Entries for sm_monthly (Days 15-18)
Feb. 19th, 2007 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heavenly_pearlTheme: Found
Genre: General
Version: Manga
Rating: G
Helios’ words kept echoing in my head as I tried to fall asleep that night. I was so happy when he told me I was the maiden he had been looking for, but had he truly found her? Was I really the one who possessed the powers to break the seal on the Golden Crystal he was so desperate to find? Or had he made a mistake?
After all, as a senshi-in-training, I had very little power. My ginzuishou was still weak and immature compared to the one Usagi possessed, and I wondered how it could possibly be powerful enough to break the seal on the Golden Crystal, whatever it was. If anyone had the necessary power to save Helios and Elysion, it was Usagi, not me.
Yet, despite my doubts, a part of me refused to admit that Helios might have made a mistake. Why couldn’t I be the maiden? Usagi always got everything -- the strongest powers, the most wonderful friends, and the handsome prince -- yet what was so special about her? Really? Immediately, I felt guilty for having such thoughts, but I had to admit sometimes I was jealous of her.
I just wanted to feel like the special one for once; was that such a terrible thing?
Tossing my blanket aside -- well, actually Usagi’s blanket, since she and I had traded rooms for the night -- I went over to the mirror hanging above a chest of drawers. My reflection showed a pretty teenage girl with long pink hair and a knockout body, but none of it was real, the result of a spell the Dead Moon Circus had put on me and Usagi to switch our ages. Inside, I was nothing but a pathetic little girl who had a long way to go before she could call herself a lady like her mother, Usagi’s future self, and a tear streaked down my cheek as the realization hit me.
“I’m not the one he was looking for. I never was.”
Title: Falling to Pieces
Theme: Crumble
Genre: Angst
Version: Animanga
Rating: PG
Every time I look at you, I feel like I want to cry.
You’re a broken man now, so different from the person I fell in love with all those years ago. The light has gone from those beautiful golden eyes of yours, and I know you haven’t slept for days, because I haven’t either.
I guess we’ve both changed in that regard. It was inevitable, I suppose. How could an experience like that not change us?
But why won’t you let me share in your grief? You’ve barely said a hundred words to me since the funeral. I’m in pain, too, yet you act as if I don’t even exist to you any more.
Maybe I don’t. You haven’t said as much, but I know you blame me for her death. You blame me for not being strong enough to save her with my powers, but if I could have, I would have gladly exchanged my life for hers. She was so young -- still a baby really -- with so much life left to live.
I still can’t believe she’s gone.
My sweet Yumemi…
It wasn’t, and isn’t, fair. Parents are the ones who are supposed to die before their children, not the other way around. There’s a humongous hole in my heart that I know will never completely heal, but if I lose you as well…
Speak to me. Say something, anything.
Yell at me. Curse me. Tell me I was a terrible mother.
Whisper to me. Comfort me. Tell me that you still love me.
Touch me.
Just do something, because this wall standing between us is too unbearable, too cruel. Our lives have already fallen apart, but, if we support each other, maybe we can put some semblance of a life back together, maybe find some kind of happiness. It won’t be the same -- nothing will ever be the same without her in our lives -- but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life like this.
Please…
Title: Written in the Tea Leaves
Theme: Tea
Genre: Romance/Humor
Version: Animanga
Rating: PG
“Hey, let me do a tasseography reading on you.”
Taking a final sip of his cup of peppermint tea, Helios raised an eyebrow as he looked across the table at his beloved maiden. “A tasseography reading?”
“You know, reading tea leaves,” she said, already reaching for his cup.
“Hey, what if I wasn’t finished with that?” he playfully scolded her as she took the cup from his hands. “And I do know what a tasseography reading is. I just didn’t know you did.”
“Sailor Mars has been teaching me,” Serenity explained, rotating his cup three times, then turning it over on a saucer to get rid of any extra liquid that might be left. “She says I have a gift for it.”
