Halloween Event.. would you like a trick?
Rei slowly made her way from her bedroom to the Sacred Fire. It was dark and cool and the courtyard was strewn with fallen leafs, leaving it awash of red, gold, orange and bronze. She could see the faint glow of the Jack-O‘-Lanterns that lined the stairs that lead up to the shrine.
She found the idea odd, that a Shinto Shrine should have anything relating to Halloween on the premises, but Grandfather had a weird fascination with the holiday and the western traditions; he had even dressed up for the day.
Suppressing a smile at the thought of him in his vampire cape, she tucked her hands into the folds of her Hakama and shook her head gently as she continued on her way.
In recent years Rei had studied more about Halloween and it’s origins, which she found far more interesting than the idea of costumes and Trick-or-Treating. The basis was quite intriguing, a night where the divide between the real world and the spirit world grew thin, letting the spirits run free.
Unlike O-Ban, where one paid homage and remembered loved ones who had passed on, Halloween was a time when one might contact them; see them. Good, bad or otherwise.
Which is what lead her to the Sacred Fire a few hours before midnight.
Kneeling down, Rei fed the fire and readied herself for what she might find in its blazing depths.
Earlier in the day she had thought about her mother and grandmother, or any number of ancestors for that matter, but as she sat there, feet tucked under her and back straight, she had only one person on her mind; a charming young man with sky blue eyes and sunny blond hair.
It had been a year since the defeat of the Chaos, a year since she had died and been reborn; a year since she had gotten all of her memories back.
Regaining her full memories of the Silver Millennium had been a blessing and a curse, and because of that she hadn’t mentioned the fact to the others.
So it was in private that she reveled in the memories of having a loving family, a mother and younger brother, and a father that cared.
She could clearly remember her days on Mars, what it was like growing up in the palace and the love she felt. As she grew older she spent more time on the Moon, with Serenity, until the day came she started her training as the great and powerful Sailor Mars.
And then she found she had sisters.
While she was close with them all in this life time, during the Silver Millennium they had truly been like sisters; they call came from similar backgrounds and they all came into the powers at the same time. They spent every moment together, from training to school work to their royal obligations.
Then came the memories of Earth; that bright blue dot that was so intriguing and so forbidden.
She had been told time and time again that the people of Earth were savage, non-magical heathens that were undeserving and unreceptive to the Silver Alliance.
Never once did she think she would find a place that was full of culture, philosophy, religions and a group of people she could happily call her equals.
And never in her wildest dreams did she think she would find the love her life.
When she first met Jadeite, third in command of the Shitennou and King of what was now known as Asia, he was defensive and curt; unsure of how to react to the lady who seemingly appeared out of thin air looking for her princess. The next few times she saw him he was overly flirtatious and vociferous, bordering on annoying.
Against her better judgment she fell in love.
She could remember how he kissed her, how he held her and how complete he made her feel. That was the purist joy she could imagine as the giddy feelings of ardor filled her up from centuries past.
But with the joy came the pain and hurt of her lover’s betrayal.
Rei suffered silently as she was assaulted with the memories of the Shitennou as they marched on the moon kingdom, eyes and hearts blacker than Beryl’s soul.
She would awake in the middle of the night drenched in a cold sweat as she remembered the agony of watching her sisters fall at the hands of the men they had given their hearts to. And it took no focus for her to bring back the smell of burning bodies and the feel of blood on her hands.
She had been the one to kill him; a flaming arrow to the heart that left her own crumbling like the pillars around her. She had been so drawn into herself, despairing, that she never noticed Kunzite looming behind her, not until she felt the cold bite of his sword as it sunk into her flesh.
Though at that moment she welcomed the blackness he delivered her to.
She would awake in the middle of the night from that same blackness, gasping for air and shaking. Once she settled her racing heart, she would give into the soul crushing pain that filled her to her very core and cry.
