(Steve Stachowicz)
gerrek@hotmail.com
(Matthew Frey)
mafrey@charter.net
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/shores/2307
Swords of Destiny Chronicle III
The Watchers
By
Eric Thorsen and Stacko
LEGAL STUFF:
** The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and
companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and
movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of authors
of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign of respect
that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time since we don't
have any money to begin with.
* * * * *
It's been a couple of days after Ami became a honorary Watcher, at Scott's request, so the Watchers
could keep an eye on Makoto, when she became Sailor Jupiter. The rest of the Senshi was still
adjusting to the fact that Makoto was now an Immortal and will out live them, if no one cuts her
head off. Most of them were worried what happen if another Immortal killed Makoto.
The one that was really worried the most was Usagi. She was worried that a friend of hers
is now in a fight for survival, and may be killed at anytime. Also what worried her was the "Secret
Organization" that Ami had joined. She feared that the organization now knew their secret identities.
She didn't know anything about that group, but she knew someone that knew about them, so she went to go
see him. Since it was close to closing time, she would be able to talk to him without any customers
interrupting them. She informed her parents that she needed to talk to Scott and would be back
later.
* * * * *
Scott was talking to a customer about a vase, talking about its history and its importance.
He then heard the door chime and looked over towards the door. He saw Usagi walk in with a worried
look to her face. He smiled over at her and resumed talking to the customer. When the customer
wanted to think about it, Scott went over to Usagi, who was looking at a display case full of
swords, with a look of worry and a look of fascination at them.
"Hello, Usagi. What can I help you with?" Scott asked her when he got to her.
"Hello, Scott." Usagi began, but then looked a little nervous. "Um, there is something I
want to talk to you about, and I feel that it is important."
"Okay, well, I close in a half an hour. Do your parents know you are here?" Scott asked,
and then continued when she nodded. "Okay, why don't you wait in the apartment, and have a
snack. I'll be with you after I lock up. Is that alright with you or is it really important?"
"I can wait." Usagi replied.
"Okay. I'll be with you as soon as I can."
"Okay, thank you."
"No problem."
Scott showed Usagi through the back door and went back to the customer. After Scott
made the sale, and wrapped it up for the customer, he waited until he closed. After he locked up,
he headed up to his apartment to have that talk with Usagi. He found her sitting in front of the
TV, watching a late night anime show that Scott figured she wasn't really meant to see. So he
quietly walked up behind her and leaned towards her ear.
"Do your parents know you're watching this?" Scott whispered as he smiled when Usagi
jumped and 'eeped' in fright. "I didn't think so."
"Please don't tell my parents, they would ground me for a long time." Usagi asked
pleadingly.
"Don't worry, Princess, I won't tell them." Scott replied and Usagi sighed in relief. "As
long as you don't say you've seen it here when you get caught."
Usagi nodded her head vigorously to acknowledge her agreement. Scott smiled and
turned the TV off with the remote and headed into the kitchen. He came out with several cans of
soda and a bag of chips, and set them on the table in front of him and Usagi.
"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Scott asked after he opened a can of
soda for himself.
"Well, I worried about that group that Ami joined." Usagi said.
"The Watchers?" Scott asked, minorly confused.
"Yes, them." Usagi acknowledged.
"What do you want to know about them?"
"When did you first find out about them?"
"Back in the mid-seventh century." Scott replied after he thought about it for a while.
"That long ago." Usagi said in surprise. "They were back then also?"
"They've been around almost as long as Immortals."
"Wow. How'd it happen?" Usagi asked interested on how he first found out about them.
"Well, it was during the time I was going by the name of Garien. It was shortly after I
parted ways with a fellow Immortal by the name of Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez. I was going
through this small village when I heard this commotion going on...”
# # # # #
SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE 682 A.D.
Garien was riding down the main road of a village he was going through. It was early
evening, being that the sun had just set. He was enjoying the quiet evening sounds until he heard a
cry of help coming from nearby. He made his way to the cry, and as he got closer, he started
hearing sounds of commotion.
When he made his way closer, he was able to make out that three men were hassling a
forth. Garien drew his sword and shouted out to get the three men's attention. The three men
looked up and saw Garien and took off running. Garien would have chased after them, but he
wanted to check out the injured man.
He got off his horse and sheathed his sword. He then went over to the man and found that he
was still breathing. When Garien looked him over, he knew that the man wasn't going to live past
the night. So Garien tried to comfort the man as best as he could.
"What were you doing out alone like this?" Garien asked the man.
"I must deliver the books." The man weakly said.
"What books?" Garien asked, then looked around the place and found three books
scattered around the ground. "I see them, they're still here."
"I must take those books to Chrones." The man said as he tried to get up, but Garien held
him down.
"You're in no condition to travel." Garien said as he stopped the man from getting up
once again.
"I must." The man said again.
"Why? Are those books important or something?" Garien asked confused.
"Yes, very important." The man said getting weaker.
"I can deliver those books for you." Garien said as he saw that the only thing on the man's
mind was that the books must get delivered. "You are in no condition to do it anymore."
"Thank you." The man said after he realized that he was in no condition to travel any
longer. "You need to go to the city of Chrones and find a man by the name of Drahim. You need
to give those books to him."
"How will I know it's him?"
"He will be wearing a medallion like this." The man said as he reached into his shirt and
pulled out a medallion. Garien looked at the medallion and saw that it was circular, had an outer
ring with thirteen dots, and inside the outer ring was a stylized V.
"Okay, but how will he know that I'm the one carrying the books?"
"Take this medallion." The man said as he handed Garien the medallion he had showed to
Garien.
"Okay." Garien said as he grabbed the medallion and put it on.
"Thank you." The man said.
