The Four Lovers:Happiness is a Phoenix, Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Jaedite
 /a dark haired man...blood running over his hands, his eyes
glowing..glowing blue...and a cackling, horrible sound...and
then they turned brown and he fell and a redhead screamed
over his dead body...and it was NEPHRITE and he screamed and
screamed to him but.../
 The blond jerked in his bed.
 /Zoicite, hair pulled back and looking so
feminine...kissing Kunzite while
laughing...laughing...laughing at him../
 A groan came from his lips.
 /dark haired, purple haired women, beautiful violet eyes,
fire rushing at him...and metal beasts...and collapsing, and
a pain, and he knew that was REI...RAYE...who'd taken him
down../
 He flew up then, sweat streaming down from his forehead and
across his naked chest.  The sheets beneath him were soaked
in sweat, and the sudden rush of air chilled the feverish
heat that swelled within him.  His eyes were open before he
sat up, their color a glazed over blue as he panted for air,
slowly sharpening to their usual crystal blue...yet not
clear, for they were softly tinged darker than usual.  
 He checked the clock as his brain cleared, and made a small
noise of displeasure.  He didn't have to get up for quite
awhile yet, not until it was his turn to go sit with his
friend Nephrite and patrol.  Besides, he needed any sleep he
could get; wasn't that one of the first things his father
had taught him?
 The nightmare chilled him though, more than the sweat on
his body mixing with the cold air.  He tumbled himself from
bed, purple-black robe twisting around his body with a
practiced air as he sat in a nearby chair, and thought. 
Worry lines began to cross his forehead, and a trembling
fear washed over him in sopping waves; his hands buried
themselves in his hair and his eyes trembled, tears
threatening to stream down his cheeks.
 He'd had nightmares like this before, and they weren't just
dreams.  They were predictions.
 Jaedite's powers were aura related--some simple
psychometry, but mostly just grasping the energy around him
and manipulating it, along with other peoples.  It was a
tricky science, and he hadn't quite mastered it, though when
he did his power would match Nephrite's.  His innate gift,
though, had a price--when he used too much power, he became
drowsy, and got terrible headaches.  Not only that, but due
to its natural origin, it gave him access to certain
doorways and powers that the others could not.  Furthermore,
they weren't controllable, and he didn't toy with them--
except they sometimes "toyed with him," as his father
would've said.  And one of the signs that they were "toying"
with him were nightmares that came true.
 Yet the visions, those grim, hadn't disturbed him so much
as the emotions that had flowed through time to touch him. 
One not so subtle feeling that had slammed into him was the
hatred, the twisted madness, in the eyes of the women he
loved.  True, she'd looked younger--much younger--and his
own hatred seemed determined to unleash itself at her, but
this was still REI.  Or Raye; he wasn't sure what the
problem was, but that spelling floated in front of his eyes,
encased in neon bubbles.
 He got up from the chair and went to the window, trembling
eyes looking up toward the moon.  He wasn't surprised to see
the trembling thread of black slipping across the surface--
only mad, mad as hell, that they'd threaten her...and
scared, too.  
  his mind asked
gently.  
 His eyebrows raised as he went hunting for his general's
uniform.  Sleep wasn't an option anymore, it seemed, and
he'd just go find Nephrite and chat with him a little.  Or
just join his two friend's on patrol.  Something like that.
 
  he replied.
 
 
 
  he thought
sarcastically as he came upon his crumpled uniform.  It rose
for him automatically, and he scrutinized it for a minute
before deciding it probably should be washed, but then
again, why?  Just to get dirty again this afternoon?  He
slipped out of his robe with the whimsy thought of 
  he murmured back.
 
  he
wondered brusquely.
 
 He straightened it and went to the mirror to examine his
appearance.  Hair a butter blond, puffing up in places,
slicked down in others; slim, trim, tight body; uniform
fitting like a charm; a discernible sad look in his eyes.
 That wasn't right.  He should be cheerful and charming, not
sad.  Yet the dream had well of tears priming behind his
eyes, and for the life of him he didn't understand WHY.
 He sat impatiently in the nearby white chair, and his hand
fell to pick up and twirl the nearby purple flower.  It was
a tulip, dark purple..."Queen of the Night" if he remembered
correctly.  Rei had given it to him that fine day, last time
he'd seen her...
 
