This story does not fit into any episodes of the Anime series or any parts in the Manga, unlike my first one. This one is a story in itself. Again, Uranus and Neptune are only friends, not gay. It just makes my writing easier. And I use the Manga characteristic of Zoisite, not the Anime, so he is not gay, either. This story is rated PG for language and stuff (Nothing serious, so don't worry. The worse thing possible would be the word "damn" (^_^)) Oh yeah, PLEASE email me and tell me what you think of my story. Critiques, compliments, suggestions, questions, anything would be fine. Just FEED MY EMAIL INBOX! I think it will die of starvation soon! Usual disclaimers: Sailor Moon and all its characters and likeliness belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha/Toei. English translation is made possible by DiC. My email address: ml_eclipse@hotmail.com << >> = thoughts [ ] = author's note Well, enough of my babbling! I hope you'll like this fanfic! Enjoy! ======================================= If I had but two little wings And were a little feathery bird, To you I'd fly, my dear! But thoughts like these are idle things, And I stay here. But in my sleep to you I fly: I'm always with you in my sleep! The world is all one's own. But then one wakes, and where am I? All, all alone. Sleep stays not, though a monarch bids: So I love to wake ere break of day: For though my sleep be gone, Yet while 'tis dark, one shuts one's lids, And still dream on. ================ ===================== Bloom of the Crystal Rose by Cosmos The Second Petal: A Dream or a Nightmare? "Serenity you must get out of here!" A beautiful woman with silver gray hair yelled at a young girl of about 10 years standing beside her gripping her hand with fear. She looked up at the woman, whose hairstyle was exactly like hers, and cried, " No Mother! I can't leave you. I *won't* leave you!" "This is no time to argue with me, Princess Serenity!" She said angrily at her daughter. "You know that you must escape!" "But what about you? Please mother I don't want to lose you!" Her mother looked down at her as her gaze softens. Her beautiful blue eyes slowly filled with painful tears as she said, "I have told you long ago that there may be times that I will not be by your side, but I will always be with you." "How?" The young girl cried through her rain of tears. The woman pointed a delicate finger to her chest, "I will be in here?in your heart." Suddenly a blast sounded from outside and they both turned around to see a tall man with a long white cape flowing violently behind him as he ran toward them yelling, "Quick Serenity, if you must send her away it must be now!" "Father!" The young girl cried. "Father please don't make me go! I don't want to leave you!" The man with handsome features and light golden hair looked at her. His emerald eyes spoke of unbelievable sorrow. Much like her mother, he also knew of what destiny has set for his young daughter. The crystal had showed them that when she was born along with her second sigil glowing on her forehead behind her crescent moon. He wished that he can prevent what she will go through, but the future, all their future rested on her small shoulders. What must be, must be. He just hoped that things would eventually turn out well. He ran to her and held her small shaking body in his powerful arms. Sadly he whispered the last words into her ears, "Oh my sweet daughter! I wish I could take away all this grief you are now suffering, but please my child, do not loose hope. You will not leave us for we are forever with you, watching over you. I promise you that we will see each other again. This won't be the last time. When the crystal rose blooms then we will be together again." Then a warm light slowly gathered around her body. He could feel her small form gradually slipping out of his grasp as the power of the crystal envelops her and sends her away in a beam of pure light. He closed his eyes as his grip tightened around her fading form in his last attempt to hold on to her. Before she vanished entirely she heard him whisper, "Remember Serenity, when the crystal rose blooms?" "FATHER! MOTHER!" She screamed? "Aaah!" a young girl woke up in a torrent of sweat in a large dark room. The pale moonlight drifted into a large window draping over the room like a thin silk curtain. "W-what?" she gasped with heavy breathing. As the images from her dream slowly faded away and her mind began to awaken from the drowsiness of sleep, she remembered the events of yesterday?at least she thought it happened yesterday, but now she was not quite sure. "W-where am I?" she asked. She recalled jogging around in the field by the orphanage when she saw a light from behind the trees. She then remembered of being captured by that light, but she couldn't remember anything after that. She looked around the large room in bewilderment. With only the pale moonlight to aid her eyes she was able to pick out a few details within the room. She noticed that the room has a bluish marble floor with a small table set close to the window. A handcrafted vase with intricate designs was placed on the mahogany table containing a large bouquet of pure white roses, the most beautiful she had ever seen. The bed she was in was very large with pale blue-gray satin covers and a thick blanket designed with beautiful animals. A small rustling sound came from a large door to her right. She quietly tiptoed her way from the bed toward the door. She placed her ears against the cool wooden frame and listened carefully. Yes, she was right! There are people