius nodded his head towards Pluto, and made his way towards them. Lestat and Louis walked silently towards to body of Sabre. "I can not believe this!" Lestat?s voice travelled to my attentive ear in the deathly silence. "Why am I cleaning up after someone else!" Louis just shook his head as he squatted down to look at Sabre?s wound which had been caused by my hand. With a few droplets of his enchanted blood, the wound was no more. His body too was carried into my old home. Sabre would be me. Burned until only a resemblance of a human remained. It seemed an act most incorrect to Heaven. To let the killer of my family burn in a funeral pry with them. But it was an act which had to be done for the sake of others. And to me, Heaven was still a place which existed only in the minds of those who believed in God. So it would not matter, would it? "Princess Serenity, I come to take Uranus and Neptune back to their posts around the Crystal Star Kingdom?s boundaries," Pluto said softly to Serenity. "I myself will return to the Gate of Time shortly afterwards. Our posts have been neglected for some time, and I fear what damage may have been caused in our absence. My spell will lose power shortly after I am gone." "Yes, of course. I thank you for you help here. You serve myself and my mother well," Serenity said, smiling softly, face glowing with kindness which was her nature. I watched Pluto turn her back and walk into a portal of nothingness, Uranus and Neptune following without another word. The Crystal Star Kingdom. Locked from our space by a Space Divider Field for centuries. What was so important about it that it had to be guarded by two Soldiers of the Moon Kingdom, as well as the Soldier of Time and Space? I did not like this. That once again questions were forming which I could not answer. This was how my previous suffering had been born. Too many question, too few answers. The entire house which had once been my home burst into a fireball, taking my mind off such dark thoughts. I watched as the flames licked at the roof and burned with intense heat which fell away in waves from it, hitting our bodies. The three vampires stood on the street in front of it, watching it, controlling it with powers they possessed, but which were unknown to us. Serenity took that moment to raise her Silver Crystal above her head and whisper healing words, sending warmth and forgetfulness to those frozen in time. My house still burned. It was black and charred, like mere twigs balancing, waiting for the wind to blow apon it and send it tumbling. Time passed. I watched my funeral pry. Only the last of the fires burned. Marius walked towards Serenity, and I followed with the help of Kunzite. I clumsily fell against Serenity, and to my surprise she caught me. I smiled at her and straightened up, holding her small warm form against me. Marius looked on, an amused expression on his face. Marius cleared his throat and spoke. "No one will question their means of death now. Sabre?s body has been burnt beyond recognition. The authorities will assume it is Darien Shields, the son of the Shields? family who recently returned." Marius stopped talking and looked at the many humans frozen in time and place. "You have erased from their minds this night?" "Yes. They?ll remember nothing when time flows again. And we must be leaving," Serenity said and looked up at me. "Endymion, you are not strong enough to teleport yet, are you?" "No," I answered softly. "I will ask Sword about using her ship," Kunzite said. He promptly departed towards the crying girl, and I could not help but follow, Serenity still by my side. The others stayed, confused about their course of action. Venus joined the one she loved. Sword looked up, eyes glazed, red, from her endless tears which even now poured down her flushed yet pale face. She cowered back in fear as we approached, and it reminded me of a frightened animal. I felt no burning hatred, but that may have just been my exhaustion, that it even drained such emotions from my being. I think I just wanted to sleep. Kunzite?s voice was tight when he spoke. Unlike me, he felt the turbulence of his emotions raging inside of him. He hated this girl for what she had just done to the humans I had once called my family. Like a wave of heat this anger poured off him, yet his training demanded that it stayed within his fragile physical shell, that he showed no emotion, and only complete his duties. "Sword, I requestion on behalf of my Prince, that we be allowed to use your ship to return to our Kingdom," Kunzite said through clenched teeth. "We will require your help, and in return, we will consider it payment for your crimes here today. Once we arrived at our destination, you will be free to leave if you so wish." Each word was stressed. My High General was against this. Only my condition forced him to ask for Sword?s help. Would he, had we not needed her help, have killed her by now? All I could feel was Serenity?s warmth against my left side and the chill of the night wind on my right. Other thoughts began to flee me. The sweet darkness of unconsciousness beckoned me, and I shook aside those random thoughts which fluttered through my mind like moths. Through this haze I glimpsed Venus put a gentle hand on Kunzite?s shoulder, and my general seemed to calm down by a few degrees. Sword had shakily rosen to her feet, and her tears had dried, leaving only trails down her cheek and reddened eyes. "It can only fit seven passengers and myself," Sword whispered in so soft a voice that the breeze almost snatched away her words. She dared not look at me. The ground seemed to capture her blue watery eyes. Eyes which I had almost trusted once. They had been so compassionate. Blue with gold and silver flecks reflecting the starlight from the Heavens above and in the pool below. Again I banished my thoughts and forced myself to speak. "That is more than enough," I said with a voice almost as weak as her own. "Only I need to be flown back. My generals can teleport." "Yes, it is enough. But I can not allow you to be the only passenger. I will accompany you, Prince Endymion," Kunzite said in the same stressed voice. His whole being was distrust. "And I will also," Serenity said quietly. I wanted to protest. I did not want to place her in any danger, and though I felt pity for Sword, the malice gone for now, I did not trust her. She had deceived me before. She had stood by and watched as her brothers tortured Serenity and Diamond. Curse my weak body! Could I not just gain enough strength to teleport! Weak, pathetic human! Yet. Yet I wanted it this way. I wanted