Cry for worlds lost, a princess and prince forsaken, and a love destroyed.
That was the very reason she knelt before the fire now, she had awoken from the same dream, full of the same memories, and felt the same agony as every other night.
In that moment her desire for him was more than she could bear and so she had pulled on her clothes and made her quiet way to the fire.
Saying her prayers under her breath they soon became a mantra for her as she slipped further and further into a trance. Amethyst eyes fluttered closed as she mentally walked the paths of the dead.
She could see them, feel them, the ghosts of the past as they pulled at her, vying for attention. But she brushed them all away with a mental shrug, her mind set on only one.
Rei called him, as her longing nearly choked her. She thought perhaps hours, days, had passed, but a voice in back of her mind told it had only been minutes. It didn’t matter though because every single moment counted, and already she knew it would be difficult to return to the land of the living as the spirits became more and more agitated by her presence.
Soon the evil spirits were upon her, hands groping, mouths open, wanting her essence of life. A dark figure drew her away and set her back on the path that would lead her to her body, to her life.
Turning back to catch a glimpse of the figure, heart full of hope. She slowly became aware of dark hair, not blonde, and eyes that were so much like her own. “Mama?” she whispered.
The figure, a mere translucent aura, gave what she thought was a faint smile before it disappeared completely, and Rei came back to her body gasping for air and blinded by tears.
She bent over her knees, hands on the floor, and wept as a new pain pierced her core. She imagined she felt a soft hand on her cheek, brushing the tears away, and sat up quickly. There was a moment of eerie silence when nothing moved, her heart stopped beating, the wind ceased to blow and the fire didn’t crackle.
Then it all came roaring back to life and Rei had a flash of a rock in a box in an apartment up town.
Fresh tears coursed down her face and she wiped them roughly away with the back of her hand, sniffing loudly. She took a shaky breath in and let it out again, hoping to settle her fraying nerves.
She rose to her feet, muscles aching, and looks to the window to see it is now dawn. A faint smile drifts across her face even as she feels the linger touch of her mother. Bowing to the fire in the formal fashion she whispered another prayer and left the room.
Today she would pay a visit to Mamoru.
She found the idea odd, that a Shinto Shrine should have anything relating to Halloween on the premises, but Grandfather had a weird fascination with the holiday and the western traditions; he had even dressed up for the day.
Suppressing a smile at the thought of him in his vampire cape, she tucked her hands into the folds of her Hakama and shook her head gently as she continued on her way.
In recent years Rei had studied more about Halloween and it’s origins, which she found far more interesting than the idea of costumes and Trick-or-Treating. The basis was quite intriguing, a night where the divide between the real world and the spirit world grew thin, letting the spirits run free.
Unlike O-Ban, where one paid homage and remembered loved ones who had passed on, Halloween was a time when one might contact them; see them. Good, bad or otherwise.
Which is what lead her to the Sacred Fire a few hours before midnight.
Kneeling down, Rei fed the fire and readied herself for what she might find in its blazing depths.
Earlier in the day she had thought about her mother and grandmother, or any number of ancestors for that matter, but as she sat there, feet tucked under her and back straight, she had only one person on her mind; a charming young man with sky blue eyes and sunny blond hair.
It had been a year since the defeat of the Chaos, a year since she had died and been reborn; a year since she had gotten all of her memories back.
Regaining her full memories of the Silver Millennium had been a blessing and a curse, and because of that she hadn’t mentioned the fact to the others.
So it was in private that she reveled in the memories of having a loving family, a mother and younger brother, and a father that cared.
She could clearly remember her days on Mars, what it was like growing up in the palace and the love she felt. As she grew older she spent more time on the Moon, with Serenity, until the day came she started her training as the great and powerful Sailor Mars.
And then she found she had sisters.
While she was close with them all in this life time, during the Silver Millennium they had truly been like sisters; they call came from similar backgrounds and they all came into the powers at the same time. They spent every moment together, from training to school work to their royal obligations.
