Sailor Moon
"Betrayal of the Fifth Planet"
By Koy Kragh (koyn@utdallas.edu)
Chapter 4 - "The Vault"
--- Disclaimer
Sailor Moon is a great anime series, but it's not my idea. That credit
goes to Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. The North American dub (and all rights
to the series thereabouts) belong to DiC. I'm overjoyed that DiC is bringing
the series back to NA, and I'm not attempting to infringe on their or
anybody else's rights.
This is a fictional story, any similarities between the characters in
this story and any person/people living or dead are not my fault.
--- Author's notes
This will be one BIG story by the time I'm done. If you don't want to be
reading TONS of chapters, then don't start this fanfic.
You probably would have figured it out pretty quickly on your own, but
I'm basing this story 1,000 years ago, in the Moon Kingdom. I haven't found
much background/research material for this time-period in SM, so I made up..
er.. embellished a few things to add atmosphere. If you want to see a quick
breakdown of what I envision the Sailor Moon past was like, then look in
the MOONHIST.KOY file that should be available with this fanfic.
One last thing . . . OK, say you read this, you like it/hate it/want to
kill me, etc. Praise, comments, flames, snaps and the like can be sent to
koyn@utdallas.edu. Death threats, curses, virii, etc. should be mailed to
harf@moron.org. Marriage proposals can be sent to me, please include picture
of Grand Cherokee.
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Chapter 4 - "The Vault"
Stale air fills the room. It presses in on him as much as the walls of
the laboratory he has called home for the last week. A week? Has it already
been a week? He isn't sure.
His room is the Royal laboratory of the Moon Kingdom. Truth be told, it
is not a small room, however after sitting in it for the last seven days he
has started to feel closed in. Of course, the fact that no door leads to
the lab and no window graces the walls does nothing to help.
Because the laboratory holds the Kingdom's most treasured and dangerous
magical artifacts, its location has been kept secret for centuries. Only
the most trusted High-Mages and the King and Queen of the Moon Kingdom have
ever known how to enter. The secret must be kept safe; many of the items
within these walls pose such a threat they would be destroyed if anyone
could figure out how.
He scans the room once more, checking the spells of protection that
enchant everything about him . . . Finally, he checks the many wards against
detection and entrance. Each of these has been cast upon the four walls of
the large room. He wonders why it only seems large when he's checking its
protections.
The wards are each marked with a glyph. Many of those who are uneducated
in the Art believe the magic is within the glyph itself. He smiles to
himself; fortunately, that's not true. If it were, then just anyone could
copy the character onto some other object and enchant it as well. No, the
glyphs are simply there to make identification easier. Often, nefarious or
overly paranoid magi place the wrong glyph on an object to confuse others who
try to identify the spells enchanting it. Sometimes, they don't put any
glyph at all; however, since an object which is enchanted will announce itself
as such to anyone who could identify it anyway, this is rarely done.
Time for sleep, he thinks. He's beginning to ramble even in his thoughts.
He crosses the room to his makeshift sleeping area and lies down, praying
he will be able to hold off any invaders alone if they should ever find
this place.
---
Heather stands on one of the many balconies of the Royal Palace on Earth.
Below her stretch miles of forest land filled with the most beautiful trees
she has ever seen. She had never been off of Rona before she joined the
resistance, but she fell in love with this planet's gorgeous landscapes
as soon as she arrived for training. Unfortunately, she was only on Earth
for a few weeks before her group moved to the planet's only moon to complete
their training.
Kieran had learned the Ronans were going to invade long before he would
be ready. He couldn't get enough fully trained troops to the Moon in time,
so he compensated with new troops still in training. He had hoped to have
enough time to finish their training before they saw combat. The sudden
attack by the Ronan Special Forces might have been expected if he had had
competent troops surrounding him. Instead, the trainees almost got in the
way. They scrambled for cover, adding to the confusion and hindering their
defense.
She shakes her head clear. She won't think of that right now. They
are back on Earth and everything will be quiet for a while. She turns her
attention back to the view outside. The balcony faces west and affords her
a spectacular view of the sun setting behind the clouds. Earth has more
natural moisture than all of the other planets, so its sunrises and sunsets
are famous throughout the Kingdom.
Still marveling at the many hues of yellow, red, and purple, she doesn't
notice Kieran walk onto the balcony and stop just behind her. As the sun
has almost set completely, she turns to leave the balcony and nearly steps
into Kieran. Blushing, she mutters embarrassed apologies and backs away
giving him space.
However, he advances towards her, stopping when she has just enough space
to remain comfortable. Secretly, she wishes he wouldn't stop but would take
her into his arms. She looks up slowly and meets his gaze. She is surprised
to see indecision in his eyes. She almost asks him what's wrong, but he
speaks before she has a chance. "Heather. . .", he begins.
"Yes?" she replies, wondering about his apparent uncertainty.
"Heather," he continues, "I . . . I . . .". Suddenly, everything moves
into slow-motion. Kieran steps forward and pulls her into an embrace. She
gasps in surprise, but doesn't resist. "I love you," he says finally. "I
love you," she says back. Time reverts to normal as they pull each other
closer and the sun finally rests behind the distant horizon.
