Thrice-be-damned Morpheus

[draegyn]

I loathe this fic, I truly do. It get's crappier as it goes along. I can't wait til it's done and I can murder it in the editing stage.

Morhpeus 5
When Usagi appeared in the rather gloomy halls of an old castle, she had hoped that it was abandoned and the area around it was a wasteland. She didn’t even need to unshield her mind to know that it was not so. The two figures she had interrupted while they were mauling each other definitely put paid to that notion. She stared at them, unnoticed for the moment, because she was frankly uncertain as to whether they were attacking each other or not. There was blood and bruises visible through the tangle of black hair but she was fairly sure even humans didn’t kiss with that kind of vigour on both sides if they were unwilling. Angry, yes, unwilling, no. Anger would certainly explain the torn black robes each wore.

The emotional gleanings, when she looked for them, made her cheeks glow silver in her embarrassment. Wow! With that much mutual lust, want and need, no wonder they didn’t care about a few bruises. She fanned herself while she tampered with the illusions she wore so that, in the future, if she blushed, her face wouldn’t look like a shiny silver coin. Then her sharp ears caught a murmur from one of the two and she forgot herself.

“Whoa! Die? Why are you talking about killing each other?” she exclaimed and then winced at her own stupidity. They hadn’t realised she had appeared until then.
The two figures exploded into motion, pushing away from each other and spinning so that both of them faced her pointing little sticks at her. She looked at their cold, hard faces, then at the sticks and then back at their faces.

They were both men, she noticed absently in the face of what they obviously saw as threatening but she judged would merely be inconvenient. The tall one had long, lank hair, a great hooked nose, sallow skin and rather malevolent black eyes. The other, shorter, one had a bird’s nest mop of hair, angry green eyes, pale face and a jagged scar on his forehead. Both were thin to the point where they bordered on emaciated and neither were anything special in the physical looks department. However, on an Earth were will and imagination called power, both of them were Powerful. They also had attitudes and Usagi was impressed by the amount of menace and aggression their minds were pushing out.

Ah, well, she might as well follow through. “So why do you want to kill each other?” she asked casually, as if there weren’t some kind of weapons being aimed at her.
The taller, bigger-nosed one scowled at her darkly but the other, younger, she realised, by a good twenty of Earth’s years if not more, just started to look puzzled. He watched her with a curious expression while his erstwhile lover began to give orders.

“Put your hands out in front of you, open palms facing up,” he snapped, raking a very suspicious gaze over her jean-clad form.

As she obeyed compliantly, she idly wondered if she should become Eternal Sailor Moon again to make his inspection go faster. There would be fewer clothes for him to search for whatever dangerous and life threatening item he must believe she carried. The wings would probably throw him, though, and open up a whole new realm of questions she really didn’t want to visit.

“Who are you?” he demanded insistently. “And how did you get through the wards?” she blinked. Wards? She hadn’t felt anything of the kind. Curious, she looked for them and, sure enough, found the layered patterns running through the walls, it was really no surprise that they didn’t even touch her. She was not just a senshi of the Lady of Mystery but also her very daughter. It wouldn’t surprise anyone that knew her that wards crafted of Imagination did not even know she was there. Not that they weren’t admirable wards and capable of doing their task against beings native to this realm, but such wards were hardly effective against her if their creator could not even imagine the possibility of one such as she. The castle would have been better off if someone had thought to erect a few barriers of Will as well. With those, intent was what counted.

Not that she could say that to mortals. She shrugged. “I’m Usagi,” she replied simply.

“Strange name,” the younger one commented, causing his partner to momentarily redirect his irate glare towards him.

She shrugged again. “Not where I come from.”

“And where’s that?” Tall, dark and broody immediately jumped on the perceived opening.

“Far, far away,” she answered enigmatically and, yet, perfectly truthful.

The younger one interrupted with a question of his own before his partner could continue. “Whose side are you on?”

“I’m not a part of whatever war you’re involved in,” she told them calmly.

The older man had listened intently for her answer but, after hearing it, he sneered contemptuously. “If you honestly believe that, then, for all intents and purposes, his side. Ignorance and cowardice serve Him. It is because of people like you, who say that it is not your battle, that the Light is losing this war!”

“Ignorance, I’ll admit to,” she returned patiently, “And I’m hardly going to get involved when I don’t know what’s going on.”

Green-eyes looked at her in disbelief. ‘How can you not? Voldemort?” his would-be lover flinched and he sent an apologetic glance in his direction, “The Dark Lord, I should say, Deatheaters? War for survival? Muggle torture? Thousands dead? Does any of that ring a bell? Even muggles know about it now! After he started openly attacking them five years ago, the Ministry could hardly hide it from them anymore!”

Usagi smiled amiably. “I haven’t been around.”

Weary green eyes regarded her sceptically. “You must have been very far away.”

“She must have been on the bloody moon!” the other man snarled. “Potter-”

Whatever he had been about to say was forestalled by a tremendous boom that shook the entire castle. Both men reacted violently. ‘Potter’ cursed shortly and punched the wall viciously. She couldn’t help but notice that his scar was an angry purple and seemed to be bleeding. The still nameless man was swearing virulent oaths, all the while clutching at his left forearm, as if in extreme pain. Both of them seemed to forget about her as they whirled and dashed off, down the corridor. For lack of anything better, Usagi followed them.

She caught up with the pair quite quickly. Not far away, they had found a window and were staring out of it, faces full of dread.

“He’s here,” Potter spat.

The other man didn’t even look at him when he snarled in return, “You think? How many more times in your foolish life can you state the obvious, you dunder-headed brat?”

Potter didn’t react to the vitriol other than to say, “We’re about to die, Snape, do you think it’d be possible for you to call me Harry just once before then?”

The newly named Snape snorted bitterly. “I’ll call you Harry the day an alien princess comes to Hogwarts and puts the soul of the dark lord in the palm of my hand for safe keeping.”

Usagi faltered in craning over their shoulders to see at that comment but recovered smoothly. Potter obliged her by moving slightly to the side and she squeezed in between them so that she could finally see what had them so scared. It seemed that it involved a lot of people dressed in black and wearing silly masks along with another, unmasked… thing that might have begun life as a human but certainly wouldn’t finish life thus. She sent out a mental probe which only confirmed what she had suspected upon seeing him.

Darkness.

