Tragedy of the Heart
Chapter One: Crumbling Security
2/?
by Crystal
silver_siren2@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/kihin_ranno/starlithorizon.html
PG-13

If you don't know by now...  ;-)

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


Rei sat silently in front of the sacred fire, the flames reflecting in
her violet eyes as if the two orbs were a mirror. The tongues of
orange and red heat flickered, rose, and fell. They cast their dim
light around the room creating jumping, eerie shadows that moved from
side to side rhythmically. They coincided with Rei's heartbeat.

The raven-haired priestess chanted the familiar words slowly under her
breath. Her voice steadily became louder and more intense each time
the phrase was repeated. With the last word and a thrust of Rei's
hands towards the blaze, it flared up, and she shut her eyes. She sat
there, silently, and she waited for the fire to calm and her connection
with it to grow stronger.

When both occurred, Rei's eyes sprung open, and she awaited the truth.
The truth that would play out before her within the fire.

What the young miko saw horrified her.

Rei saw all her friends, dressed as Sailor Senshi again. She and the
other three inners surrounded Eternal Sailor Moon protectively. 

The scene changed to Tuxedo Kamen standing alone. His cape billowed
softly in the breeze. It seemed as if there was no battle at all for a
moment, but then a thorny vine came up behind him and surrounded him.
He struggled, then simply disappeared into the fire's light. 

The fire went back to the first part of the vision with the inner
senshi. Eternal Sailor Moon's eyes widened in horror, and she tried to
run to him. Her four guardians managed to keep her back. She cried
out for her fallen love in desperation. Even though it was merely a
fire reading, Rei could see the pain she was feeling.

That was when it happened. Eternal Sailor Moon suddenly vanished from
the sacred fire entirely. The four senshi disintegrated when the
flames rose upwards again. Then, nothing.

Rei half-gasped, half-shrieked and scrambled to feet in fright. Her
eyes became as violent as the blaze, and she screamed, "What does this
mean?! What are you trying to tell me?!! That I can't protect Usagi
anymore!!!"

The fire rose up on her. It lurched towards her as if it was angry and
grew larger. Rei quickly jumped back, just barely avoiding getting
scorched. It remained like that for a few minutes. It almost daring
Rei to say another word in the tone she had been speaking in. Then the
fire went down. It dwindled smaller... and smaller... Then it was
completely squelched. All that was left was some charred wood and low-
lying smoke.

<<The smoke isn't rising...>> Rei thought in a panic, <<And the holy
fire...>>. Then she really did scream.

***********************************************************************

Mamoru was walking down the hall towards Usagi's bedroom. The entire 
atmosphere was incredibly surreal. The house was oddly silent, and he
had never even gotten past the door whenever he came to pick up Usagi.
Her father would just yell at the top of his lungs for his daughter to
come to the door, and then stare him down. Ikuko would be constantly
telling her husband to be nice while popping back a few aspirin at the
incessant beeping of Shingo's video games.

Something was horribly wrong.

Mamoru reached the door to Usagi's room. He hesitated, once again
shaken by the unearthly quiet, then tentatively grasped the doorknob
and turned it. The door creaked open slower than it should have. It
was like everything was going in slow motion, and he could do nothing
to speed it up.

When the door finally did allow Mamoru to see inside the room, he felt
a scream rising up in his throat. He quickly shoved it down and
stumbled over the threshold.

Usagi's room was in a shambles. The furniture was overturned and glass
figurines, or rather bits of them, were lying all over the place. The
glass on the mirror of the dresser was shattered, and blood was
streaming down from the cracks. The bed was in total disarray, and
sheets were savagely ripped apart. A dagger with onyx thorns carved
into the gold handle was imbedded into the wall just over the bed.

The dagger only served to increase Mamoru's panic. He looked around
the room frantically, "Usako!"

Mamoru suddenly looked down. At his feet he saw a picture lying down
so that the photograph faced towards the carpet. He quickly dropped to
one knee, and took it into his hands, slowly turning it over.

It was a picture of him and Usagi. A crack had formed just where the
two had linked arms.

