Planet Bound: Venus
by Marj
Notes:
okaa-san - mother
otou-san - father
Please e-mail your comments and constructive criticisms at
. Thanks!
Disclaimers: The characters of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon were created
by Naoko Takeuchi-san, its copyright owned by Toei Animation, Kodansha,
Nakayoshi, Sterling Animation Inc., and many other companies scattered
throughout the world. Meaning, I cannot claim the characters as my
own, and am mearly borrowing them. The character Ayukawa
Himeru and all the characters of the . . . umm . . . characters not
found in the manga are mine. So please don't sue, as I don't earn
anything from this other than the satisfaction of making a story.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Cassandra's Story
Himeru was able to recover quickly from his shock, almost the day after
the tragedy. But he wished he could say the same thing about his
princess. Minako didn't wake up the day Ares slew himself. Or the day
after that. Or the one after that. Her mother, Artemis, Himeru, and
his parents were beside her, never leaving her bedside.
The young duke felt sorry for his parents. They didn't know whether to
grieve for the death of their second son, or to reproach him for what
he had done, hundreds of years ago. His father shed no tears, although
Himeru knew that deep inside he was grieving. His mother alternated
from crying to shouting angry words. They were just as confused as he
was.
The queen looked like she had aged a thousand more years. She looked
as though she had not slept at all since she had heard about what had
happened, her beautiful face marred with dark rings circling her eyes,
tears occasionally falling down from them. Servants around the castle
said that she looked exactly like she had thousands of years before,
when her only child had first died.
Artemis . . . poor Artemis. He had hoped that the trip to Venus would
enable his young apprentice to enjoy the remaining days left to her.
He had hoped that it would give her a chance to live again. Instead,
it did her more harm than good. And once more, he blamed himself for
the damage inflicted upon Minako's already injured heart.
One night, Cassandra was inside the room with them. Himeru looked at
her. Here she was, looking like a small, young child, but she knew
more than anyone else on Venus could possibly know. he thought.
Cassandra was there for a reason. The queen, upon learning the truth
about Ares, had asked Cassandra if she could tell them what had
happened to Vulcan the day the Dark Kingdom attacked the Moon.
Cassandra had told her that she needed time to decide if she should
tell them or not. After she obtained Sailorpluto's permission,
however, she dismissed all of her doubts and finally agreed to tell her
story.
"Since the High Duchess of Venus married the Duke of Mars," she
started, "and since the Martians have special powers themselves, I
highly expected that even their first child Vulcan would obtain the
power of seeing the future."
This was how her story went:
*****
Vulcan watched the events happening before him silently, his hand
brandishing a shining sword splattered with mortal blood. Minutes
before the attack, he had left Sailorvenus alone in the gardens. "I'm
sorry, my love . . ." he whispered, letting his tears fall.
One of the captains of the Earth forces sneaked up behind him. He
readied his sword and was about to stab him when Vulcan turned around
and blocked. He glared at the human, and for the first time since the
dark force had invaded his soul, the human felt fear.
"Fool!! Nobody has yet fought with the great defenders of this kingdom
and has lived to tell his tale! Your quest for power and immortality
has driven you all insane!!!!" Vulcan cried.
He made one swift movement with his sword and the human crumpled to the
ground, kissing it with his own blood. Vulcan stared at him.
"Go ahead. Kiss it, offer it your blood. So that when the generations
following you have truly conquered the moon due to their ingenuity, at
least they have paid lives for it!! We have given you protection for
hundreds of years, yet this is how you repay us, ungrateful humans!"
He turned to look at where he had left his loved one. "My dearest, why
must fate part us like this? What use is my knowledge of our destiny
if I know that you will waste away your life protecting a princess who
does nothing for you, while I will just watch, unable to keep you from
the pain and suffering that you will face?"
His hiding place discovered, many soldiers from the Earth attacked him,
but all of them were felled by his sword. "May all the souls of the
people I had killed be brought to the light . . ." he said silently,
after the manslaughter.
He looked around. "It won't be long now," he said. Almost all of the
people of the Silver Millennium had been killed, save for those who
were still strong enough to survive, his beloved, her subjects, her
liege, the queen, and the two cat ambassadors.
Sailorpluto suddenly appeared behind him. "It's time to go home,
Vulcan. There's nothing more you can do here. You've done your
part," she said.
But he couldn't leave. "I . . . I can't. I must stay . . ." He turned
to look at Pluto. "I'm sorry, but this is the time where I cannot
allow what I have foreseen to happen!!" Vulcan started to look for
Sailorvenus.
"You are too late, Vulcan. Not even if the strongest warrior from
Jupiter is alive can she be saved. We cannot control this anymore -
the legend has begun, and there is no turning back!" Pluto argued.
Vulcan gritted his teeth. "Curse you, Pluto! How could you be so
heartless?! You had the power to stop all this . . . you are able to
foresee the future earlier than I . . . how could you let all these
people die?!?"