Then came the memories of Earth; that bright blue dot that was so intriguing and so forbidden.
She had been told time and time again that the people of Earth were savage, non-magical heathens that were undeserving and unreceptive to the Silver Alliance.
Never once did she think she would find a place that was full of culture, philosophy, religions and a group of people she could happily call her equals.
And never in her wildest dreams did she think she would find the love her life.
When she first met Jadeite, third in command of the Shitennou and King of what was now known as Asia, he was defensive and curt; unsure of how to react to the lady who seemingly appeared out of thin air looking for her princess. The next few times she saw him he was overly flirtatious and vociferous, bordering on annoying.
Against her better judgment she fell in love.
She could remember how he kissed her, how he held her and how complete he made her feel. That was the purist joy she could imagine as the giddy feelings of ardor filled her up from centuries past.
But with the joy came the pain and hurt of her lover’s betrayal.
Rei suffered silently as she was assaulted with the memories of the Shitennou as they marched on the moon kingdom, eyes and hearts blacker than Beryl’s soul.
She would awake in the middle of the night drenched in a cold sweat as she remembered the agony of watching her sisters fall at the hands of the men they had given their hearts to. And it took no focus for her to bring back the smell of burning bodies and the feel of blood on her hands.
She had been the one to kill him; a flaming arrow to the heart that left her own crumbling like the pillars around her. She had been so drawn into herself, despairing, that she never noticed Kunzite looming behind her, not until she felt the cold bite of his sword as it sunk into her flesh.
Though at that moment she welcomed the blackness he delivered her to.
She would awake in the middle of the night from that same blackness, gasping for air and shaking. Once she settled her racing heart, she would give into the soul crushing pain that filled her to her very core and cry.
Cry for worlds lost, a princess and prince forsaken, and a love destroyed.
That was the very reason she knelt before the fire now, she had awoken from the same dream, full of the same memories, and felt the same agony as every other night.
In that moment her desire for him was more than she could bear and so she had pulled on her clothes and made her quiet way to the fire.
Saying her prayers under her breath they soon became a mantra for her as she slipped further and further into a trance. Amethyst eyes fluttered closed as she mentally walked the paths of the dead.
She could see them, feel them, the ghosts of the past as they pulled at her, vying for attention. But she brushed them all away with a mental shrug, her mind set on only one.
Rei called him, as her longing nearly choked her. She thought perhaps hours, days, had passed, but a voice in back of her mind told it had only been minutes. It didn’t matter though because every single moment counted, and already she knew it would be difficult to return to the land of the living as the spirits became more and more agitated by her presence.
Soon the evil spirits were upon her, hands groping, mouths open, wanting her essence of life. A dark figure drew her away and set her back on the path that would lead her to her body, to her life.
Turning back to catch a glimpse of the figure, heart full of hope. She slowly became aware of dark hair, not blonde, and eyes that were so much like her own. “Mama?” she whispered.
The figure, a mere translucent aura, gave what she thought was a faint smile before it disappeared completely, and Rei came back to her body gasping for air and blinded by tears.
She bent over her knees, hands on the floor, and wept as a new pain pierced her core. She imagined she felt a soft hand on her cheek, brushing the tears away, and sat up quickly. There was a moment of eerie silence when nothing moved, her heart stopped beating, the wind ceased to blow and the fire didn’t crackle.
Then it all came roaring back to life and Rei had a flash of a rock in a box in an apartment up town.
Fresh tears coursed down her face and she wiped them roughly away with the back of her hand, sniffing loudly. She took a shaky breath in and let it out again, hoping to settle her fraying nerves.
She rose to her feet, muscles aching, and looks to the window to see it is now dawn. A faint smile drifts across her face even as she feels the linger touch of her mother. Bowing to the fire in the formal fashion she whispered another prayer and left the room.
Today she would pay a visit to Mamoru.