The kind that existed when there was a complete void of absolutely anything of any value. It was a darkness so negative that it went far beyond a simple absence of light. It was Kaos’ element. Whoever this so-called Dark Lord Voldemort was, Usagi would wager that he was the ugly wretch there without a mask that had sold his soul. She could feel the desire for power and destruction and, worse, she could also sense incipient immortality. This Dark Lord had once possessed a starseed. He might have become a Divine Star. Now, if he survived, he would be a Darkstar.

That was all she needed, Kaos’ newest servant.

“Oh, lovely,” she muttered.

Harry sighed sadly. “You see why we preferred to die, now, rather than risk slavery to him?”

“Oh yeah.” In fact, with both of them pressed against her like this, the whole sordid tale unfolded in her mind. To think, a future Star had been darkened because the people of this ‘wizarding world’ could not look beyond their own interests to help a child in need. It was no wonder his followers flocked to him so, despite his methods and capriciousness. How could people like Harry Potter and Severus Snape fight the might of an igniting Star when not one of them was anything other than mortal? Harry’s death would be the spark Voldemort required to ascend to immortality and become a Darkstar. The wizarding world and this entire version of Earth were doomed when that happened and Kaos would gain a firm foothold in this realm. Or he might have his physical form destroyed and another servant of Kaos would consume his suborned starseed to grow stronger. Neither was an attractive prospect.

This was the kind of situation that she, as a senshi, was on ambiguous ground with. Though he might become a Darkstar, Voldemort was still mortal, thus making this war one of mortals and therefore not her place to interfere with. Though she loathed doing so, she had to remain apart and let events play out as they would without her involvement. It would take overt interference on the Darkheart’s part to give her due cause to act.

Of course, that point might be moot now, anyway. She resealed her mind tightly and added several new layers of protections to be safe. Galaxia was approaching. Both Snape and Potter shivered and probably attributed it to the dire fates that seemed to be looming before them. Usagi could have told them that it was the effect of having a being such as Galaxia so close but did not. This did go a long way towards confirming for her that Galaxia did actually have some way of tracking her which was not good.

“Who the bloody Hell is that?” Potter mumbled next to her.

Usagi winced. “Stars help us all.” It looked like she was going to have to choose between this world and her own life. It was unfortunate for her abused sense of self-preservation that she knew where her duties lay.

Snape grabbed her shoulder and forced her to face him. “You know her??”

Usagi slipped from his grasp. “I know of her and, unfortunately for me, she seems bent on making my acquaintance.”

“Why does she scare you?” Harry demanded from behind her.

Usagi smiled without humour. “Why does Voldemort scare you?”

Harry’s voice was horrified. “She’s that bad?” he exclaimed. Snape was looking very disturbed.

“Worse.”

“And she doesn’t seem inclined to share, either,” Snape commented weakly.

Usagi and Harry turned to learn what he was talking about and saw Voldemort’s supporters scattered and fallen and Voldemort, himself, hanging limply from the black sword Galaxia held.

“Just like Tom, really,” Harry added, choking. “Is he dead? Really dead?”

Usagi didn’t need her magic to know the answer to that. “Very,” she replied.

“And his soul?” Snape asked in turn, “Dare I hope that she also took care of that?”

Usagi’s eyes widened in recollection. “Kuso!” she swore venomously. Hastily, she pushed the two men out of her way, stuck her hand out of the window and summoned with all of her might. The distant figure of Galaxia stiffened and looked up to them, but Usagi did not pause as she rested the endangered starseed from Galaxia’s idle grip. The greenish-grey light flew to her hand where it crystallised at her touch into a murky gem.

“Oh, bloody Hell,” Harry muttered, looking over Usagi’s shoulder. “You’ve made her mad. She’s headed this way!”

“I know,” Usagi muttered hurriedly. “I know.” She didn’t have time to purify it or even send it off to her father or his Guardian for either of them to attend to it. She pressed it into Snape’s surprised hands. “One of Death’s servants will come for it as soon as they know. Keep it safe!!” she told him and put the strongest geas behind the words that she could with their hands touching and his mind as open to her as it could be. She hoped the geas would be enough, Snape’s mind was very well defended for someone who wasn’t actually a telepath and he possessed a lot of hate aimed at his former master. However, Potter had felt the same way and Usagi did no to have the time to second guess herself now.

She changed the illusions hiding her and released some of the shields restraining her power. Right in front of the startled wizards, she became Eternal Sailor Moon and leapt for the window. Galaxia had her in sight and, almost, within reach now and Sailor Moon threw herself out of the window without looking back and giving no words of farewell. She just allowed gravity to work and, as soon as she was certain Galaxia was following, slipped away from the realm to lead the traitor on another chase.

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

When Endymion left Death, it was in a chaotic state of mind. His thoughts chased each other around in circles, going nowhere. He was Elysion? How could he not have known? How could it be him? Were he to admit it, he knew that it meant that he would have his most precious desire. Usagi was Elysion’s soulmate, was Endymion’s soulmate if it was true. He desired her, adored her, loved her more than life itself. And this would mean that he would be able to have her!

Which only made his own hesitance more confusing to him.

He found the place where he had twice previously found Morpheus and his cohorts, to find the Lord of Dream absent but the two others waiting for him.
“Did you find what you sought, Child?” the unnamed one asked of him.

Endymion regarded him silently, his mind still paralysed with shock. “Why… Did you know?” he demanded at last, ignoring the other’s question. “Did you all know already?”

“Something, he has found, indeed, to leave his peace so shattered,” the second, Chronos, said to the other. “What is it, you think, that he found?”

For a moment, Endymion was speechless. Were they deliberately mocking him? A hysterical anger began to infuse the emotional morass that left him floundering so. “What did I find?” He began to laugh a horrible, ugly laugh that held no humour in it at all. “I don’t know. Could it be this?” He clutched at the chain that hang about his neck and snapped it with a single, hard tug. The crystal at the end spun dizzily and he held it up so that the shower of shimmering red glints covered them all.

The unnamed one gasped, his star-filled eyes widening. “A crimson starseed? Elysion’s soul? You have it? You’ve always had it?”

“And does this not explain much?” Chronos murmured to himself.

Endymion sneered at both of them. “Of course, Saetan,” he answered, stressing the name, “Or should I call you Thanatos?” What other Star could it be to wear features almost the perfect replica of Selene’s son but the son’s sire? “It has always been with me for is it not my own?”

The two Stars stilled, sensing how dangerously on edge Endymion felt. “Aa,” Saetan admitted at last. “You are Elysion.”

The admission should have fuelled his fury. The knowledge that his life had been toyed with so callously, that his concerns had been dismissed and disregarded, simply to further whatever divine agenda was in effect, should have infused him with the strength and clarity brought about by outrage. Instead, it did the opposite. His strength seemed to drain from him and he fell numbly to his knees. “Is it that the legends are true? Do you delight in playing with mortal destinies for your own amusement?”