"Heather. . .?" asks Kieran.
"Kieran?" she asks back.
"Heather?" he asks again.
"Yes?" she asks, a little puzzled.
"Heather?!"
This voice is different. Groggy and more than a little disoriented, she
sits up in her slightly reclined seat and turns to the voice. "Charlie?"
she wonders out loud.
"It's your turn to fly. We'll be getting close to Earth soon and you're
going to have to be the one to land us, remember?"
Fly? Land? Where was she? Slowly, she rubs the sleep from her eyes
and looks around her. She's in the transport ship. Why did they get back
in the transport? Suddenly, she remembers in painful clarity: they haven't
landed on Earth yet, it was all a dream. "Ok," she replies to Charlie,
"just give me a few minutes to wake up."
"Ok." Smiling, he leaves the small area they have set up for sleeping.
When he's gone, she hangs her head and considers crying. "It was so real,"
she says to herself. She dwells on the memory for a few moments before
composing herself and rising to walk to the front of the ship. She pushes
the dream to the back of her mind so she can function without bothering the
others, but it bothers her a little.
As she walks through the main cabin towards the pilot area she can't help
but wonder about the dream's significance. True, she is in love with Kieran,
but she has only told Nathan, and she knows he has kept it a secret. If she
weren't Ronan she would probably disregard the dream as a product of her
unrequited love. However, almost anyone who has had any magical training
knows that dreams mean something. They aren't only windows into a person's
soul, but often hold secret meanings of their own. Often, dreams will tell
the future, but she had never had any premonitory dreams before and she
doubted this was a simple augury. It deserved more thought, but she couldn't
afford it right now.
She had her work cut out for her just landing this thing. After their
battle they had had enough time to check out the damage. Fortunately, the
magical bubble that the craft travels in wasn't breached. Nothing made it
through to the craft itself, and they were safe traveling through the Great
Void. However, some of the magical energy from their attacker's shots had
coursed through the magical channels that maintain the bubble and had
wreaked havoc on the small talisman that made Void-travel possible.
They could make it to Earth easy, they just wouldn't be able to land
without a very skilled pilot. Fortunately, Heather was an excellent pilot,
or at least that's what she'd been told. She wasn't entirely sure she would
be able to bring them in safely, but she wouldn't say that in front of
anyone. She sits down in the pilot's seat and begins making her preparations
to land on Earth soon.
---
"A rather odd bunch of captors, wouldn't you say, Artemis?" The two
cats sit together in the Queen's sunroom. Light descends through the many
windows and brightens the room. The bright furnishings in the room make
the room seem cheerful, but the two occupants seem to resist its carefree
promise.
The white cat, Artemis, wonders on his companion's question. Turning
to her, he asks, "Exactly what do you mean, Luna?"
"For one thing, we aren't in the dungeon. They let us wander around the
palace freely," she replies. "Daily life around here really hasn't changed
much."
"A prison is a prison, Luna," says Artemis. Looking towards the door, he
jumps down from the window sill and begins to leave the room.
"Artemis!" Luna calls after him. "Where are you going?"
"To do a little of that wandering," he replies over his shoulder. "Maybe
we can find out a little more about their plans." Turning to leave again he
adds, "And we'll never help Queen Serenity sitting in the sun all day."
---
"How long were you here before we captured the palace, Liam?" asks
King Tor.
He knows how long I was here, he thinks to himself. He just wants to
rant about it again. Liam sighs to himself and then answers his King,
"Almost a year, Your Majesty."
"A year?" he asks in return. "You were here a year . . . as one of the
Queen's most trusted advisors . . . and in that time, you could not discover
the location of 'The Vault'?"
Hmpf. "Sire, the location of the 'Royal Laboratory'," Liam stresses the
true name of what has come to be known commonly as 'The Vault', "has been
kept secret for centuries. The only way to enter the room is to teleport
since there are no doors or windows leading in, and it's most likely far
underground. However, to teleport, you must know the exact location of at
least two points, your starting position and your destination. No mage has
been able to divine the laboratory's location because the magical
safeguards. . ."
"Yes, yes," interrupts the King, "I know. The magical safeguards that
enchant the room prevent its discovery. Even magi that have been taken there
by their masters find they can not divine the information they would need
to return. They can find landmarks of note, but they do not know how far
away they are, or even which direction."
Turning to face him, the King continues. "However, Liam, I knew all this
before I sent you here. I was hoping that since you were in a position of
trust so near the Queen you would be able to. . ."
"Your Majesty," interrupts Liam. The King glowers at his audacity, and
Liam almost finds himself hoping he hadn't spoken out of turn. No, he can't
continue believing he did no wrong and placed me in a trusted position; that
would just lead him to think I'm incompetent and he'd have me executed
within the hour. "Sire, I apologize for interrupting you," at this, the King
makes as if to speak again. He hurriedly adds before he is cut off,
"However, I must inform you that my position was not so trusted as you think."
