BSSMEos - Rising Dawn 04

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Eos
Rising Dawn
Chapter Four

"I don't believe this!" Yoake ranted. She stared at the crystal. "Demoted! Rejected!"

"You weren't rejected!" Astraeus protested. "You were a part of history, as the soldier who protected Elysion!"

"But I wanted to protect the Prince…" Her voice was soft as she thought on that. It was a familiar sense, of memories long buried. She remembered him then, always at a distance. He was surrounded constantly by his four Generals.

Other memories shifted - jumping off buildings, seeing faces blurred together in crowds, voice rose in cheers and happiness. She may have had been a low soldier but she had been cared for by her people. They hadn't rejected her.

Her grip tightened. "I only wanted to protect you," She whispered very softly. "It was my greatest dream…"

"And he took it away, didn't he?" She came from behind the tree, her black, frilly dress brushing against the grass. With silver draped across her shoulders and silver ribbons tied around her mid-drift, she had looked like the Maenads. But her eyes were red and her lips painted ruby bright. She was delicately built, her hair falling in waves from the round odango style she wore. "He always takes things from us, from Elysion. He never cared for us at all."

"What do you mean?" Yoake asked suspiciously.

"He picked that princess, that Moon Princess, over his own race, his own home," Her voice was filled with hard anger. "Over the Silver Millennium than the Golden Kingdom. He betrayed us all."

Yoake watched her as she moved back and forth gracefully. "What did he do to you?"

"Rejected me for the role of being a Maenad. Said I didn't have the right mind, the right personality, that I was too… focused." She smiled bitterly. "Even rejected my own beautiful daughters because he couldn't believe in me. Him and that priest of his," Her voice darkened. "They tried to even steal my own family heirloom from me."

"What?"

Astraeus was bouncing his head back and forth between the conversation, looking strained.

"My Golden Stave," The woman raised her hand as a golden staff formed, the top holding a hollow, translucent orb within it's golden ring. Singular golden wings jutted from the side as the top was etched in pointed tips. Her smile widened, revealing perfect, white teeth. "My name is Neaera, Lady of Tartarus."

"I… I am Yoake."

"Ah, don't sell yourself short." She tipped the staff backwards, using the end to push Yoake's chin high in the air. "You are the formidable soldier of Earth, Sailor Eos. With that crystal of yours," Her smile was nothing short of beautiful as the red eyes peered out at her with triumph. "You can move the Sun itself."

Astraeus broke through the conversation. "Yoake, please. Let's go back."

"I could do that, with this?" Yoake asked in a hushed voice.

"So much more," Neaera smiled warmly. "Come with me and I can help you reach a level of power you could only dream of."

"Come on, Astraeus," Yoake knelt down for him only to watch him pull back. She look wounded. "Starry?"

"This is wrong, Yoake. You were meant for things that you can do but not this. Don't betray them."

"I don't even know them," She told him curtly.

"And you don't know her! She could be lying."

"But.. But I need this to be mine," Yoake protested.

"You were to protect it, not steal it. You would never want to be a thief, Yoake."

"But then you've never betrayed anyone, now have you? You wanted to be for the Prince, his Guardian, and you had to watch him chose his Princess over you."

"You're right," Yoake straightened. "He betrayed us all."

"Yoake…" Astraeus turned and disappeared into the brush.

She watched what she had thought of as her best friend leave her and felt her heart tear to pieces.

"You don't need him," Neaera murmured, dropping a comforting hand onto Yoake's shoulder. "Let us go."

---

Astraeus appeared to the group as the girls argued. Helios shushed them and dropped to a knee gracefully. "What happened?"

"She left.. Because that woman convinced her that the Prince betrayed her and the kingdom." Astraeus turned toward Mamoru. "I don't know you, I don't know anything, but there is any truth in that.. Then, then, you're no better than this Queen Beryl!"

"I wouldn't have betrayed my Kingdom. I was trying to protect it by trying to stop the war firsthand," Mamoru said stoutly.

"But you went to the Moon, to the Princess.."

"I know it seems that he may have picked the Princess over his people. I'm sure his people even thought so," Helios said quietly. "But even if he loved the Princess, he loved his Kingdom just as much. He was against the war and was trying valiantly to stop it."

"But it ended badly for everyone. I barely had enough time to protect Elysion. I had to watch the Golden Kingdom fall and all those lives, both on Earth and the Moon, fall to the power of Saturn's glaive." Helios covered his eyes in visible pain.