“You are hardly mortal, Child,” Saetan responded mercilessly, “And, for my daughter, I would do far worse than withhold knowledge so that you might attain autonomous enlightenment.”

“The stakes with which we gamble are too great to risk for simple amusement, Child.”

“We wager on the Renewal, itself. Your heartache is but a small price that we will see paid. If we did believe that it would serve our Purpose to see you slaved to the Lord of Dream, then collar you we would ourselves.”

Endymion looked up, wretchedly. “Isn’t that what’s to happen, anyway? Am I not to become his Guardian, his loyal servant, until he finally decides to shuffle off and go to wherever dead gods go?!”

“Child!” Chronos admonished sharply, “Behaving as such, you are when the mantle of a Star you need to attain! You cannot waste yourself in pity and despair, else you prove that you are, in truth, unworthy and unready for such a charge!”

“And why shouldn’t I?” he cried back in rebellion. “Why should I care if I do not meet your standards? Why should I give a damn if Morpheus is left high and dry?”

Silently, Saetan knelt opposite to him, his dark robes pooling around him, and Endymion found two starry fields staring into him relentlessly. “Because you love my daughter.”

Where, anything else, Endymion could have met with scorn or apathy, those plain words arrested him. He could do naught but listen and hear what the Star tried to convey.

“Even as you know, Kaos’ minion preys upon her, encroaching upon her freedom. She will fight, she would not do otherwise, and she may even triumph. But the minion will draw her to Kaos ‘ere it falls and, there, our hopes will win or fail.”

“Why did you not tell me before, then?” Endymion demanded, straightening. “Why waste so much time sending me on a pointless quest?”

“She needs a Star at her side, not a mortal,” Chronos intoned.

Endymion growled in frustration. “Then why didn’t you go to her? Why did you let her go at all? She’s your daughter!” he shouted at Saetan and then at Chronos, “She is a friend to you and your Guardian! Why put her into so much danger when it was not warranted?”

“Because it is not us she requires.”

“It is you.” Saetan stood and stared down at him coldly. “Will you rise to meet her, Elysion? Or will you cower and turn from your destiny? It rests on you.”

Told so plainly, the choice should have been simple but, still, he vacillated.

“Why do you hesitate, Elysion?” Chronos questioned, “Is it not what you have wanted? Does it not give you licence to court the Precious Lady Serenity? Is that not what you have yearned for, for years now?”
Endymion shook his head helplessly. He did not know.

“Though time passes as I will it, Elysion, you still must not tarry overlong. Much there is that you must see done ‘ere you journey to the Precious Lady’s side,” Chronos warned seriously.

“What?” Endymion was caught unaware. “What are you talking about? What things?”

Two star-field gazes measure him inscrutably. “Do you not already know, Elysion?” Saetan questioned, “Can you not think of anything?”

His hand tightened around the crystal.

“Aye, amidst other things,” Saetan confirmed.

Chronos regarded him knowingly. “Are there not instances, phenomena, in your past which defied explanation?”

“You can’t mean what I think you mean!” Endymion exclaimed, his mind suddenly catching up.

Chronos’ pale lips curved in an enigmatic smile. “Perhaps it is time to solve the riddles of your past.”

Tired of looking up at the two Stars, Endymion climbed to his feet. “What about your Law?” he queried. “It forbids congress within the time stream.”

Saetan laughed outright. “He is Chronos! It is his Law!”

“It is mine to make,” Chronos agree slyly, “And mine to break.”

“But what-” His next objection was interrupted by two new, but familiar, presences.

“-Again! Never, ever again!” Andrew’s strident voice preceded his physical attendance.

“Was it truly such a hardship, young Motoki?” Morpheus’ voice raised Endymion’s hackles in an instant.

Andrew’s voice grew louder in outrage. “I feel violated! The grey-haired one was shameless!”

“Something you have in common.”

“And the brunette? He was no better! If he and Specs wanted a threesome with Wings, then they should ask him! Not use me as a convenient substitute!”

“Poor infant.”

Andrew appeared then, looking very harassed and bothered. “Do you have any idea of how difficult that kind of working is with two teens trying to get their hands in your pants?”

Morpheus’ shadowy being materialised next to the guardian. “I cannot say that I do,” Morpheus replied, obviously amused.

A host of grievances against the old god, real and imagined, arose in him and Endymion stalked across the short distance to the pair. “Do you know how it feels to be belted one by your own guardian?” he snarled and, as soon as Morpheus turned to him, he threw his fist at that mild-pale, arrogant face. Apparently, Morpheus had not expected a physical strike because his face was filled with visible shock as Endymion’s fist connected with satisfying force.

“Mamoru!” Andrew spat in shock.

“Elysion?” Morpheus questioned, holding his abused nose. Endymion just glared at him furiously, clenching and unclenching his fists at his side.

Saetan and Chronos cleared their throats simultaneously.

“Does this mean you have decided the, Elysion?” Chronos asked at last with a perfectly even voice.

Endymion paused. “I…” He darted a glance at Morpheus but his temper flared and he looked away again. Chronos and Saetan, at least, deserved an answer from him. “I don’t… I don’t see how ti could be me…”

“What?” Andrew forgot his shock at his friend’s violent attack and regarded Endymion in disbelief. “How could you not? You Saw Usa’s mate, Mamoru, if you compare what you saw to yourself, you’d be a perfect match!”

“Is it, perhaps, that you doubt yourself, not your good fortune?” Saetan pried. Wisely, Morpheus did not add anything, just watched and healed his battered nose in silence. That restraint let Endymion shake his head.

“No…”

Andrew blinked in patent disbelief. “You doubt that you are Elysion because you don’t think you are capable of being a Star?” He snorted in a manner very at odds with his current appearance. “Trust me, Mamoru, that is not something you have to worry about.” He grinned his cheerful, girl-catching-at-the-arcade grin. “If Morpheus wasn’t worried about you going postal on him - and was the punch really necessary? - he’d say so too. Mamoru, you helped put Dream back together again as a mortal. Trust us, your ability to do what is required of you is not in question here.”

Reminded, Endymion resumed his glare at Morpheus. To be honest, he already wanted to have another go at the old god, he just doubted he’d be allowed to get another hit in and he thought the smug bastard deserved one too. He had to have known who Endymion was supposed to be to him from the first time they’d met. There was no way the old wretch would have let him help rebuild Dream otherwise. In hindsight, it was obvious to Endymion that Morpheus had subtly been training him since that time. And, in all that time, he had known Endymion had loved Usagi and known, too, that he had believed her to be Morpheus’ soulmate.