talking outside her door. <> With great care, she eased the door open creating a small opening large enough for her to see her captives. She saw only four of the group of people standing outside. Her eyes flickered quickly over their faces. There was a young girl, about her age, with raven hair in a strange outfit consisting of a red skirt and white vest, at least she thought it was a vest. The other two figures were dress much like her except one was slightly older in dark blue with short wheat colored hair and the other girl, also her age, standing next to the blonde was in a light blue outfit with slightly longer blue hair. The third person, standing slightly separate from the girls was a tall young man with ebony hair wearing a black and dark blue armor. He had the most beautiful deep blue eyes she has ever seen. The colors of his eyes faded to a lighter shade or darkened deeper according to his emotions. Letting her eyes roam his figure the beautiful golden hilt of his sword caught her eyes. <> Carefully closing her door again, she turned around and leaned against the frame while she thought, <> She grimaced at the thought of that sword slicing across her throat. She quickly ran to the only other exit in the room, the window. Looking out she thanked the stars that they did not place her in some extremely high place like the Tower of London or something. <> Glancing back to the bed, an idea came to her mind. Within moments she had tied all the sheets, corner to corner, to form a good size rope made of bed sheets and blanket. Tying the end of her "rope" to the bed leg, she threw the rest over the window. <> "I hope this works", she whispered beneath her breath, as she looked at the lost of rope material from the bed to the window. She could have moved the bed closer but that might create a lot of noise. She couldn't risk it. With hope hammering in her mind she looked out the window and let out a sigh of relief. The rope just barely reached the ground. Quietly, she slipped over the window ledge and slid down the rope. The movement of her climbing swayed the rope back and forth which caused it to accidentally knock over the vase. With a loud crash, the beautiful vase smashed into pieces on the hard marble floor below. <> Once on the ground, she quietly ran toward a garden. Strong rich fragrance of innumerous numbers of roses filled her nostrils. She sighed sadly. She would love to stay and explore this wonderful garden but instead she must find a way out of this prison. She reached large white marble walls rising to incredible heights above her. Her eyes widen as she began to loose hope. <> ====================================== "Why doesn't she wake already?" Mars cried in irritation. "We don't have all night to wait for her, you know." "Are you sure she is alright Mercury," Darien asked a short girl beside him. "I mean, it has been over five hours and still she hadn't even moved. Besides, Mars is right, we must get some answers quick so that we can decide on what is to be done with her." Mercury nodded, "I am quite sure she is perfectly fine and healthy. Perhaps a bit thin, but no injuries or bruises, no physical harm. Perhaps the power of the crystal was a bit too much for her and the journey through parallel universes weakened her. But I am sure she will wake up soon enough." He nodded at her silently as he glanced at the door. Suddenly a loud crash sounded from within the room. "I guess she's awake," he said. "I told you we should have left the lights on," Jadeite cried, "she's probably groping around the darkness thinking that she's blind or something now." "Jadeite!" Mars growled slamming her hand into the back of his head. "Ow! What? What did I say?" "Nothing would have been better," Uranus said. Everyone immediately looked at the door. Darien stepped forward and opened it gently so as not to frighten her by their sudden appearance. Once in the dark room, his sapphire eyes quickly dart toward the bed expecting a small figure crouching among the sheets, but to his surprise no one was there. In fact, there weren't even any sheets on the bed. "What the--?" He heard Uranus commented in surprise. "Hey, where did she go?" Jadeite cried. Darien looked frantically around the room and something white at the far bed leg caught his eyes. He immediately rushed over to it and upon quick examination found that it was the bed sheet and another and another, they were all tied together to form a long rope. He noticed that the rope was flung over the open window. A smile played on the corner of his lips. <> "Look there she goes!" Pluto exclaimed as she pointed to a small shadow quickly running into the rose garden to be lost in the darkness. "Quick, we must find her before she gets herself into trouble!" Venus cried with apparent concern for the girl. "Or before she creates any trouble for us!" Mars growled in annoyance. They all quickly left the room and headed out of the palace toward where her shadowy figure disappeared into the night. They searched feverishly for her, but it appeared that she had left the garden. "By the moon," Jupiter cried with irritation, "she could be anywhere!" "Do you think she might have found a way to climb over the wall?" Mercury asked fearfully. "For her sake, let us hope not," Neptune replied. "Maybe we should check just in case," Venus said. "All right," they agreed. Darien raised his hand before him as a faint blue glow appeared in his palm and the massive marble gates began to open. They stepped out cautiously looking quickly around them to make sure that no one was waiting to