"What do you mean?" asks the King skeptically.
"I mean, I believe the Queen suspected me." King Tor laughs at this.
Angered, but maintaining his composure for the moment, Liam continues, "Sire,
you have brought up the fact that she never entrusted me with the location
of the Royal Laboratory, even though I was her 'Prime Magical Advisor'.
She would often exclude me from important meetings and she forbid me to
accompany any of the Royal family to Earth. My communications to Rona were
limited, and no doubt watched. I'm sure she didn't know the exact reason
I was here, but she knew it was not for as benign a reason as you told her."
At that moment, a servant enters the room and walks to King Tor. The
servant looks a little like he isn't sure where he is, most likely because
he still expects to see his Queen in charge. Liam smiles to himself. Well,
these fools will have their precious Queen back soon enough. How long they
will be able to keep her is another matter altogether.
"Your M. . .Highness," starts the messenger. "Er . . . your son, the
prince, he . . . there's a message for you from him."
King Tor frowns at the man but dismisses him, "Thank you, I'll contact
him from here." The man leaves, looking rather relieved Liam notices.
"Liam, you may go as well," states the King. "We *will* talk about this
again."
"Yes, Your Majesty," he replies and walks out of the room. As he enters
the hallway, he notices two small objects dart around a far corner. Those
cats, what are they up to, and what did they hear? Smiling to himself he
continues in the opposite direction, it doesn't matter. Even if they could
know the Ronans' *true* plans there is nothing they could do about it.
---
Minako looks out the window at the Void outside. She wonders how
something that contains so much beauty could be called by such an
unimpressive name. She wonders how the small hole covered with dirty glass
to her right could be called a window. Smiling, she turns away; at least
they're almost to Earth. Not that she minds so much being in such tight
quarters with some of their new friends. The ex-prince, Kieran, is pretty
cute. So is Charles, but she heard that he's spoken for.
She turns back to the window, more to hide her face than to look outside.
She wonders why she does that when she's thinking, almost as if the others
could read her thoughts if they could see her eyes. If the Ronans could,
she hoped they wouldn't without telling them first. She especially hoped
no one had heard that thought about Kieran being cute. As true as it is,
she really has no serious feelings about him. People are always confusing
her thinking a guy is attractive with her being attracted *to* him.
She sighs, then hits her head on the wall. Ouch! That hurt, maybe I
should pay more at. . . Suddenly, her seat shifts sideways without her.
That's odd. Looking around, she sees everyone else is looking around too,
some of them rubbing their head or elbow. Kieran emerges from the rear of
the ship and looks inquiringly at the pilot area. He walks towards the
front of the ship, but the floor drops out from under him just before he gets
there. He catches himself on the seat next to her and starts to regain his
footing. Then, everything goes crazy. Noiselessly, the ship bounces in
every direction. Well, not noiselessly. Everyone inside is making a lot
of noise, but she would expect a loud "bump" sound or something when the
ship bucks around.
After a minute, at least it seemed like a minute, the ship stops hopping
about. Kieran stands and smiles at her. Turning to face everyone else he
asks, "Is everyone all right?" He gets several mumbled answers in response,
but he nods his head as if he's satisfied. After knocking on the door he
enters the pilot area where Heather has been flying them towards their
destination. She can just hear them through the slightly open door in front
of her.
"What happened?" asks Kieran.
"It looks like we took a bit more damage than we'd hoped," answers
Heather. "The ship can't stay on the landing line."
Landing line? Is that important?
"Hmm. . ." Was that Kieran?
"Well, what now?" he asks.
There is silence for a moment, then Heather responds, sounding a little
unsure, "Well, I'll just have to steer her in all the way."
"You mean fly this thing all the way to the ground, without a landing
line to guide you?" asks Kieran. Did he sound surprised, or scared? "Do
you think you can get us down safely?"
"I'm pretty sure," she answers. "I just can't guarantee we'll land where
we were planning."
After a second, Kieran says, "OK. I'll tell everyone to strap in as best
they can and to expect a rough ride."
The door to the pilot area opens and Kieran steps out. Before he closes
the door, he leans back in and says good luck to Heather. Minako is too
busy buckling herself into the seat to pay much attention to what he's
saying to everyone else. "Man I wish Artemis was here," she says softly.
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:] Thanks for reading!
I'd like to thank all my pre-readers (especially those who actually
gave me feedback: *THANKS*!). I'd also like to send a special thanks to
Letha Pennington. She's helped me a lot while writing this, and she
serves as a kind of editor on the side.
I'm just sitting down to start writing on Chapter 5 now, so don't worry,
it won't be *too* long before the next installment is ready. I'm going to
be giving the scouts a larger part from here on, so don't give up on the
story on that account.
One last thing. I'm changing access soon, so the koyn@utdallas.edu
email account will only work for another month or so. I have a Juno
account: crayo@juno.com. As long as Juno is still around, I'll have that
account. But when I move back home there isn't a local number, yet. I'll
check the account, but not very regularly. Ja!