“Really?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“It’s more like I’ve never been a fan of these supposed ‘fortune-telling’ methods,” Helios admitted, taking a couple of chocolate cookies from the large plate in between them and placing them on his now empty saucer. Sailor Jupiter had made them specially for their afternoon tea, and they were delicious. “No offense to Mars-sama, but things like reading the future in tea leaves and tarot cards sound like a lot of mumbo-jumbo nonsense to me.”
“I wouldn’t say that. The last reading I did came true.”
“What did you predict?”
“That you and I would have tea in the gardens this afternoon,” she said, a triumphant smile on her face.
Helios resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Of course that came true, Serenity. You were the one who invited me,” he gently reminded her instead.
“I just invited you for tea. You were the one who suggested we have it outside in the gardens.”
“But we always have tea in the gar--” Not wanting to burst her bubble, Helios stopped mid-sentence and sighed. If she really wanted to believe that she had correctly foretold the future, what was the harm in that? “Okay, what do the tea leaves say?” he asked, humoring her.
“Lessee…”
After setting the plate of cookies aside, Serenity placed his cup in the center of the table so that they could both see inside. Her brow furrowed in concentration, and a bit of her tongue peaked out from the corner of her mouth as she leaned over for a better look.
“You know, you look really cute like that,” Helios couldn’t resist saying, laughing when she looked up to glare at him.
“I’m trying to concentrate, Helios!”
“Sorry, sorry! Do you see anything thing yet?”
Serenity looked back down into a cup. “I see…a sheep,” she said after a short pause. “The first symbol you see is supposed to be the person’s dominant character.”
“And what does a sheep mean?”
“That you are a calm and peaceful person, which is true.”
“I thought you were supposed to be reading my future,” Helios said with a frown, “not analyzing my personality.”
“I’m getting to that,” Serenity replied with a dismissive wave of her hand as she took another look into the cup. “Ah, there’s a rose near the rim. That means a deepening of love.” She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
Helios looked at the spot where she was pointing. “I don’t know… It looks more like a small and fluffy cloud to me, Serenity.”
“Well, clouds are nice, too. They mean happy optimism,” she said, looking for more symbols in the scattered tea leaves. “Oh, there’s a horseshoe. I bet you can guess what that means.”
“Good luck?” he guessed.
“Correct. It’s in the middle section of the cup, which means that good luck is coming to you soon. I also see what appears to be a piece of cake, which means that a wish will be fulfilled, and there will be a celebration.”
Hearing that, Helios nearly choked on the cookie he had just put in his mouth. She couldn’t possibly…
“Helios, are you okay?” she asked, looking up at him with concern in her ruby red eyes.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, patting his pocket to feel the small box inside. He was being silly. Serenity couldn’t possibly be able to figure out his secret surprise by something as crazy as reading tea leaves. “What else do the leaves say?”
“Well, I can see a sun, which means a new beginning, and there’s a heart, another symbol that’s easy to guess the meaning,” Serenity continued, pointing out the respective shapes in the tea leaves. “That over here --” She pointed to a grouping that looked like a mountain range to him. “-- looks kind of like a burning fire.”
Her face suddenly turned a bright red.
“What does that mean?” Helios asked, confused by her reaction.
“Uh… Fire means passion, hot emotion…sexual desires.”
Helios felt his face grow hot as well. “I-It might not be a fire,” he stuttered. “I think it looks more like a couple of mountains, personally.”
“Well, mountains symbolize a difficult, but possible, goal.”
“What goal?”
Serenity shrugged her shoulders. “Something that’s related to the other symbols,” she said, her brows again furrowing together. “It seems like whatever it is, you will achieve it. All the other symbols point to positive things: good luck, happy optimism, a celebration due to a wish being fulfilled, a new beginning, love… Oh!”
“What? What is it?” Despite himself, Helios’ heart began to beat a little faster.
“There’s a circle on the base of the cup. That means you will definitely have success in whatever your goal is,” she explained, cocking her head to the side. “But it almost looks kind of like a ring as well, with that little grouping of leaves at the top that almost looks like a jewel.”