Suddenly, Mamoru found that he had changed into Prince Endymion, and he
was on the moon. He looked around at the barren wasteland that
stretched before him. Nothing at all like the Silver Millennium he
vaguely remembered.

A warped male voice interrupted his thoughts, "No baka! You dare to
love my princess, and then you expect her to love you forever in
return?!" *maniacal laughter*, "Serenity belongs to me now! She is no
longer yours to hold!"

"What do you mean?!" Endymion demanded, "What have you done to her!!"

"I have done nothing, young one," the dark voice taunted.

Everything around Endymion was plunged into blackness. He could see
nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing. He thought he had been left
alone to die in the chilling darkness, and wallow in misery until his 
end. His heart beat wildly in his chest. The only sound was of his
breathing, taking too little air in and releasing far too much. He
felt ready to explode.

Then, a light shown down from somewhere up above, which had to be just
another cruel mockery. It focused on two people a ways in front of
Endymion. It was Serenity, the love of Endymion, in the arms of
another man. To be more to the point, the silhouette of one.

Serenity turned her head towards Endymion. It hung loosely, bobbing up
and down like a rag doll. She looked at him with dead, glass eyes that
held no emotion. Her bright blue orbs had been reduced to cold spots
on her face to make her appear as if she were even human, for since she
had lost her soul, she had also lost her humanity. The eyes held no
color. No light. Only emptiness.

"Except take back what was mine..."

Even though Serenity was no longer her own person and had no say in
anything she did, a tear slipped out of her ghostly eyes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mamoru woke with a gasp, sitting up straight up in his bed. Breath
struggled to reach his airways. He was choking, frightened nearly to
death. The alarm clock on the end table beside his bed was jumping up
and down, he was trembling to so violently. Never before had a dream
been so vivid and... real.

Mamoru put his face in his hands, and tried to collect himself, "I
don't believe it... This can't be happening again..." he lifted his 
head up and leaned back against the pillow, "But this is different. He
didn't say it would be better if I didn't see her.... Didn't tell me
to stay away... He just said he would--" Mamoru became very alert and
he sat up even straighter than before.

"Usako!"

***********************************************************************

Usagi was walking to Mamoru's apartment. There was nobody else around.
She was all in alone in the street. Not even a car went by. Just
silence... No voices reached her ears. Not even the sounds of birds
chirping could be heard. Just silence.... deadly, frightening silence.

Usagi rounded the corner. The apartment building was now in her
sights. She suddenly wished it weren't, and she shrieked in fright.

The sky around the apartment building was surrounded by some dark,
black energy. Violet lightning flashed from clouds that didn't look
earthly at all and mist that smelled of sulfur rained down. Ebony
thorns were circled around the building, overgrown and vicious. She
could see the bodies of some innocent people caught up in the vines
covered with the barbs. They weren't moving.

Then the world around Usagi cracked in front of her. It all began to
shatter and crumble like a glass when thrown to the floor. She fell to
her knees, and covered her head with her arms. She shut her eyes, and
just waited for it to be over.

When she thought it was safe, Usagi uncovered her head. She found
herself as Princess Serenity, and she was kneeling in a place she
scarcely recalled. She was on the moon, in one of the grand hallways
of the Moon Palace erected and lived in in millennia gone by. She
looked around the white corridor, and slowly rose to her feet.

The only colors in the hall were white and gold, but it was the
grandest thing she had ever seen. Columns and pillars were molded
into the white walls and trimmed in gold. Elaborate, gold and crystal
chandeliers hung above her, sparkling like stars in the night.
Paintings of rulers past adorned the walls, but there faces were merely
flesh-colored voids. White flowers in marble vases were placed beneath
each one. There were no doors.

No doors, that is, with the exception of one. The door at the end of
the hallway seemed horribly out of place. It was made of steel, and
the only decor on it was an onyx, thorny vine that ran around the
edges.

Serenity hesitated at first. Then, she felt an odd sense of urgency,
and she rushed forward in a blur of skirts and rivers of gold. Her
heels clicked loudly against the marble floor. She was panting
frantically, and for some strange reason got tired very quickly. Each
step grew harder and harder to take as if something was trying to
prevent her from making it. But with each step, her dread escalated,
and she pressed on.