ambush them in the dark forest not far from them. In the mean time, the young girl was hiding behind a rose bush close to the gates. Taking the opportunity of the strangers having their backs turned, she quickly sneaked out and slipped into the shadows of the forest edge. Giving a sigh of relief, Venus turned and said, "Good she's not out here, maybe she went back inside the palace. Come on we better check." "Let's split up and search the entire area it will be faster that way," Darien suggested. "If anyone finds her, communicate it to us." "Right, let's go." Everyone quickly turned back and ran inside. Just as he was about to follow the others, Darien suddenly heard a slight rustle in the brushes by the forest's edge. He frowned with concern. Something?you could say a sixth sense?told him that she *did* slip outside into the forest. He stood there, hesitant for a moment as he contemplated whether or not to follow his gut feeling or to ignore it and assume that she was still inside the palace. Strangely, he felt really worried and protective of this girl. He knew that if something happened to her he would regret it for the rest of his life. Against common sense, he followed his instincts. He closed the gate deciding not to contact the others until he was sure that his assumption was correct. He didn't want to endanger the others by leading them on a wild goose chase outside of palace grounds only to end up finding that she was in the palace all a long. Clasping the hilt of his sword with one hand, he slipped quietly into the protective cover of darkness. >From within the large bush, she looked at the strangers as they headed back into the palace. The gate was then closed tight. Unfortunately, she didn't notice the dark figure of a young man slipping quietly into the shadows near her. She gave a small sigh of relief and turned around to face a formidable dark forest before her. The place was so dark that she was barely able to see her hands held before her face. A new fear began to grip her. <> Strangely, she felt more safe in that strange palace then out here. Even among those strangers, she felt more protected. <> She slowly stepped out of the bush and began to walk along the forest ground with not a clue as to where she should go in particular. Suddenly, after several minutes of absentminded wandering, she heard strange voices from behind a wall of thorny hedges. Through the openings created by the large leaves, the faint light of a large fire could be seen. Normally, she would have rejoiced at coming upon other people in a forest, but somehow things felt really strange. The strange voices created a cold fear running up her back and goosebumps along her bare arms. She shivered with this strange new fear. Then she heard several footsteps approach her way. She quickly looked wildly around for a place to hide, but she found nothing. The hedges were too thorny and the lowest tree limbs were beyond her reach. Her eyes dropped to look fearfully in the direction of the footsteps. Her body froze in fear. <> Just as she was about to cry out in fear, a shadow darted out of a nearby hedge and clamped a firm hand over her mouth imprisoning her scream in her throat. She saw a strange dark cloak flew out from behind her enveloping her body in darkness; then she felt another strong hand wrapped itself around her waist quickly dragging her backwards into the bush. The thick cloak protected her body from the painfully sharp thorns of the hedge. She struggled violently in this person's tight grip trying to break free from her captive but to no avail. "Ssshhh," a voice whispered into her ear, "stop struggling or you'll give both of us away. I am not here to harm you so stop fighting. If we get caught we'll never see the light of day again." Slowly she stopped her rebellion, besides this stranger was too strong. And the thought of what he just said made her even more fearful of the strange voices she heard than of this person holding her now. Through the darkness, she felt the hands pull her small body closer to another's until she could hear the faint beating of this person's heart. A strange feeling of warmth began to flow into her cold body and the rich fragrance of roses assaulted her nostrils. She could feel the person's soft warm breath caress her earlobe like a warm summer's breeze. For unknown reasons, the appearance of this unseen stranger eased her fear. His deep gentle voice loosened her stiff body and his warmth calmed her down. Oddly enough, she felt protected inside that strong embrace. Although she has no idea who this may be, she felt that she could trust him. <> The loud sounds of footsteps broke her thought. She peered out of the hedge to see that the footsteps had stopped directly in front of them. Straining her eyes to see through the night she saw, to her horror, that these strangers were not human. Though they had a pair of arms and legs, their skins were dark green and sickly yellow. One of them turned around and looked directly at them. She felt the stranger beside her suddenly stiffened in fear and his grip around her waist also tightened. Her eyes widen in surprise when she saw these two dark beings had eyes that were glowing like flashlights in the night. One of them opened its mouth to say something thus revealing two rows of white dagger like teeth. Her ears absorbed the strange sounds coming from these creatures' mouths. They were obviously talking to each other, but in a language she had never before heard. To her, it sounded more like gibberish than a language. Unexpectedly, another voice