Manipulative, conniving, son of a bitch!

“I’m not worried about that,” he retorted snidely, still glaring. “I don’t think it’d be that difficult, after all.”

“Really?” Morpheus drawled coldly, “You think it’s so simple to rule Dream, then?”

Endymion shrugged as offensively as he could. It was not that he honestly thought like that, because he had experience enough to know that it was not the case. It was also not the prospect of difficult task that made him pause.

The Lord of Dream examined him, irate contempt changing into thoughtful suspicion as his midnight gaze raked over Endymion’s armoured self. “But that truly is not what concerns thee, is it, my heir?”
Endymion looked away and did not answer. The source of his doubt had become clear to him, found in a field of pitiless stars. However, just because he was prepared to admit this new knowledge to himself, did not mean he would willingly share it with Morpheus present.

That lack of regard did not hinder Morpheus in the least. *’Tis unfortunate that I abrade thy sensibilities raw as I do, but thou and I are too similar to rest easily. I know thee, Endymion nic Terra, named son of King Eowyn nic Terra but blood son of the faё lord Tristain. I watched as you grew into strength and wisdom. I know thee, Darien Chiba, who fought as the anachronism named Tuxedo Mask. I have watched thee grow beyond expectation and I have seen thy heartache these recent years past. I know why thou falters now. Thou hath grown accustomed to a miserable existence, my Elysion, and some small part of thee would prefer that state continued unchecked rather than risk her.*

Usagi… Slowly, Endymion turned his indigo eyes back and met Morpheus’ gaze.

*The question is, my Elysion, art thou a coward?*

Endymion shook his head. Of all the accusations Morpheus could have made, that one bothered him least. *And if I really am not good enough?* he sent back, *What then? There will not be time for a second chance.*

*Thou had best to meet the measure, then,* Morpheus replied remorselessly, *If thou fails, then all is lost, there is no second chance.*

*I still don’t like you,* Endymion returned.

Morpheus raised a single ebon brow and replied dryly, *We shall grow upon each other, akin to fungus.*

*I think we’re all making a mistake,* Endymion finished. “I really don’t feel very god-like,” he told the patiently waiting observers in surrender. He smiled wretchedly. “In fact, I feel singularly inadequate.”

“That’s because you’re thinking too much,” Andrew explained lightly, “When the time comes, you’ll know what to do.”

“Endymion snorted. “And you know this, how?”

“Certainly not from personal experience, my son,” Saetan agreed, regarding his spawn with interest.

Andrew grinned disarmingly. “It’s what I’ve been told from a very reliable source that is never wrong.”

His father blinked. “Your mother?”

“No,” Andrew corrected, “My mate.” He smirked at Endymion. “Since the Darkmoon Crisis, she makes certain to assure me of it once a week and I believe her.”

“Or else you sleep on the couch,” Endymion finished sardonically.

“Of course not!” Andrew denied vehemently and then paused teasingly. “She makes me sleep in the birdhouse.” He then flipped his wings for emphasis. Four dark men, three Stars and one demi-mortal, gave him almost identically unimpressed looks and Andrew’s grin changed into a sincere and sympathetic smile. “The challenges the Speaker sets are never more than we are capable of,” he promised, “It is simply a matter of timing. It’s all about when you’re ready for it. Of course, you’re a little thick, so I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about any tests just yet.”

Despite the handful of almost profound words amongst the rest, Endymion rolled his eyes. “Ignoring the clown and moving on, what do I need to do now? Are you going to give me instructions this time or just more nonsensical riddles?”

“What purpose would a Guardian that doth not think, serve me?” Morpheus returned calmly, unmoved by the sarcasm.

“We are on a time limit, Old Man,” Andrew reminded them all and Endymion was grateful for the show of support. “Considering that it took Mamoru, here, two years to figure out that he was Usa’s soulmate and not you, I think you might want to postpone any such further lessons and get to the point this time.” He met Endymion’s dark look with one of helpless innocence. His whole bearing seemed to scream, ‘but it’s true!’ It was a pity for his pride that Endymion could not deny it.

“So?” Endymion prodded, “What do I need to do?”

The three Stars exchanged speaking glances, probably communicating on a level beyond even Andrew’s telepathy. While they conferred, Andrew sidled over to Endymion’s side. *Welcome to the wider universe, Terran,* he teased mentally, *About time you joined us higher beings!*

*Thanks for telling me,* he retorted sarcastically, *I’m glad you could keep our promise to be honest with each other.*

Andrew winced. *Sorry?*

*Are you really?*

*That it was necessary? Yeah. That you spent two years heartsore? Yes. That I stopped you from pushing yourself and making potentially fatal mistakes? No. Two earth years really aren’t that much in the grand scheme of things.*

*You are so lucky I can feel how much you hated having to do it.*

*Trust me, I’ve been counting on it, Heart-brother.*

*Heart-brother?* Endymion was startled by the unfamiliar term.

*Mate of my soul-sister.* Andrew grinned. Endymion smiled hesitantly back and felt Andrew’s strong and reassuring hand on his shoulder. *I trust you,* he was told, *She’s been waiting for you to go to her just as you have been wanting to go. You won’t fail us now.*

*You are so certain?*

*Of course,* Andrew answered easily and then leered at Endymion. *Think of the motivation, Mamoru, you’ll have Usa willing, eager and without a chaperone all to yourself. Are you telling me you would not move existence for that prize?*

Endymion thought about that and the possibilities his friend conjured. *Aren’t brothers supposed to guard their sister’s virtue? Keep them chaste and untouched and all of that?* he asked absently, still more than a little distracted by his imagination, completely innocently, of course.

*Me?* Andrew replied incredulously, *When I have ever indicated I would do something so cruel?*

Which was a good point, a very good point. “Hey!” Endymion snapped at the star-eyed look-alikes. “Have you got anything decided yet? Time’s not going backwards here… unless Chronos isn’t telling me something.” So he was being a little blasé and disrespectful towards some rather powerful individuals, he was not going to pander to any tender sensibilities. Not anymore. Morpheus had that correct, at least…. He was still a bastard, though.

The trio glided closer to him and Endymion stood his ground, even after noticing the way they had him surrounded and the manner in which they had slowly started to circle him kind of reminded him of vultures. Morhpeus snatched the crystal from Endymion before his heir could argue about it. “We shall see to this,” he informed his new Guardian.