 They'd decided to go on a walk through the wild forests of
the Moon, so close to the lunar plain that virtually no one
lived their.  They'd spent their time wonderfully, splashing
each other with water, choosing the oddest times to steal a
kiss, or just walking hand and hand down the gently curving
trails.  
 Finally, they'd made it to a sunny spot where the trees
gave way to gently rolling meadows, and had made slow love
between shade and sunshine.  Afterwards his laid his head on
her lap and she played with his hair, and they'd just sat in
the contentment of silence.  Finally she'd spoken.
 "I wish you wouldn't leave."
 "We all have chores to attend to, my lady."
 She sighed, and her face fell into shadow.  "I know."
 He brushed her face, bringing her back into the sun, and
looked into her deep violet eyes.  Drowned in them,
actually, until he felt a certain despair wash over him, and
he knew exactly how she felt.  "Love..." he whispered.
 "Jade," she said in a strangled voice.
 He sat up, breaking her gaze for only a second.  "Rei, my
love, don't worry for me," he said.  "I'll be all right."
 Tears beaded up in her eyes, and he reached for her; in
reply, she clung to him tightly and cried.  He'd never seen
her cry before...as he said before, he couldn't of bore it. 
It would've have been like flaying his own soul.
 "Love, love," he said, stroking his hair.  "I will come
back.  My family line is hard to kill.  Why, when my
grandfather served in the Earth-Sea conflicts, it took
flaming arrows, a spear through the thigh, a dizziness
spell, and several sword wounds just to get him to retreat. 
He died in a seven hour wrestling match with a Giant Jupiter
Gecko--after slaying the beast."
 Her tears seemed quelled a little by his tale, yet he still
felt the unsteadiness of her condition.  "Rei, Rei, I won't
die.  I can't.  I can't die until I get my final kiss,
remember?  And that will be when I'm old and gray, and our
children surround us--not because of some youma."
 "True," she admitted, and he felt her shoring up her walls
again.  It troubled him when they cracked around him, just
because her pain was quickly assumed by him, as his was
assumed by her.  Yet it was only a small price to pay for
the love shared between them--a very small price.
 "I still worry, though."
 "Don't love," he whispered, raising her eyes to meet his. 
"Pray for me, plead for me, but don't worry about me..."
 "Watch my back, not yours," she said.  
 "Oh no," he mock groaned, "I'm sounding like Kunzite
again."
 A sparkle infiltrated her eyes, and she leaned up to kiss
him soundly.  And they didn't speak of death and dying
anymore, but lived.