called to them from behind the other hedges. They growled something to each other in anger then quickly turned and went back. They both listened intently as the last sound of footsteps disappeared into the night. His hand around her waist eased up a bit and he turned her around to face him. She gasped in surprise when she recognized his face as that of the young man outside her door. He looked at her with the bluest pair of eyes, eyes that appeared like sapphire gems glittering in the darkness. Even through the darkness, she could see that he was extremely handsome with a strong jaw line, and soft kissable lips. He bent his head until his lips were barely above her ears when he whispered in an assuring voice, "I'm going to release you now, all right? But please don't scream or run. You have nothing to fear from me I pose you no harm." He looked into her eyes to see her reactions. He found himself gazing into the loveliest pairs of sky-blue eyes he had ever seen. A strange light seemed to dance in them like the rays of dawn. But he also noticed that tears of fear were beginning to arisen in her eyes proving to be the only fault in them. For unknown reasons, his heart ached at the site of tears appearing in those lovely eyes. He wished that he could kiss those tears away and see that lovely light he knew was hiding behind the tears. He took his hand away from her mouth and gently wiped the tears that had managed to escape her eyes with his fingers. "Please," he said, almost pleading, "don't cry. I won't let anyone harm you, I promise." She looked at him as her gaze softened. She didn't know, but perhaps it was because of his voice, his gaze, or the sincerity in his eyes that made her come to trust him. She nodded silently, "Where can we go?" "The only safe place is back to the palace behind the walls," he said his tender gaze still has not left her face. "But we must be extremely careful, the shadow warriors are very skilled in the arts of war," and he added with a tone of hatred, "and cruelty." "What if we get caught? What would happen to us?" He looked away from her as his eyes darted around him warily. Removing his arm around her waist in slight reluctance and gripped tightly onto her hand, led her out of the bush while whispering back, "Let us hope we'll never find the answers to your questions." They slipped out of the hedge and sneaked in the direction opposite to the campfires. Using the night as cover they hid from bush to bush, inching their way toward the palace at an extremely nerve wracking slow pace. They must be careful with every footstep. A single sharp sound, just the snap of a small dry twig would alert their enemies to their location. There were only two of them, so they must be very cautious. Darien had already alerted the Sailor Soldiers and his generals using telepathy. They are coming to his aid, but even they cannot venture far from the protection of the palace where the Elysion powers were guarding it. Thus, he has to get this girl and himself to within a safe and reachable distance for the others. He looked ahead of him as his eyes made out the clearing ahead, indicating that they have reached the forest edge. He looked back at the girl whom had been so very quiet slightly behind him. He caught her eyes and noticed the fear still in them. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and returned his attention to focus ahead of him. She followed him silently as he led her through the darkness with great skill, avoiding any places he felt they might be easily trapped. She noticed he placed his footing with great care, using the toe of his shoe he shuffled small invisible twigs from his path. Following behind this handsome stranger, she found herself wondering who he was. <> Suddenly they heard a twig snap to their left. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her small form and pulled her down close to the ground. From the same direction as the noise a large growl was heard and he turned to find several red glowing eyes staring back at them from the darkness. His eyes darkened to a deep blue as he felt hatred rise up in him. His body tensed and poised for action. He narrowed his eyes as a beautiful but deadly red rose appeared in his free hand. They have been discovered. He knew that they have no choice now but to fight. He looked behind him and saw her staring at the shadow warriors with intense fear in her eyes. Seeing her in such a situation only further increased his hatred against these foul creatures. <> One of the warriors launched at him with a deadly saber slashing wildly at him. He quickly pushed her out of the way and threw the rose with incredible skill at the attacker. The aim was precise resulting in the rose piercing into the dark flesh between the eyes. The attacker immediately slumped to the ground in a heap. He stood up pulling the girl behind him protectively. She noticed with a faint glow that he had created another steel tipped rose in his hand. Though fear was gripping her tight, she couldn't help wonder how he created that rose out of thin air. <> He threw the rose at another attacker with the rose lodging into the sword arm this time. <> Suddenly he saw something out of the corners of his eyes that surprised him. Looking at the girl he noticed that she had found a large branch and was now skillfully defending herself from one of the warriors that sneaked up to them from behind him. <> By the look of her movements and the expertise of her handling the stick he realized that she was no amateur. Surprisingly he couldn't help but smile slightly. <