“The soul needs to be incarnated,” Saetan agreed from Endymion’s other side.

“I will see to it that the Ginzuishou remains with its keeper,” Morpheus assured him, this time from in front of him.

Endymion wasn’t very reassured but was not given the opportunity to object.

“In the meantime,” Saetan continued and Endymion began to get disorientated by the constant switching. It did not help that he was finding it more difficult to tell them apart when they weren’t staying still.
“You will retrace your steps,” the one he thought was Chronos said from behind him.

“What-”

“Trust us.”

“Do your part.”

“And all will be well.”

“Speaker bless thee.”

“Good luck, Elysion.”

“And good-bye.”

And, yet again, the three Stars evicted him from Dream.

Endymion was starting to get tired of that.

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

“Okay,” Mina concluded, “And that’s how Lita was activated.”

Jyp looked across to where Zoisite and Jupiter were concluding their battle and frowned. “Hey, peoples, monster attacks on bridal shops aside, does Lita look okay?”

Mina followed his glance and frowned herself. The little duel should have been over. Frankly, Zoisite was not a real match for Sailor Jupiter. Lita should have ended their little one-on-one quite a while ago.
“Does she look pale to any of you?”

“Not really,” Amy decided, “But she’s definitely looking tired.”

“She’s making some very elementary errors,” Kian added. “Not many, but enough that Zoisite has been able to keep up with her.”

Mina bit her lip. Lita really had been worrying her a lot recently but, from what she could sense of the problem, there wasn’t a lot she could do about it.

“You know what’s up with Butch, Blondie?” Alex asked, reading the expressions on Mina’s face.

Mina retorted, “Two words, Alex, pot, kettle, in both cases.”

Alex sniffed carelessly, she didn’t really mind be labelled with either description, they were both accurate after all… but heaven help the soul who tried to imply that blonde meant ditz. “What’s up Mina, you obviously know something,” she insisted.

“Nothing that we can do anything about,” Mina stated.

“You’re sure?” That was Raye who was just as concerned about Lita as Mina but without knowing why.

Mina nodded. “Yeah, unless we can go back in time to our past lives to find her soul mate, then we can’t help her.”

Enlightenment washed over the faces of everyone present. “How do you know he’s from her past life?” Michelle asked, “Wouldn’t she always have been missing him that way? From what I’ve seen, this has only been happening for the last few weeks.”

Mina shrugged. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you? I don’t know, I have no idea of how reincarnate fits in with soulbonds in the scheme of things, all I can do is describe what I’m sensing and that’s an old wound that’s no longer bleeding her dry but it’s not exactly healing either. It’s something that she can live with but probably won’t want to.” She frowned again and turned to Kian. “On the other hand, if it was a more recent thing, then she’d have been acting a lot more like Darien. Did you know that he’d met his soulmate and lost her?”

“Soulmate?” Kian wasn’t the only one that was startled. All of the older reincarnates were looking at her in astonishment.

Alex demanded, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she assured her, “That kind of raw emotional wound is kinda hard to miss.”

“Have you talked to him about it?” Jyp sounded anxious, with good reason if Mina’s experiences with Darien was anything to go by.

“Once,” she told them and shuddered in recollection. “I raised the issue just once, shortly after he came back. I didn’t even get to finish the word soulmate before he started screaming at me. He told me that he ever caught me spying on his thoughts again, he’d turn me into a… well I’ll leave the expletives out of it, frog and we’d see how well I’d go about catching guys then. There was more, of course, and he scared me away. I didn’t go near him again for six months and you might notice that I tend to avoid him, even now?”

“I only see you near him when he’s with Andy,” Amy commented and Mina smiled tightly at her.

“Yeah, somehow, Andy soothes the rabid beast. Otherwise, it’d hurt too much for me to be anywhere near our dear Dare-bear.”

“Andy?”

Mina blinked at Kian and wondered if he was jealous. “Yeah, Andrew Furuhata. You know him, he’s Darien’s best friend.”

Kian’s face was thoughtful. “Does he have a sister?”

“A younger one,” Amy confirmed, “Her name is Lizzie and she’s a year or so younger than I am.”

“No twin?”

Mina was truly confused now. What made him think that? “Not that we know of,” she told him, “And we’d know if he did. Enough of us have had crushes on him over the years that we’ve built quite the file up on him.”

“Fangirls,” Alex muttered and Raye, having never had such a crush, snickered while Amy blushed.

Jyp was staring at Kian and frowning in thought. “You thinking he might be related to-”

“No!” Kian snapped quickly, cutting Jyp off. “No,” he repeated less harshly, “It was just an idle thought.”

“So how do we help them?” Michelle asked Mina.

“We can’t,” Mina said sadly. “Lita’s soulmate is dead, over ten thousand years dead. None of us, not even Darien, can fix that. As for Darien, well, only he can help himself. If he wants it to stop hurting, he’s got to go to her. He knows who she is. I presume he knows where she is.” She shrugged. She was not getting involved in that again, no siree Bill!

Jyp sighed. “This is quite depressing.”

“We have been somewhat sidetracked,” Amy agreed.

Mina nodded and pushed her worries aside. “Yeah, we have. I should be telling you about how all four of us came to be a team.”

“No exaggerations, Mina,” Raye warned.

“Moi?”

“Yes, you. Tell it properly.”

Mina restrained herself from poking her tongue out at the spoilsport. “Okay, okay. So, after the incident in the bridal shop, I pulled Lita aside…”

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

When the Stars had told him to retrace his steps, Endymion discovered that they had intended him to relieve his second life all over again as some kind of bizarre guardian angel. Not that his younger self hadn’t needed one. Young Darien Chiba had been as bad has his next door neighbour and best friend for getting into trouble and hadn’t that been a shock.

He honestly had not considered what haunting his younger self would entail but seeing Jyp had brought it home. He needed to shadow a magically gifted child who would eventually develop the Sight not to mention form associations with other, similarly gifted, individuals.

From the day the Green and the Chiba met, Endymion had refined his abilities. He gained a greater patience, as the years passed and he awaited the time he would be free and Usagi’s plight was ever in the back of his mind. He developed a deeper awareness of not only his environment and of Earth, but also of the universe and his place in it. Time passed slowly and left much time for introspection as well as providing opportunities to interact with the people around him. Complete anonymity amongst even the most familiar faces forged his sense of self into something that was self-contained and independent. Company was pleasant, in those infrequent occasions he stole away, but not essential for his wellbeing. And, as his discipline continued to improve and his state of mind steadied, he gained a subtler touch in all her did, something he was very grateful for when young Darien began attending university and one Andrew Furuhata entered their lives. The hidden watcher required every scrap of skill and power to remain undiscovered when Darien’s life became subject to the examination of Selene’s guardians.