Serenity reached the ominous door at last. She quickly grasped the
handle, and frantically flung it open, using all the strength she had
left. She covered her mouth with her hands and backed away a few steps
at the horrifying sight before her eyes.

It was Endymion. His arms and legs were bound to the walls by the same
black vines that were depicted on the door. His entire body weight
appeared to be hanging by the restraints on his wrists. His chin
rested on his chest... a chest that was not taking in air.

"Endymion!" cried Serenity as she began towards him.

"I don't think so, dear princess," a strange male voice said from
behind her. Serenity felt two arms snake around her waist and she was
yanked back forcibly, "Not at all,"

"Who are you? And what have you done to Endymion?!" Serenity demanded
as she desperately tried to escape his grasp, "What do you want!"

"You know me very well, my girl, you just don't remember. And what I
have done to the prince is no longer a concern of yours... As for what
I want..." he spun the princess around and pulled her closer, despite
Serenity's outcries. He grabbed her chin tightly and jerked it up, "I
believe I already have it in my arms right now..." through the darkness
she saw two yellow snake-like eyes leer at her menacingly, "You,"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Usagi let out a small shriek as she woke. She sat up in bed her whole
body rigid, and panting like she had just run for ten miles. She
quivered in fright, she and felt like she was about to have a seizure.

Usagi shook her head in disbelief and fought back the urge to start
wailing, "Kami-sama... Kami-sama..."

The fearful girl sat there for a moment rerunning the nightmare over
and over again in her mind. Then Usagi softly spoke aloud, "He wanted
me. Whoever he was he was after me... and he hurt Mamo-chan to..." she
covered her mouth in fright as the terrible prospect sunk in.

"Mamo-chan!"

***********************************************************************

All of the inner senshi, along with the cats and Mamoru were gathered
at Rei's temple. An emergency meeting had been unanimously decided
after the news of both of the nightmares and the vision. 

Minako sighed sadly, "So... I guess our peaceful times are over, ne?"

Ami nodded despondently, "Hai,"

"And whoever is behind this is after Usagi-chan," Makoto said softly.

"This new enemy, whoever he is, and the fire made it perfectly clear
that he has to get rid of Mamoru-san to do that," Rei added.

At that comment, Usagi snuggled a little closer to Mamoru. Then she
quietly spoke, "I was so sure everything was going to be peaceful...
That Galaxia was our last obstacle to overcome before Crystal Tokyo,"

Luna's eyes softened sympathetically, "Usagi-chan..."

"We aren't even sure if there's really an enemy, ne?" Artemis said
hopefully, "Couldn't this all be just a big coincidence?"

Ami shook her head, "It's next to impossible. Rei-chan's visions are
almost never wrong, and Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san practically shared a
dream. It's too many coincidences,"

Artemis nodded, "I know... I guess it was just false hope that
everything was over,"

"We shouldn't tell the Outer senshi," Usagi said out of the blue.

Rei looked at her in surprise, "But we don't know how strong this enemy
is,"

"I don't think we should make any decisions about that until we're
sure if we can handle this by ourselves," Luna agreed.

"But Setsuna-san has already gone back to the Gate. Don't you think
she would have stayed if a new enemy that powerful was coming?" Usagi 
said.

"Usagi-chan does have a point. Setsuna-san would never have left if
she wasn't sure that we would not be able to handle it," Minako said.

"And Haruka-san and Michiru-san couldn't help us even if they wanted
to," Makoto said, "Michiru-san's on a concert tour and Haruka-san is
traveling with her doing exhibition races,"

"Hota-chan is so young..." Usagi said in a depressed tone, "Too young
to fight... Just like Chibi-Usa..."

Mamoru looked at her with compassion in his eyes and spoke for the
first time, "We have been able to fight without their help before. We
can do it again,"

And with that they all went their separate ways.

***********************************************************************

Usagi was clutching Mamoru's arm, as usual, as they were walking in the
park. The two had not spoken to each other since the meeting. Both
were wrapped up in their thoughts, and pretending to enjoy the scenery.
It was very peaceful and scarcely anyone was around. The wind blew
calmly, and the sun beamed down through the trees.