“What do you think it means, then?”
“The ring symbol is usually associated with, well, obviously marriage, but-- Helios?”
Helios’ eyes widened, and he took the cup away from her for a better look inside. They had disagreed on what some of the symbols were supposed to be, but even he had to admit that the circle on the base did look amazingly like a diamond engagement ring. But how…?
“Helios, is something wrong?” Serenity asked.
He chuckled, sitting the cup back down on the table. “Forgive me for doubting you, Serenity,” he said. “You truly do have a gift for tasseography.”
“I don’t quite understand. I haven‘t even come to a conclu--”
Standing up, Helios reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny blue velvet box. “I was actually planning to do this tonight, but since the element of surprise has been ruined, I think I better do this now,” he said, Serenity staring at him with a look of confusion and expectation on her face as he kneeled down in front of her and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful rose-cut diamond set in an intricate gold antique ring setting. “Maiden, I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Serenity gasped, and, taking the ring out of the box, she placed it on the ring finger of her left hand. “It’s beautiful, Helios,” she whispered, tenderly pushing back a strand of hair that had fallen in his face before bending down to kiss him on the cheek.
“Of course I’ll marry you.”
Title: Help Me, Maiden
Theme: Help
Genre: General/Drama
Version: Manga
Rating: PG
For as long as he could remember, every day as the sun began to set, Helios had gone up to the praying tower in the center of the shrine of Elysion to pray and meditate. Occasionally, he received visions, but those types of revelations were few and far between, and he did not expect to see one that night, despite the sense of foreboding that had taken over him for the last few days.
All was not well in Elysion. A darkness had begun infecting the beautiful dream world. The once-thriving plant life was dying, replaced by desert and ugly black roses, and Helios was constantly coughing up black blood, his sickness an apparent effect of Elysion’s condition. He didn’t understand what was happening, but he used as much of his weakening power supply as he could spare to pray for Elysion and the Earth’s protection from whatever it was that they were fighting against.
However, it was becoming obvious that his prayers alone weren’t strong enough to combat the cursed darkness. As Helios kneeled down in front of the tower that night, he prayed fervently for help, surprised when a vision of a beautiful woman appeared before him.
Like the rest of his visions, the figure was completely transparent and mostly colorless. Her hair was long, though, pulled back into a distinctive hairstyle, and a brilliant golden crescent moon was tattooed on her forehead, the only thing of color he could see.
“Helios,” she said, her voice melodic, bur urgent, “the time has come to break the seal on the Golden Crystal.”
“The Golden Crystal?” Helios repeated, confused. The Golden Crystal had been the royal jewel of Earth’s ruling family, passed down from generation to generation, but the crystal had disappeared with the death of the last heir, Prince Endymion, during the war with Beryl that had brought the downfall of the Golden Kingdom. At least that was what Helios had assumed, but, if indeed, the crystal could be found, its power would certainly be enough to restore Elysion back to normal. “Where is it?” he demanded to know. “How can I break the seal?”
“Elysion is about to face its toughest trial yet,” the woman continued. “I cannot tell you much more, other than to assure you that the maiden is always on your side.”
“Maiden?”
“A princess, yet a soldier, protected by moonlight, with a beautiful dream… She is the maiden who possesses the power that will break the seal on the Golden Crystal.”
“Who is she?” Helios asked, desperate when he saw the vision about to fade. “Is she you? Who are you?”
“I am…Princess Lady Serenity…”
With those final faint words, the vision disappeared, and Helios sighed, frustrated by the lack of information she had given him. His revelations were always rather vague, but the impending danger made it that much more important that he find this maiden, whoever she was, and break the seal on the Golden Crystal before it was too late. How was he supposed to do that with so little to go on, though? He didn’t even know if Princess Lady Serenity was supposed to be the maiden, or if she was just a messenger.