He had weathered Andrew’s introduction to his peaceful routine with much amusement at the reversal of roles for two years when he began to read ominous and familiar warning signs in the world around him. Once unnoticed, the energy fields were as alive and real to him as the ground beneath his feet and he saw where unnatural fluxes began to stain the patterns. When he saw the lines of power that ran through the sky from the north begin to darken, he left Darien to his midterms and journeyed to the arctic. He was the only witness as an evil nation began to spew forth from their banishment between realms. He watched with knowing eyes as the witch-queen returned to resume the war she had started untold millennia before.

He watched but did nothing to prevent it, though that now certainly lay within his power. However, with that power, had come a measure of wisdom. Though Earth was his home, it was no longer his to defend, not with sword and spell. With time comes acceptance and he had had twenty years to make his peace with his destiny. He was no longer mortal, his starseed now smouldered, purely gold, like the Guardian Star he was and the trigger that would cause it to ignite into divinity was only a moon away. He could not intrude upon purely mortal affairs, not unasked and uninvited. It was not his place, that was the unspoken law of the Council which would guarantee mortals their autonomous free will. He would not move against Beryl.

Metallia was another matter.

The first thing he did, when he returned to Tokyo, was to force his younger self into a deep sleep. Young Darien slumped, unconscious, on his text books and Endymion coerced him into a dream of the older mage’s making. It was with a smirk that he used an image of Usagi dressed in a flowing silk gown on a balcony calling for him to bring her the Imperium Silver Crystal.

He believed that she would be a good distraction while he stirred up some dormant memories and completed one other task. He should know. His dream princess had been all he could think of, those first few weeks of being magically aware. And, while Darien stared at the dream image, entranced, Endymion reached deep into the youth’s core. The purely crimson centre awoke at his touch, pulsing slowly and with a mortal’s strength. Endymion smiled reminiscently, it seemed like a very long time ago that he had been in the other’s shoes.

As he withdrew from Darien’s being to leave the young mortal to dream in peace, he ran an ethereal touch across the unique echo that rested beside the youth’s heart. The crystal was safe and would remain so until Darien learned enough to call it forth of his own will.

Reassured, Endymion reformed himself next to his younger self’s insensate form and kindly lifted the youth from his uncomfortable position. Deftly, he moved Darien to his bedroom and laid him out across the magically turned down sheets. Complete familiarity allowed the Guardian to make Darien comfortable and then he left him to sleep and integrate magic lessons learned in another lifetime. He would need them, sleep and magic lessons, both.

Darien’s life was going to be very busy from now on and his nights very full.

Endymion made himself comfortable on the railing of the bedroom’s balcony. His indigo eyes seemed to stare out at night-time Tokyo and saw far more.

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

Lita saw the world differently that humans do. She had ever since her powers woke within her. She saw lines of power the ley lines as they run though the world. She saw the currents of the wind and weather. She knews when a storm was building and where lightning would strike. That was a huge advantage for Mina and her when they wanted to find others like themselves. Lita just had to look for places where the ley lines were being tampered with. The first place she found, was in a Shinto shrine.

Halfway up a large flight of steps, Mina huffed and whined, “Are you sure there’s someone up there?”

Lita grinned at her, she, unlike Mina, was not even winded by their energetic climb. “Yep, positive. All the local lines converge here and damned if I can’t catch a hint of someone manipulating the fringes of the weather.”

Mina looked at her from the corner of her eyes. “How do you know that?”

Lita shrugged. “Dunno, just do. Heh, maybe it’s your cutie in the tux.”

Mina sighed wistfully. “That’d be nice,” she agreed.

The reached the last steps and went through the ornamental gate that waited for them. No sooner did they do so, than an attacker leapt upon them. Mina’s sharpened reflexes had her dodging out of the way instantly. Lita, on the other hand, simply reached out, grabbed the attacker and immobilised her. There was a bit of a scuffle, the slender girl dressed in a priestess’ robes possessed more than a little skill in martial arts, but Lita was much better, not to mention stronger and faster.

“Mina…” Raye growled.

Mina smiled at her smugly. “It’s true and you know it. Lita is stronger and faster than you and she always has been, not to mention that she has years more experience in actually fighting than you do!”

“Street fighting is not formal training!”

“No, but it certainly helped.”

Amy smiled apologetically at Raye. “Her experience was a great advantage, Raye. Even now, if we rely on solely physical forms of combat, she outmatches us. That experience of actual fighting plus her physical superiority means that she will always be difficult for us to defeat. If we keep magic out of it, of course.”

“And even if you don’t, she’s good. Her shear destructive capability…” Jyp whistled, “Man I wish I could do some of that.”

They all looked at him sourly. “You’re destructive enough without being able to control storms,” Michelle muttered, probably thinking of the single time she’d been foolish enough to accept a lift from him.
There was a general murmur of unanimous agreement to which Jyp just stuck his tongue out. It wasn’t like he could argue the point. Then, Mina continued.

Lita twisted the girl’s arm so that her wrist was between her shoulder blades and the girl grunted in pain and stopped trying to fight Lita off her back. Without taking her eyes off of her captive, Lita asked Mina, “She just tried to attack us, but she’s one of the ones we’re here to find. She’s tied to the power here, which makes sense if she’s really a priestess here.”

Mina nodded and crouched down so that she could get a closer look at the girl’s face. The girl didn’t feel evil, so why had she attacked them? “Hey,” she demanded, poking the girl in the side, “We didn’t do anything to you, do you always go around and jumping people?”

The girl opened her mouth to say something but another voice stole Mina’s attention. “Raye is very conscious of her duty as a guardian of this shrine.”

Mina twisted a bit and looked up to see a familiar face. Surprised, she jumped to her feet. “Amy?!” she blurted, “Amy Mizuno?”

Amy’s face was full of equally shocked recognition. “You! You’re the girl from that day!”

Both Raye and Lita were watching this little interchange with some interest and, in Lita’s case, amusement, and, in Raye’s, frustration.

“You know them, Amy?” Raye demanded, her voice slightly breathless due to her uncomfortable position

Amy nodded, not taking her eyes off of Mina. “Yes, I saw her some weeks back. She fought monsters.”