Usagi couldn't take the silence any longer and she suddenly blurted
out, "Mamo-chan, do you miss Chibi-Usa?"

Mamoru's face lengthened a bit, "Hai... What made you think of her at
the meeting?"

Usagi let go of Mamoru, and folded her hands in front of her. She
sighed and looked down at her feet sadly, "I just miss her a lot lately.
After graduation and everything... And with this new enemy, I
realized... Just how you she and Hota-chan were. Too young to be
senshi,"

Mamoru put his arm around Usagi's shoulders and gently pulled her
closer, "We all were Usako... we all were,"

They heard a loud snarl come from up above their heads, and they
stopped in their tracks. They looked up simultaneously, and their blue
eyes met disgusting orange ones. The eyes belonged to some kind of
lizard youma who was currently flying upside down, glaring down at
them. It was yellow-green with a horrible brown tail that looked like
it was beginning to rot off. It's wings were translucent black that
were torn in some places. And it looked hungry, "Greetings princess."

Usagi and Mamoru screamed, and leapt away in separate directions. The
lizard/bat turned himself right side up, and floated to the ground. It
turned to Usagi, "So sorry to disturb you your highness, but I'm afraid
you'll have to come with me,"

Usagi's eyes narrowed fiercely, "You're not taking me without a fight,"

"I didn't expect to," he snarled. Then he lunged for her with a growl.

A flash of red came flying through the air. The youma cried out in 
pain and clutched his face as he felt something slice across it. Usagi
looked at the ground to find a rose embedded there.

Tuxedo Kamen appeared by Usagi and ushered her away, "No one tries to
hurt Usako for then they have to answer to me!" he yelled angrily.

Meanwhile, Usagi was crouched behind the bushes calling the others by
way of the communicators, "Minna, I need your help. Now!!"

"What is it Usagi?" Rei asked.

"A youma appeared in the park. He knew who we were!" Usagi said
desperately.

"Kami-sama..." Ami breathed, "That means they can come after us 
anytime,"

"We'll be over there as fast as we can Usagi-chan," Minako said.

"Be careful until we get there," Makoto warned.

After they had all turned the communicators off, Usagi reached into her
subspace pocket for her brooch. It had a thick layer of dust on it 
from lack of use. She sighed sadly, and gripped it tightly in her
hand, "Here goes nothing... Moon Eternal, Make- Up!!" feathers and
pink luminescent light surrounded Usagi as she spun around gracefully
in midair.

After a few seconds she was transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon once
more.

Eternal Sailor Moon ran to where she had left Tuxedo Kamen and the
youma. Tuxedo Kamen was not faring well. He clutched his arm in pain,
and the youma was about to fire again.

Sailor Moon, who had no knowledge of the youma's power, rushed forward.
The youma fired some kind of liquid at his target, unaware of her
presence. Tuxedo Kamen saw her out of the corner of his eye, but
didn't have time to yell for her to stop. She stepped in front of him
just before he was hit.

The liquid landed right on Sailor Moon's right wing and side. It
burned like acid and made a horrible hissing sound. It was extremely
painful and it felt like her wing and side were being eaten away. She
looked down and flinched when she found she was right.

Eternal Sailor Moon cried out in pain and fell back into Tuxedo Kamen's
arms. She writhed around and bit her lip until it bled. All the while
she had to keep herself from panicking out of fear of all of her skin
getting eaten away. She looked back down and saw that it hadn't gone
clear to the bone and it wasn't spreading.

"Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Kamen shouted in alarm, "Dajibou?!"

Sailor Moon nodded and struggled to her feet, with Tuxedo Kamen's help.
The youma picked that exact moment to lunge at them. Tuxedo Kamen saw
it just in time and shielded her. He ignored Sailor Moon's frantic
pleas, "Iie! Yameru!!!"

Then, a familiar voice called out, "Jupiter Oak Evolution!!" the youma
roared in pain as the power coursed around his body. It fell to the
ground limp, but alive.

The other three Sailor Senshi ran over to the couple. Eternal Sailor
Moon suddenly doubled over in pain and fell to her knees. Her right
side started hissing again and burned like fire.