Deciding to check out the shrine’s library to see if he could find any other information about Princess Lady Serenity and the Golden Crystal, Helios started to stand, but quickly collapsed, overcome by another bloody coughing fit, even worse than the others. His heart felt as if it was being squeezed from the inside, and the feeling of foreboding he felt deepened to outright fear.
“I have…to find…the maiden,” he said between coughing fits, struggling to stand back up. “She must…break the seal…”
A sinister laugh rang out, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight. “Oh, my, look at the weak little priest of Elysion,” a deep feminine voice said, coming from behind him. “He can’t even stand up. Whatever will he do?”
Helios used all the strength he could to turn around, anger filling his heart when he saw the dark woman standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the praying tower. He had never seen her before, but Helios knew instinctively that she was the one behind the evilness infecting Elysion.
“Who are…you, and…what do…you want?” he asked, still struggling to stand.
“Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I am Queen Nehelenia of the Dead Moon, soon to be queen of your precious Earth. As you might have guessed, I was the one who put the curse on Elysion. You really should have been more observant, Priest Helios.” The dark queen shook her head. “Maybe if you had, you might have had a chance to stop me before it was too late.”
“It’s not too late. Once I find the --” Helios stopped himself just in time, realizing that it would not be a good idea if she found out about the existence of the Golden Crystal. She might be tempted to look for it herself.
“Find the what?” Nehelenia prodded, not overly concerned when he refused to answer. “Oh, well, it’s not important. You see, Helios, I’ve already won. With Elysion’s power significantly weakened, my minions have already infiltrated the Earth. It is only a matter of time before Earth is covered in nightmares as well.”
“No…” It couldn’t be! His prayers hadn’t been enough to protect Earth?
“I’m not the type of woman who is overly confident in her victory to the point of stupidity, however,” the queen continued on as if he hadn’t said anything at all. “That’s why I’m here. You may be just a weakling priest with no real hope of defeating me, but I can’t have you walking around free, interfering in my plans. How would like to become my little pet?”
Speaking a language Helios did not recognize, she pointed a finger toward him, and a beam of dark power shot straight at him. Though Helios tried to dodge it, he was still too weak, and the beam hit him in the back, transforming him into a winged uniform trapped in a gilded cage.
“I always did want a Pegasus,” Nehelenia cooed, running her hands along the golden bars.
Helios charged toward her in an attempt to break out, only to receive a painful shock when he touched the bars. He cried out in agony, and Nehelenia cackled, obviously enjoying the show.
“You might as well save your strength, horsie. There’s nothing you can do to break out of there,” she said. “Now, be a good boy while I’m gone. I need to check on our progress, but I‘ll be back.”
With that warning, the dark queen left, and Helios collapsed on the floor of the cage, completely spent. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn’t look for the maiden while imprisoned, but if he didn’t do something, Earth would almost certainly fall under Nehelenia’s evil rule. There had to be some way to escape from the cage.
Helios tried every possibility he could think of to no avail. No matter what he did, the bars always shocked him. He was about to give up for the night and rest when he suddenly remembered his skill in astral projection. Even if his physical body wasn’t able to escape, it was possible that he could send his spirit out to search for the maiden.
“It’s a long-shot, and I don‘t have a lot of strength right now, but it may just work,” he said, closing his eyes and concentrating on the vision he had received from Princess Lady Serenity.
He soon felt his spiritual self rise out of his body, flying to a place he did not recognize. For the briefest of moments, he saw a group of three people: a handsome man, a pretty teenager, and a young girl. Both girls wore their hair in the same unique style as the woman in his vision, but before he could say much more than “Help me, maiden,” he was back in his body, his power depleted.
Helios sighed, wishing he had been able to stay longer, but he was almost certain that one of those girls he had seen was the maiden Princess Lady Serenity spoke of. Closing his eyes, he vowed to return when he had regained some of his strength. With her help, there would still be hope to defeat Nehelenia before it was too late.
Help me, maiden.