"But there was hope," He continued on softly. "A second chance to live normal lives for many. There was something good that came out of all of that suffering."

"But what about Yoake? Why did she awaken? Was she really a foot soldier? Why wouldn't the Prince.. " Astraeus turned toward Mamoru. "Why didn't you let her protect you?"

Mamoru shook his head. "I had my Generals. I can only assume that I thought I was well protected. I wasn't aware that I would be so betrayed by my own men."

"Well, let's go get her then. Explain to her what you just said," Astraeus said, turning on his heels. "We have to go save her!"

"Easier said than done," Helios told him. "The likely was that Neaera had snuck in and then promptly took Yoake to Tartarus."

"So we go there!" Astraeus posed to move only to falter. "Can't we?"

---

Yoake entered her family's apartment, looking around for Astraeus. She wondered if he would return home.

She wondered how she should act. Leaving the Lady Neaera felt wrong. She thought the woman wouldn't be able to defend herself at all but the older woman insisted upon her returning to her own home for now.

"I knew that there was something off about that Sailor Moon," Yoake muttered to herself. She opened the door, fully expecting to see her friend on her bed.

Only to find a darkened room and a empty bed.

"Yoake!" Yuukaze brushed in with pizzazz. He carried Astraeus in his arms. "Found the guy at the stairs. Since when do you go without your only friend?"

"Shut up, Yuukaze!" Yoake picked Astraeus from his arms and shoved her brother out of her room. "Get lost."

"You get so angry, Yoake. You don't even think first about what you say," Astraeus found himself dumped on the bed. "I'm surprised you even bothered to come back."

"So what, now you're going to yell at me?"

"I went back. I'm convinced that the Prince, this Endymion, didn't betray his people. He was trying to stop the war."

"You would only know because he said so!" Yoake flipped around. "I.. If I think about it, maybe I'll find those memories. Those girls were from this time but they… they seemed to know things, right?"

"I suppose."

They didn't talk for the rest of the night. Yoaked wanted to and Astraeus wanted to but with a rift between the two and their contrasting ideas of what had happened and what should be done so vastly different, neither knew how to create that bridge toward compromise.

Yoake couldn't sleep at first, tossing and turning. Finally, she picked up the gem and held it to her, studying it. It was cold and still felt nothing more than a rock to her. Her eyes slowly became heavy as her breathing slowed.

"Aurora! Watch yourself!" A woman in the distance, dressed in simple, common clothing called out as the small saffron-haired girl ran amongst the crowd, pushing to the front to see their beloved Prince.

"Prince Endymion! Prince Endymion!" Aurora waved her arms, back and forth in attempt to gather his attention. The young boy, several years her senior, was surrounded by his guards, as he rode the carriage driven by the infamous Pegasus.

"Aurora!" Her mother couldn't get back through the tightening group as people cheered. Jostled, Aurora lost her balance. Fallen back, the scream from the front startled her as fire suddenly surfaced in the air in wide arc. She scrambled from being trampled only to see her Prince, alone.

The man, an assassin hired by unknown wealthy people who sought the last heir's place as future King, seemed to use magic to attack. Fire brewed as Prince Endymion pulled his sword, intending on defending himself.

But his back was unprotected. His guards had fallen back to protect the people on the Prince's shouted order.

"NO!" Aurora charged the assassin, her eyes filled with determination. She jumped onto the arm that held the strange-looking weapon that spewed fire. "Go away, you bad man!"

"Stupid twit!" He shook his arm violently, sending her back. Ignoring her, he aimed at the Prince who moved to avoid him, inching closer for a better strike.

"Augh!" She wrapped herself around the leg, baring her teeth to bite the bad man. He howled and she was suddenly flying, crashing into the fruit stand. She rolled just in time to avoid the flaming whip. "You're a bad man! Don't hurt the Prince!"

"AURORA!" Her mother screamed as the whip fell in slow motion.

She felt no fear, no hesitation. Her hand came out and grasped the whip, the flame swirling around her as heat filled her forehead.

"What the…!?" The man reared back.

"I will not allow you to harm our Prince," The little girl spoke with a sense of power and purpose. A light burst in between the two, like a erupting supernova. From it formed a pen that bore the sign of the Sun. She grabbed it and spoke with vibrancy and color. "Eos Power, MAKE UP!"