Mina felt Lita look at her and turned to see her raised eyebrows. Mina shrugged. “It was an attack at school, it’s not like I went looking for them!” Lita’s expression became rather mocking and she smirked. Mina was grateful that she didn’t point out that would have been the only time, well, the last time that had happened that way. Mina looked back to Amy. “So what are you doing here, Amy?” She glanced down at Raye and back up at Amy. “And what’s her deal?”

Amy’s eyes narrowed in calculation. “I believe,” she said after a moment, “Raye has good reason to be cautious, the shrine has been attacked recently and it was only her intervention that prevented the deaths of thirty people. As for why I am here, I imagine it is for the same reason you are. To find allies.”

Alex snorted and nodded in Amy’s direction. “Good work, Mizuno, you obviously had her pegged.”

Amy shrugged. “It wasn’t difficult to reason out. I knew she had extraordinary abilities, much as Raye and I had discovered about ourselves, and I knew that she had been attacked by the monsters at least once before. Of course, I did not expect that she had immediately leapt into being a vigilante, at the time I thought she’d just gone to the shrine to ask some questions.”

Mina shrugged unrepentantly. “So I was a little rash about the Sailor V thing, but I’m not sorry because I saved a lot of people that probably would have been monster food if I hadn’t.”

“It helped that Darien was around to stop you from becoming monster chow when you got in over your head though, didn’t it?” Jyp remarked.

Mina frowned, she hadn’t been that bad. Unfortunately, there was still enough truth in the statement that she couldn’t, with clear conscience, deny it. She ignored it instead. “Anyway, Amy calmed Raye down and then we all had a little chat that ended up in the two of them helping Lita and I learn proper control of our abilities while we gave them a way to channel that power. And so the scouts were born.”

Kian was looking at her thoughtfully. “You make no mention of any memories of your past at that stage, when did you learn what you were and why did you choose the names you did if you didn’t know?”

Mina blinked. “Huh,” she mused, “I don’t really know. I was V at first but once I started hanging with the other girls I started comparing us to gods. Amy’s the one that picked our names though.”

“It was quite logical,” Amy assured them, “Lita is rather obvious, I believe, and Mina’s obsession with love and beauty made her name simple as well. Raye was very war-like and so it was not so much of a stretch to name her for Mars and, as I had already used most of the inner planets’ names for the others, I designated myself Mercury just to keep in theme. I am quick of both wits and feet so it was not so undeserved.”

“So it has nothing to do with where you were born in your last lives?” Jyp sounded surprised.

Amy looked at him as if he were particularly dull. “Of course not, we don’t remember enough about our past lives to know that. As it is, we didn’t even know we were reincarnated until after we had a good long discussion with Darien. He’s the one that knew what he was and that knowledge seemed to trigger a few echoes in us, nothing so tangible as a memory, mind you, just vague impressions.” She frowned. “It was most frustrating!”

Mina scowled in recollection. “The whole next few months were frustrating. We were getting better at fighting but that didn’t stop attacks from happening and even Amy and Raye couldn’t predict all of them. Some were still getting through and a lot of those were being stopped by Darien.”

“But not all,” Raye reminded her.

Mina didn’t need to be told again. “No, not all,” she said sadly. A lot of people, innocent people who had done nothing wrong but be human, had died because they were simply unable to defend themselves. We started running into Darien more and more often as all of us got better at finding the attacks and, eventually, we cornered him and got him to help us.”

Raye snorted suddenly, her previous solemn mood dissipating. “By all that is holy, he was so aggravating! So arrogant and condescending!”

All of them knew what she was talking about as all of them had dealt with Darien at both his most charming and at his most obnoxious. It was a pity that his obnoxious side seemed to be the most commonly seen side of him lately. “But that’s Darien,” Mina said, shrugging it off. “He eventually decided that we could be trusted-”

“Or relied on not to get in his way,” Raye muttered sourly.

“Or relied on not to get in his way,” Mina repeated agreeably. “But he eventually formed a loose alliance with us and, when we found Beryl’s base, he joined us in our attack.”

“I wouldn’t bother about going through the details of how we formed the alliance with him, Mina,” Amy recommended, her face wry. “I’m sure there’ve been enough stories from both sides that everyone here has a good idea of how rocky the association between us was initially. I think Beryl’s defeat is of more interest at the moment.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Mina reassured her, although if anyone asked her later, she had some things that she’d been aching to share! “So, anyway, Amy managed to plant a tracer and managed to track the monsters’ origin back to Beryl’s base. Needless to say, we decided to take the fight to the enemy…”

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

The weeks between awakening his younger self’s power and the Scouts’ and Tuxedo Mask’s final confrontation seemed to fly by for Endymion. If it wasn’t wondering how he’d been unlucky enough to have his first attack during a masquerade Andrew had forced him to attend, and how had he forgotten to get retribution, it was disgust all over again that he’d been labelled Tuxedo Mask. Darien was keeping Endymion unexpectedly busy and he was appalled at how clumsy some of his initial battles against Beryl’s minions had been.

It was enough that, after the second such demonstration of ineptness, this one blessedly unwitnessed and uncostumed, he had introduced a sequence of dreams that forced the dreamer to fight illusionary opponents to his younger self’s sleeping mind. Dreams being what they were, Endymion could and would force his younger self through hundreds of duels in a single night. He either fought, lost and died, only to repeat the dream again, of fought, won and faced a more difficult foe.

The third battle, again uncostumed as Darien still hadn’t seen the need for one yet, proceeded far more smoothly and Endymion was satisfied enough with this method of training that he maintained it, making each night harder than the one before. It wore on both of them, the younger because his sleep provided very little rest, the elder because his close control of the younger’s dreams with no sleep of his own sapped his energy. However, by the time Darien was fighting massively outnumbered battles in his dreams, it was obvious that the lessons were too vital to abandon. Darien was regularly fighting Beryl’s minions and winning his battles with no major injury. He would soon meet Mina and Endymion sensed Amy was magically active as well. It was time for Endymion to force the young man to start thinking of the wider picture.

It was time to remind him how to lead.

The next dreams had Darien fighting with a team.

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

“Hello, Darien.”

Darien Chiba spun on the heel of one of his black dress shoes. He looked down in surprise and found himself wearing the same tuxedo that he had been during that ill-fated masquerade that Andy had coerced him into attending. He scowled unhappily. He hated this thing and the name he’d been dubbed the last time he’d worn it. A cleared throat reminded him of why he’d spun in the first place and he looked up to face… himself.

He stepped back and then stopped. There could only be one explanation… well, after recent weeks he guess that wasn’t so but he still wasn’t accustomed to thinking of life in terms of genuine magic, he was a logical guy at heart.