The man then passed away and Garien gathered the books and said a farewell prayer and
then got on his horse and headed towards Chrones.
# # # # #
"That is sad to hear." Usagi said sadly. "What were in those books?"
"Well, I tried not to find out what was in those books, but it was a three day trip to
Chrones and my curiosity got the better of me." Scott said.
"What were those books about?" Usagi asked, curious.
"They were chronicles on three different Immortals." Scott replied.
"You mean he was a Watcher?" Usagi asked in surprise.
"Yep." Scott replied, smiling.
"Who were the Immortals in the books?"
"Two of them I didn't know, but the third one I knew very well."
"Who was it?"
"Hold on a second."
Scott left Usagi and went into his workshop. He came back about fifteen minutes later,
carrying a book. He sat back on the couch with Usagi and set the book down in front of her.
"Is this..?" Usagi asked, but trailed off halfway through her sentence.
"Yep. This is the book that talked about an immortal I'm quite familiar with. Be careful,
it's very old and brittle." Scott said as he gave permission for Usagi to look at it.
"Oh, okay, I'll try." Usagi said as she looked down at the book.
Usagi carefully picked up the book and looked through it. She realized it was written in a
language she didn't even recognize. She slowly paged through it and was about to set it back
down when she came across a picture. So she continued on and found a few more pictures.
She carefully looked between the three pictures she found, and found several things out.
First was that the artwork seemed to be done by different people. That the person, in the artwork,
appeared to be the same person. Third was that she seemed to think that the person looked very
familiar. She looked up at Scott, to try and figure out who it was about, when something clicked
in her head.
"It's about you." Usagi exclaimed.
"Yep." Scott acknowledged that fact. "That book contains almost two hundred years of
my life."
"Whoa." Was the only thing Usagi could think to say.
"Impressive, huh?" Scott asked.
"I say. So what did you do when you found out about the books?" Usagi asked.
"Well, I kept the one about me and one other one that later I gave to a fellow Immortal by
the name of Darius."
"So did you find this Drahim person?"
"Yes, after searching around for a couple of days, I was confronted as to why I wanted to
see him. I replied I was delivering a book. I showed him the book and he told me to follow him."
"What happened after that?"
"I met Drahim and found out about the Watchers."
"What did you do once you found out about them and what happened if they knew that
you were an Immortal?"
"To begin with, they thought I was a new Watcher, so they filled me in on the rules and
regulations of being a Watcher. After they had filled me in, they gave me my first assignment.
The ironic thing was I was supposed to watch myself.
"So for the next few months of being there, I had to try and keep the fact that I was an
Immortal from them. During that time, I had to fight three Immortals. I was glad that no
Watchers were around or else I would have been in trouble.
"Eventually, my luck ran out. It happened when I was fighting the forth Immortal. After I
had won and the Quickening receded, it was then that I noticed that another Watcher was nearby.
I knew then that my cover was blown, so I waited until they came for me. I waited inside a tavern
until several Watchers confronted me.
"They led me to see Drahim and had a trial to see what was to be done with me. They
blindfolded me and dragged me to the place where the trial was supposed to be held at. I was
blindfolded so I wouldn't know where I was. The trial lasted several days, and it wasn't looking
good for me. If they wanted to, I was as good as dead, in order to keep their secret. But in the
end, it worked out, that if I didn't tell any Immortal about them and they would let me live. I
agreed to their demands and they dragged me back to pick up my stuff. They went through my
stuff to make sure I had nothing of importance, when they finished, they left me and I quickly left
there when I picked up the books from a friend I had made when I was there."
When Scott was done telling his story, he looked over at Usagi to see what she thought of
it. The reply he got back was her soft snores. He looked at her and found her sleeping in the
corner of the couch. He looked over at the clock and saw it was getting pretty late. He knew that
she didn't have school the next day, thanks to Ami, so he got up and went to the phone and placed
a call.
When Usagi's mother answered the phone, Scott informed her what happened, that Usagi
fell asleep, and he was wondering if he should wake her up or let her sleep in the guest room.
Usagi's mother told him to let her sleep there and send her on her way when she woke up. Scott
told her he would and said good-bye.
After Scott hung up the phone, he walked back to Usagi and carefully picked her up in his
arms. He carried her to the guest room and laid her on the bed. He removed her slippers and
socks and placed a blanket over her and went to bed himself.
* * * * *
Usagi woke up and found herself in a strange room. She suddenly became worried on
what happened to her. She last remembered talking to Scott about when he was a Watcher and
then nothing else. It was then that she smelled food. So she got out of bed and went and followed
the scent of the food and walked into the kitchen part and found Scott there cooking breakfast.
"Morning, sleep well?" Scott asked as he saw Usagi standing nearby.
"Uh, yes." Usagi replied, and then got a worried look on her face when she thought of
something.
"Don't worry." Scott said, thinking he knew what she was thinking. "I called your mother
last night and told her what happened."
"Thank you." Usagi said relieved.
"Want breakfast?"
"Yes please."
Scott went and finished making breakfast while Usagi waited at the table. When Scott
was done cooking, he plated up the food and set one of the plates in front of Usagi and sat down
himself. It was then that Usagi remembered why she was here in the first place.
"Um, Scott?" Usagi asked nervously.
"Yes?" Scott said.
"I have a question about the Watchers."
"Yes?"
"Can they be trusted with knowing our identities of being the Senshi?"
"Let me answer that this way. There is as much chance for exposure as if you told a
friend that you were Sailor Moon."
"Oh."
"Did that answer your question?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Well, finish eating and I'll take you home."
"Okay."
So they finished with breakfast and Scott drove her back home and then went and opened
his store for the day.
THE END FOR NOW.
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