"Sailor Moon!" Mars cried out, "What happened to you?!"

"Let me see your arm," Mercury said worriedly. After a quick inspection
of both him and Sailor Moon she looked to Venus, "We have to get rid of
that thing now and get them to the hospital,"

"It has some sort of acid," Tuxedo Kamen said through gritted teeth.

Eternal Sailor Moon looked to where the youma had fallen. She saw
Sailor Jupiter running past it towards them. The youma was getting up,
and he was leering at the green senshi maliciously. Sailor Moon's eyes
widened in fear and she shrieked, "Jupiter! Look out!!"

But the warning did no good, for the youma was already on his feet, and
he was attacking. Jupiter looked to the youma a second too late. The
acid landed directly on her leg, and she screamed.

"Jupiter!! Get over here now!!!" Venus ordered her frantically.

The thunderous senshi strained to move the injured leg, but found it
was impossible, "I can't! Shimatta!!"

"Fire Soul Bird!" Mars screeched madly.

The youma smirked wickedly at the phoenix. He hurled the acid at the
bird, and cruelly laughed as it disintegrated as if it were solid. He
looked towards Sailor Mars with murder in his orange eyes. He licked
his lips in warning.

Sailor Mars' amethyst eyes widened in fear as she saw the youma then
setting his sights on her. She looked to the others for help, but
Sailor Jupiter, Eternal Sailor Moon, and Tuxedo Kamen were too weak.
Mercury was too busy examining their wounds. Her eyes locked with
Venus, pleading with the blond wordlessly.

Sailor Venus rushed forward to her friend's side and prepared to
attack, "Venus Love-Me Chain!!" she sent the golden chain of hearts
flying towards the youma, <<Please just let this work...>>

The youma just stood there and let the metal wrap around him. Venus
and Mars did not rejoice however. The second the chain made contact
with his skin, it melted away. He smiled again, "Don't you get it yet?
You can't beat me..." then his acid surged towards the two senshi.

Mars and Venus screamed as it hit. Mars' stomach was burned, and
Venus's hands became covered in the liquid. They staggered back to the
others. They looked to Eternal Sailor Moon for answers.

"Mercury... would water work?" Sailor Moon asked.

Sailor Mercury's face immediately brightened. She touched her earring
making the visor disappear, and put the computer back into the subspace
pocket. She nodded confidently, "Hai."

Mercury got to her feet and stood in front of the group, "There is one
thing that you're too weak to handle," she taunted in order to distract
him.

He threw his head back and laughed, "The weakest Sailor Senshi is
supposed to beat me now? Are you crazy?!!" he was addressing Sailor
Moon, "What are you thinking of?!"

Eternal Sailor Moon shrugged as Mercury called upon her attack,
"Water?"

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!" the youma became covered in water and he was
left defenseless.

Eternal Sailor Moon took that as her cue, "Silver Moon Crystal Power
KISS!!!!" the brilliant white light flashed as it raced towards the
youma. He began screaming in pain long before the power reached him.
A second later, he was gone, and everyone was detransformed.

Everyone was injured, with the exception of Ami, who was studying
Minako's wounds closely. Rei struggled to help Makoto to her feet, and
then provided support for her. They were all in pain, and wished they
could have gotten there sooner when they saw Usagi.

This was because Usagi was by far worst off. Her injuries were the
most serious of the group. And the emotional damage was horrendous.
She was shaking violently in Mamoru's arms and crying hysterically.
She clung to him as if her very life depended on it. She kept
repeating over and over again, "It's over..."


*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


Author's Note:


Well, how was that?!  Personally, I think the dreams were very good,
and the look of the youma was brilliant.  Okay, Ihe whole thing was
brilliant, but I really want your opinion.  Now we all know what to do,
don't we?  All together now, "FEEDBACK!!!"  Very good!  Now e-mail me!

daijobu- 'Are you all right' or 'I'm all right'.
hai- yes
iie- no
shimatta- damn
yameru- stop
Kami-sama- God
minna- everyone
miko- Shinto priestess
no baka- you idiot
senshi- soldier
ne- right

Coming Soon: Chapter Two: Attack in the Dream