 He placed the flower back in the vase, and stood up.  His
mind was right--the dream was nothing but that, a dream.  He
brushed himself off, straightened a bit, and went to get
Nephrite's butt out of bed.  
 He entered the room totally unprepared for the disaster it
was.  Immediately he ignited a globe to call Kunzite, but
then he found himself hanging by his ankles, and something
bashed his back and his head, and he blacked out...
...to awaken in a room, staring in a pair of dark brown
eyes.  
 "Rite?" 
 "Jade!" he sighed in relief, backing up.  "I thought they'd
have you out for longer for sure."
 He tried to sit up, and a hammer slammed into the front of
his forehead, the headache blossoming in little cracks
across his skull.  "What...did they...hit me..with?" he
asked, almost woozily.
 "A dense crystal."
 That explained it.  Zoicite had once cracked a couple of
wooden boards with one of those.
 "Ouch...hey, did you know your bleeding?" 
 Nephrite self consciously touched his shoulder and shook
his head.  "They stabbed me when they attacked."
 "Who?  What happened?"
 He related the battle, and Jaedite's pallor lightened. 
"Ouch," he said grimly.  
 "Uh-huh.  And you?"
 "I'd gone to your room to get you out of bed, and found it
a wreck.  I opened a globe to Kunzite to try and get him to
come over, but they grabbed me and knocked me out." He
steadied himself and then asked, "Exactly who are THEY?"
 Nephrite's lips curled in a scowl. "Negaverse scum."
 "How'd they bypass Kunz and Zoi?"
 "They have a powerful Queen, and I think she must of cast a
misdirection or some such thing," Nephrite said.
 "No, I did nothing of the sort," came a darkly seductive
voice.
 Both men spun, and stood, and faced Queen Beryl as she
slunk forward, youma pets in shadow.  Nephrite snarled, and
Jaedite automatically felt anger surge to the forefront,
eyes crystallizing.
 "I merely just sent myself and my youma to take care of the
both of you," she said.  
 "You couldn't! There is shielding and LAWS against that!"
Jade roared.
 "Laws?  What are laws?" she asked shiftily, and a hoard of
crackling laughter came from behind her.  Both men stood
tall in the wave, disgust trickling into their minds,
disgust and revulsion.  Nephrite self-consciously touched
his shoulder.
 "I trust you weren't hurt to badly," she purred at Jade.
 "No, if you count nearly get your head knocked off a
'light' injury," he countered.
 Her red eyes blazed at him, and she yelled, "Don't sass me,
General! Your life is in my hands!"  Abruptly she waved, and
a section of the room suddenly seemed to crawl with life,
writhing youma waiting for their chance to taste General
blood.
 "As to your shielding, it was simple.  The powers of light
are sharp and hot, bright and wide, and incapable of showing
themselves without putting on a show.  The dark power is
slick, slippery, and like gel through a crack can slip
through the tiniest holes in any defense," she said, a
contented smile on her face.
 "So why are we here?" Nephrite asked.
 "Are you broke and needing ransom?  Because I doubt you'll
get much for a pair of Earth Generals," Jaedite snapped.
  his mind whispered.
  he reminded himself.
 "No, no, no--I want you," she said.
 They exchanged glances, and Jade said, "I'm flattered,
but..."
 "No, you fools!" she snapped suddenly.  "I want your
skills.  My army needs Generals to lead them in our conquest
of the universe!"
 One second.  Two seconds.  Then, "No deal!" the two men
cried in unison.  
 "Take some time to reconsider it," she said.  "The Dark
Kingdom can supply any of your needs--money, wine, weapons,
women...anything you could have ever wanted."
 "In exchange for killing our friends, our families, our
loved ones?  Hardly a deal," Nephrite fired off.
 "I don't know who you are, or WHAT you are, but I will
NEVER turn traitor and join the Negaforce! Not for all the
wealth, power, or women you could offer! I will never trade
my soul for your garbage!" Jade followed up, his eyes
blazing as his hands did.
 "My name is Queen Beryl, you imbeciles," she shouted.  "And
in the end you will bow to me whether you want to or not!"
 "Over my broken body, witch!" Jade yelled.
 "YOU FOOLISH, PATHETIC MAN!" she screamed.  "GET THEM,
YOUMA! GET THEM!"
 The youma leapt forward, and suddenly in the hands of both
Generals were the spord and a metal tipped whip, one of
Jade's favorite weapons to use.  The two roared and jumped
to meet the challenge.
 The battle was fierce, and bloody, mostly on the youma
side.  The Generals lost a lot of their uniform to the claws
and teeth and tentacles of the youma, but the angry that had
sprung up to grit the teeth and flash the eyes of the men
had possessed them with a strength they'd never had, a
strength they couldn't have imagined.  They weren't just
fighting for their own freedom, but for the freedom of a
whole star system, and especially because of a pair of
emerald eyes, and a pair of purple ones, and the love that
was in both of them. 
 However, their Fate was not to triumph this day over the
Queen of the Negaverse, though they did take out A LOT of
her youma.  In fact, several times Nephrite nearly broke
through to go for the queen, but was always blocked by a
shadow, or a sudden pain would tackle his head and he would
have to pull back.  In the end, it was to be Jaedite who
would fall first, not under claws or teeth or tentacles, but
because of the amount of power he'd drained from himself.  A
wave of dizziness overtook him, and he barely had time to
yell out "NEPHRITE!" before he collapsed and the hoards of
youma went for him.
 "JADE!" yelled his friend, and he dove in as well.  Queen
Beryl watched for a minute, and then another, as the battle
raged hotter than ever.  Finally she called, "STOP! BACK
AWAY!"
 The youma obeyed her grudgingly, pulling themselves out of
battle mode to limp back to their Queen, blood of their
comrades pooling on the floor.  And near the center of it
all, the two Generals, Jaedite unconscious, Nephrite barely,
he calling his star field to assist his power in order to
try to heal...something...before...he...passed...out.
 Beryl smiled as he slumped, and called out, "Drakon!"
 A near human/lizard creature appeared, intelligence shining
from its red rimmed black eyes.  "Yes, my Queen," he asked
in a bass voice.
 "Take them and put them in the Crystals.  Make sure their
injuries are tended to.  And send a squad after the last
two--and don't screw up!"
 "Yes, my Queen," he replied, slinking away to grab the two 
Generals and haul them through a black hole, a smile appearing 
on Beryl's lips.

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