She took aim with her hands. "Eos Tempest Veil!"

She remembered that fight, that determination and that pride in her Prince. That gave her strength and adoration. She had believed in him then, with everything that made her who she was.

So when she awoke in the morning, the dream still fresh, she found herself wondering what exactly was the right path to take. She was afraid to talk to Astraeus about it, afraid that it would only cause another argument.

"I.. I'll talk to Neaera." She stood up in resolution. "Yea, I'm sure she can help."

She dressed in her winter Juuban high uniform but didn't bother to go to school. She opened her palm to reveal the small, black coin. She remembered the instructions clearly.

'Just ask to go to see me or go to Tartarus and it will take you there.'

She breathed in deeply.

"Are you going to go without me?"

She jumped guiltily. Astraeus clawed his way up her back to rest on her shoulder.

"Ready?" She asked him.

"Yep!"

"Take us to Neaera!" The coin vanished as they were swarmed in a cool mist that dissipated in seconds as the black castle, a mimic of the temple that Helios resided, materialized. There was a little girl, a smaller version of Phaethusa, down from the tip of her head to her feet.

"Hi! I'm Lampetia," She said cheerfully. "You're Eos, right?"

"Yoake," She corrected her.

"I'm so happy you're here!" Her smile was bright but a little forced. She looked behind her worriedly. "Um… are, are you here to see Ma….Mother?"

"Yes. I wanted to talk to her about something," Yoake followed the young girl. Phaethusa appeared from the shadows of a long hallway and took over. Lampetia's hands wrung worriedly as Phaethusa seemed to be devoid of all emotion.

Neaera sat on a regal throne, made of pure black crystal and cushioned in ruby, fluffed padding. "Ah, my dear Eos, how nice to see you. And you brought your… pet," She smiled a bit coldly, staring at the cat with little interest.

"My friend, Astraeus," Yoake approached her quickly. "I.. I wanted to talk to you about something, about the past."

"Of course, my dear," Neaera bowed her head softly.

"I had a dream… it was silly, really, but I dreamt of the Prince and remembered how I had met him. I was… really devoted and I.. I can't tell if I should believe that he actually betrayed me.. Us?"

"Good for you," Astraeus said proudly.

Neaera leaned forward slowly, drifting to her feet. "My dear, dear Eos, trust me. He betrayed us."

"But… but what if he really was trying to help us? Protecting the kingdom and all that?"

"If he truly were going to do so, he would've done the smart thing, the right thing," Her smile was cruel. "He would've joined the great Queen Beryl and her Generals!"

"Those… those generals… were his.."

"They turned against him, knowing the truth. But you.. I heard of you, my dear Eos, my dear Aurora. You were a filthy rat from the streets with the excuse of worthless power. You would have rather died than go against him. Because he trusted you with a valuable item, a powerful relic to hold in case any one attempted…"

Her fingers curled into claws around the Golden Stave. Yoake was inching back, feeling like a trapped doe caught in headlights. Astraeus's hackles were up. "The Morning Star, that lovely crystal that belongs to this here.." She twirled the Golden Stave. "Two pieces of a whole that together can overpower anything with the power of the Sun itself."

"But while the Golden Stave was supposedly protected by the priest Helios, and believe me, it was easy to steal when your daughters were still allowed on the property, I found that the Morning Star was not where it was supposed to be."

"That crystal," Her face brightened in shadows. "It was never yours. You could only protect it. But now, it'll be mine. Give it to me like a good girl and I won't have to kill you."

Yoake pulled out her pen. "You'll have to fight me for it! Eos Power, Make Up!" Her hand faltered as nothing happened. "Eos Power, Make Up!"

The dark Maenad's laughter echoed in the dark room. "You seem to have become dependent on that crystal," She said snidely. "Now, give it to me."

"No!" Her fingers tightened as she turned to run.

"Girls! Bind her!"

"Astraeus! Go for help!"

The girls managed to capture Yoake but Astraeus had years of practice of fleeing from the scene and eluded capture. As he neared the door, Neaera raised the Stave over her head as power brewed in the circle, firing a rapid swell of flames.

"No!" Yoake shoved at Lampetia who tumbled back and lunged at the woman, knocking the Stave's direction away from Astraeus.

"Lock her away," Neaera sneered, taking the Morning Star from her eldest daughter's hands. "And keep her there."