“Yes, Darien,” the other Darien assured him, “This is a dream, the Dark Kingdom hasn’t started creating shadow warriors…” The other self frowned. “Although perhaps I should look into things to make sure nothing like that’s happened while I’ve been distracted by you.”

“What?” Darien didn’t know whether to be offended at the other’s patronising tone or angry at being blatantly manipulated… by himself. He settled for confusion.

The other him was dressed in black armour with a cape identical to the one that Darien now wore with his tux. A sword was belted to his side and his boots looked a lot more comfortable than Darien’s damned dress shoes. Still, there was something about the other’s eyes, something that he knew he would not find in his own when he looked in a mirror.

“Who are you?” he demanded. It was as good a place as any to start.

The other him raised an eyebrow. “I am you, of course.”

“I don’t think so,” Darien disagreed, “I certainly am not some displaced medieval knight!”

The other him grinned boyishly and Darien started at the sight of a totally unfamiliar expression on his face. “You just wish you were in this outfit, instead of that,” he was told. “Unfortunately for you, you’re going to have to get used to the tux.”

“Excuse me?” Darien didn’t know what to think about this dream, other than that the other guy obviously didn’t have a clue.

He got a wry look in return. “You heard me. Henceforth, you’re going to fight as Tuxedo Mask.”

“What? Why?” That was not a whine… it was simply outrage that apparently some part of him thought that the tux was a good idea.

“Because things are going to start getting harder and more dangerous from here on in. Stupid as it seems, that’s actually a rather good disguise to stop some monster following you home one day.”

Darien thought he’d rather chance a monster.

“Besides,” the other him continued, ignoring Darien’s fermenting rebellion. “You’re going to encounter some others like you soon and, trust me, you don’t want them following you home. It’ll happen eventually but let’s preserve our chocolate stash for as long as possible, hmm?”

Darien sat down suddenly, a chair materialising underneath him. “I don’t understand.”

The other him snapped his fingers and a second chair appeared beside him. “Okay, what don’t you understand?” he asked patiently after he sat down.

Darien gesticulated wildly. “You! Me! This!” He gestured at the grey nothingness around him.

The other him sighed. “Okay, from the top. I’m you and this is our mind. Our subconscious to be exact. I want what you learn here to stick and not be conveniently forgotten.”

Darien looked around. “This is our, my mind?” It was very… boring. He had thought he was more interesting than this.

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it. It’ll change in the future, trust me, and we don’t have time to go into how or why right now. I’ll simply say that we’re going to meet an interesting blonde and life will never be the same again.” The other him smiled wistfully and Darien wished he knew what… he knew. “As for you…” the other him continued, “Well, you’ll learn more for yourself, later, but you should know a few things now. The reason you can do all of that weird crap with the roses and strength and speed and so on and so forth, is because you have access to magic. I won’t go into how you can do it when almost no one else can, it’s a long story that you’ll learn-”

“Later,” Darien guessed impatiently, “Can you tell me why, at least?”

“That I can do,” the other him answered and leaned forward earnestly. “Okay, Darien, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I need you to keep an open mind.”

“This is a dream,” Darien reminded him.

“Sort of, not really, but you won’t understand the difference for a few years, yet.”

Darien snorted. “That’s not what you said before.” How much more stupid could this dream-him act?

“I lied. I do that on occasion, as you should know.”

Darien was about to protest but he remembered exactly how much creative story telling he’d been doing recently. The other him nodded, reading his mind. “Exactly and it’s going to get worse. You, Darien, are going to become a superhero.”

“What?”

“You have no choice. It’s either you do that or you sit back and watch the queen of those monsters take over the world.”

Darien was frankly sceptical. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly.”

“How is that possible?”

“You’ve been fighting monsters in the street with magical roses and skills from karate lessons you took five years ago for weeks and you’re only now asking how it’s possible?”

Well, put that way… “Yes,” he stated flatly.

All he got was an infuriatingly calm shrug. “Don’t ask me. More in heaven and earth and all that jazz.”

Darien was extremely unimpressed. He stood up and began looking for a way out of this dream. The other him just stretched out, unconcerned. He seemed to have good reason for it, Darien had no idea how to get away. Pinching didn’t help and no amount of will power changed the featureless grey.

“Are you finished?” he was asked after a moment of fruitless pacing brought him back to where he had started from.

“Apparently,” he answered in disgust, sitting on the ground since his chair had disappeared.

“Well, I’ll keep it short, so pay attention,” the dream him admonished and then went on to tell a fantastic and completely unbelievable story about Darien being a prince, a lost treasure, a war involving other planets and reincarnation. As promised, it was kept short. The bare bones of the story was told in under five minutes and Darien thought the extended version could have gone on for hours. Of course, it was all a load of crap.

“Is that it?” he asked after his doppelganger fell silent.

“Isn’t it enough?” he was asked in return.

“If there was one drop of truth in the whole story, maybe.”

The other shrugged and stood. “Believe what you want. It’s all true,” he said as he straightened his sword. Darien wondered how that hadn’t gotten in the way when the other had sat down but figured it was all a part of being in a dream.

Darien rolled his eyes and climbed to his feet. “So what do you expect me to do about it?”

“What you have been doing,” he was informed, “But, eventually, with help.”

“And why does that groundbreaking news warrant this torture?” he demanded, waving his hands at their grey surroundings.

The other looked at him pointedly. “Trust me, what I’ve just told you is important. Knowledge is power and I’ve just given you the keys to learning what you need to learn how to win a war against the witch.” He tilted his head. “And you might want to work on your people skills. You’re going to need them. Teenage girls are hell if you don’t handle them right, trust me.”

Darien glared at him. “You say that a lot,” he noted in annoyance.

The other just grinned. “Well,” he said, “If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?”

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

Endymion stepped out of the young mortal’s mind and left him to digest the information in his own time. Darien wouldn’t remember the ‘dream’ anymore than he remembered any of the thousands of battles he had fought in his sleep. However, just as the constant dreaming had drilled warfare into Darien’s subconscious until it was instinct, this knowledge would be there to give him and the girls direction when they needed it.

So far, he hadn’t done anything to alter the past as he remembered it, not that he thought Chronos would allow that. He had to ensure Darien would be Tuxedo Mask and in time to meet Mina, too… despite how tempting it had been to change things so that he fought in his armour rather than that damned tuxedo. But now it was time for him to leave Darien to his fate. His odds for discovery were growing too great. His younger-self had all the tools he would need, there was no reason for Endymion to stay in his shadow any longer.

Endymion had his own dragon to slay.

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