Serenity close to me. I did not want her to leave me again, no matter if it was only for a short period of time, a few days. What a selfish being I was! "Then I will come as well," Venus?s voice cut into my thoughts. She smiled up at Kunzite, who momentarily broke out of his angered state and smiled back. Strange. Had I ever seen him smile genuinely before? I could not recall. "If Princess Serenity must accompany Prince Endymion on this voyage, then I will also. I still have a duty to keep my honour and word, and see the princess home to her Mother, Queen Selenity," Diamond spoke up from a distance away, his back to us, voice choked with emotion yet desperate to hide it. Was he crying? I knew I would have been, were I him. It was decided, our course set. Seven passengers on a little streamline ship, floating in darkness. What would fate bring? Dared I to think of it not. I only half watched with heavy eyelids sliding over my vision as we walked at an achingly slow pace into the dark woods, leaving the frozen world behind. The three remaining Soldiers and Generals has already teleported back to their respective kingdoms to being the journey of recreating destroyed worlds and ending our seemingly endless war. The vampires had disappeared into the night, promising that they would be among the welcoming committee to greet us as we arrived in the Dark Dragon Kingdom. I could see through the thick dark, almost solid foliage, the still staring headlights of cars on the main road. Time for this world had not yet continued it?s eternal journey. Serenity?s warm hand clasped in mine comforted me in this darkness. The light of the moon and the stars touched us not through the net of branches and leaves which formed the canopy above us. But sadly, I could hardly feel her. My body was too far gone into that dreaded sleep of nightmares and dreams. It was an effort to place one foot in front of the other, let alone feel the beating heart of her hand in mine. I was almost thankful for the Weapons? hovering contraptions. They led the way, clearing a path for those behind. In my state, I would have fallen flat on my face otherwise, with all the thick branches and abundant leaves blocking my path and obstruction the invisible ground. The shrubs disappeared from in front of me, opening out into a clearing artificially made by the forced landing of the space craft which sat like a deformed silver boulder in the middle, stubborn and impossible to move. The monstrous machines hovered over to a side panel of the ship, almost invisible to the human eye, and loaded themselves obediently into it. All that occurred after was nothing to me. It was a blur of dark colours, my eyes refusing to separate the different light waves and making them recognisable shapes. A rectangle of light accompanied by a hiss of released pressure. Muffled voices floated pass me and faded. A warm hand tugged at me. Tender lips against my numbed cheek. Words of comfort, whispering of sleep. Alone, but not alone. Sealed off from the world, yet accompanied by all that mattered. My glazed deep blue eyes stared into nothing, flashes of gold in long streamers, pools of sky blue reflecting my very soul. Relief flooded through me as soft hands guided me to sit, taking the weight of my body from my weary and strained long legs. Those same hands, with the touch as light as butterfly wings, glided over my body bound in its hard cold armour and removed it, leaving only the black pants. My body was able to breath once more, but the chilled air bit into my wound, sending rivulets of fire down my arm and into my chest, making me cry out in pain. "I am all to weak," I whispered through clenched teeth. Those words hardly seemed to be mine. I could not feel my tongue making such sounds. "We all fear pain," was the only reply, and a cool soothing lotion pressed against the wound on my arm, caressed by a tight bandage against my inflamed skin. I let silence surround us until I summoned the nerve to speak once more, gathering what remained of my strength. "I want to say so much. I could speak for a life time and not conjure from my soul all the words I wish to pass from my throat. But I am so tired," I whispered. "I just want to be with you. And by that, I say I am selfish." "All living things, to some degree, are selfish. We always put ourselves first. It is our nature to survive, our habit to want to be happy and filled with love. Do not say you are selfish in such a hateful tone. I do not want to see you hate yourself. And I want to be with you too," Serenity answered softly, silky warm hand gently touching my hand which rested apon my knee. My lips parted to ask another question, but her lips covered mine, silencing me. When she finally pulled away, her only word to me was "sleep". So I did, lying beside my angel, her warm body pressed against my cold one, our legs intertwined, as were our arms and hands. Did I believe that this resting of my body and mind, next to the one I loved, would be peaceful? Untroubled by dreams or nightmares? I think perhaps I did believe that as I sank into unconsciousness. Thus that was why I was so shocked, so surprised, when a vision entered my closed eyes and invaded my mind, making false those fragile beliefs. Standing amongst ruins. Ancient marble columns littered the cracked mosaic floors, and faded painted ceilings filled with angels were in pieces all around me. Only the empty blue sky covered me. Only the lonely wind whistled through the once beautiful structures. "Peace, without a certain element will never last." Words very similar to those which Elios had said to me in our last meeting. Yet this was not his voice. I turned round and round, arms flung out, eyes searching wildly for the speaker. There was none. I opened my mouth to call out, to say ?Who are you!?. An invisible force formed. It took shape and surged down my very throat. Down and down it went. I could feel it travel the length of my body and surround my heart. How I wanted to scream! But I could not! Even movement was deprived from me! Like icy fingers this force clutched my heart. It tore it open. And inside. Inside, a beautiful golden crystal, shining with brilliant yellow light, as bright and warm as the very sun! This it ripped from my heart! This it took by force from my body! "The Golden Crystal," the same voice said. There was no sense of evil, no hint of anger. "The Crystal of Dreams. This is the last element." The tiny crystal flew up and up. Into the silent cloudless blue sky. And shattered it. The sky fell. My world was destroyed. And I was wiped from existence. End Part Five, Chapter One.