Pluto winced at his words, but kept her composure. "You have
forgotten, warrior, our solemn, silent pledge. That those who can
foresee the future are not to interfere with time and its course!"
"A *silent* pledge, Sailorpluto. In front of the entire kingdom I took
an oath to protect this solar system. I never took an oath to let
millions of people die!!!"
"Vulcan . . ."
He shook his head. "It is already my destiny to be killed. Then let
the person who will deliver my end be someone with honor, not one who
has gone insane because of love! I shall save the Princess of Venus
and prevent her from having the horrible path destiny has given her!"
Pluto lowered her head sadly. "It's all too late . . . Chaos has
already won . . ."
Vulcan turned around and stared in horror as he watched Venus and her
companions killed by the powerful power of Queen Metallia. Nearby were
the dead bodies of Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. In the
distance, he could see the queen raising her moon stick, in preparation
to use the most powerful weapon on the universe - the ginzuishou.
"No . . ." Vulcan cried silently.
Without him noticing, Pluto opened a portal over him, and sent him back
to Venus.
*****
Vulcan appeared in the portal room, where his younger brother Ares was
waiting for him. "Welcome home," Ares said.
Vulcan looked up. He noticed that his brother had sent away the
guards, and that he was brandishing a sword similar to his own. "You .
. . !" Vulcan glared at him. "You traitor! You did all this! You
killed them all!"
Ares stared at him in shock. "I don't know what you're talking about .
. ."
Vulcan grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against
the wall. "Don't lie to me!! I know you told the Dark Kingdom when to
attack! I'm a foreseer, like Cassandra! So I know what you have
done!!!"
Ares pushed him away. "You've gone crazy!"
"You killed her!" Vulcan accused. "You killed the princess!!"
"I killed her?!? What about you? Weren't you supposed to protect her?
You were her fiancé, not me!" Ares cried. "You're a foreseer, right?
You told me that! So if you knew this was going to happen, then why
didn't you save her?!?!?!?"
Vulcan was speechless. He sank to the ground. "I . . . I couldn't . .
. I wanted to . . . but . . ."
Ares smirked. "So who's the traitor now, huh, big brother?"
"Shut up! You don't know how much this entire matter hurts me . . ."
"Hurts you? I'm the one who's hurting! Don't you know how it feels to
see that your own brother is to be married to the one you love? And
now, he has failed to protect her during her time of need?!?"
"So we're both traitors! But you had caused the most damage!"
"Don't talk to me like that while I'm mad! You don't know what I can
do to you . . ."
Vulcan stood up straighter and stared at his brother straight in the
eye. "I already do. You were planning to kill me. That's why you
waited for me to return."
"Maybe. But I won't be doing it here." Ares leaped on his brother and
tackled him back into the portal that lead back to the moon.
Ares stood up from the ground and looked around him. Destruction was
everywhere. The queen was already dead, and the once great kingdom of
the Silver Millennium now lay in ruins. In the distance, he could see
thousands of bubbles heading towards Earth.
"So they are being reborn on Earth . . ." Ares said thoughtfully.
"Stay away from her, you traitor," Vulcan said, still lying on the
ground.
Ares looked at him disapprovingly. "Get up from there and fight me."
But his brother didn't rise. "There's no use in fighting. Not when
there's nothing to live for anymore."
"Get up."
"No."
"GET UP!!"
He still didn't move.
Ares glared at him, his eyes flashing. "Have it your way then!!"
He plunged his sword directly into his brother's heart . . .
*****
"Stop! I don't think I can hear anymore of this!" The Duchess of Venus
cried, covering her ears.
The Duke shook his head. "All this time, it was Ares who caused all
the damage that this solar system obtained . . ."
Minako stirred from her bed.
"My child . . ." the queen said softly, stroking her hair.
"Okaa-san . . . O . . . Otou-san . . ." Minako mumbled in her sleep.
Artemis looked at the queen with sad eyes. "Your Majesty . . . it
seems that whatever the force was that prevented her sickness from
progressing has lost its effect . . ."
"Because she doesn't have the will to live . . ." the Queen of Venus
sighed.
Artemis licked Minako's face. She didn't react. He sighed and settled
down beside her.
Himeru looked at Artemis and Minako. He remembered the promise that
Minako had given back on Earth, and her determination to get back home.
He looked at the Queen of Venus.
"Your Majesty . . . I'm asking for permission to take the princess home
to her friends and family," he said.
The high duchess stared at him in shock. "Anchises . . . this is her
home! Why bring her back to Earth?"
"Because that's where she was used to living . . . with her real
friends who stood by her no matter what . . . Anchises has a point,"
the queen said sadly. "All right, young man. You may bring her back."
"Your Majesty . . ."
The queen smiled. "There will be another time when I will be able to
see my daughter again. For now, let's let her be happy with her
friends and family. I do owe a great deal to them for raising my child
the way I would have . . ."
Artemis and Himeru felt themselves smile a bit. "Thank you. I shall
bring her home first thing tomorrow morning," Himeru said.
Artemis looked at Minako. he thought.
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