*Guardians of the Underworld*
Part 4

Rated PG for minor swears and situations.
*****************************************************************************

Quietly walking around the royal library, Helios flipped open an old book.
The spine was worn and the hard cover was scratched. Various pages were
ripped, but he digressed. He had put a difficult day behind him. The Prince
Endymion was not in the best of moods, after learning about the fate of his
beloved, and therefore made everyone's life around him miserable. The maids
were always scurrying about, trying to get him to eat something. But he
never would. He just sighed and said he couldn't allow himself that luxury.
No one knew what was wrong with him. Queen Gaia was downright worried. So
he took it upon himself to spin a lie about Princess Serenity.

"The Princess of the Moon," he remembered how he began, "is not forbidden
to leave the Fourth Dimension. She can leave anytime she wants to, but she
doesn't. The Underworld has a philosophy similar to that of a nightmare.
'If one wants to wake up from a nightmare, one will.' But Serenity has chosen
to stay in her world."

Ah, but Endymion was sharp. He had recalled the taboos that his teacher had
told him. "But isn't it forbidden for the Guardians to leave their posts?"
he had questioned, very self richously.

"Sailor Pluto is the only one who the taboos apply to. Serenity is not a
Guardian of the Underworld, only a Guardian of the Ginzuishou," Helios lied.
In reality, Serenity was one of the Guardians of the mysterious place
between time. The silver crystal was but an added responsibility.

The dark haired prince, at that moment, had seemed to believe him. But later
in the day, Helios had come to observe otherwise. While part of Endymion's
heart was telling him that it wasn't true, his mind was leading him to trust
that Serenity perhaps did not want to see him, that she didn't remember. In
the end, his heart and emotions took the best of him. But he never mentioned
another word about it.

Sitting down on a maroon velvet chair, he sighed. His hair was in his face
again, obscuring his view of the fading text. But right at the moment when
he reached up to brush it out of the way, a powerful feeling overtook him.
He winced his blue gray eyes and cried out in pain. Grunting, he got up and
strode towards the throne room.

********************************************

Pushing open the heavy wooden doors, Helios had to lean up against the frame
for support. When he met the King and Queen's astonished gazes, he hissed
out a curse. Bowing, he calmed his mind.

"King, Queen, it is coming," he mumbled.

"Na..Nan desu ka*?" Queen Gaia stuttered, rising and gathering her many
skirts.

The King simply snarled, knowing exactly what the man had meant. "Stop
speaking such nonsense! We both know that's not it!"

"Nani yo**?! What are you two talking about?!" Gaia demanded, helping up
Helios, who had fallen due to the pressure the energy was putting on his
limbs. "Will someone PLEASE tell me?"

********************************************

In the hallway, Prince Endymion was practicing a speech he was going to
present to his parents. Correcting his posture numerous times, and gesturing
with his hands, he finally composed himself enough to go in.

Turning the brass knob, he took a step in, but found there was someone
already speaking with them. It looked as though they had never noticed. But
just as he was walking away, he heard the words he thought he would never
hear.

"The Princess Serenity is on Earth."

********************************************

The King punched his angry fist down on the armrest of his throne. There was
a vein throbbing on his forehead and it looked ready to burst. "Damn!" he
shouted. "She couldn't have!"

Helios looked down. "I am not telling tales, Your Highness. I can feel the
powers on the planet, and the minor disruptions in the timeline. To even
travel to Earth, she would have to pass through the energy field cast over
Elysion. She did, and she's more powerful than ever."

The Queen looked confused. "What does she have to do with everything?"

"She ties in with the 'Times of Destruction'. She's obviously come back to
overthrow the Kingdom and reclaim her rightful place. Living in the
Underworld that long would have turned her heart to ice. After all, it did
to Sailor Pluto," the priest explained. By the door, Endymion was shaking
his head in disbelief.

"That old bat's still living?" The King of Earth scoffed, referring to the
princess with the long green hair.

Helios rolled his eyes. "Yes," he stated, with a slight amount of sarcasm.
"She's immortal, remember? Shows how much you paid attention to my lessons.."

"It doesn't matter! But what does is that we eliminate her before she gets
the chance."

With that, the Prince let the door swing open, unintentionally. He sat
there, with wide eyes. Gauking at what his father had just said. He rose,
and brought up his fist in a threatening motion. "You will do no such thing!"

"Endymion.." Gaia whispered, still on the white marble floor. She knew this
was going to lead to something bad..

But the three men just ignored her presence. Their looks tore souls apart,
each one menacing and full of spite. The heir's piercing sapphire eyes
brought out fire in the King's. He walked swiftly closer, and was prepared
to fight for his love's life.

"You know nothing about her! She was sweet and caring, and would never want
revenge! You're all wrong! You've never even met her!" he yelled, trying not
to let the hot tears fall. His father would only mock him. Crying was a sign
of weakness.

"Endymion! You're in over your head! This is not your matter to attend to!
We will deal with it how we will! Now go back to your chambers and study!
You'll need that common sense to become a competent ruler.." he spat.

"It is you who needs the knowledge, Father! Whenever someone wants to join
forces, you retaliate! Whenever someone wants peace, you create strife! You
can't feel threatened every time you see something new!" the Prince of the
Golden Kingdom reasoned. He seemed to know more about ruling than his
predecessor.

The dark brunette King, with his crown on haughtily, gritted his teeth and
spoke with a tight mouth. "You need to be on constant guard! You can't trust
the enemy.."

"That's the problem! You can't tell the difference between enemy and ally!"
Endymion countered.

The midnight haired Queen picked herself up and put her arms out to the side.
She was standing right in the middle of the dueling family. "Stop all this,
right now! I won't have you two fighting!" She looked as though she was
ready to let her own tears fall. The lace on her collar was scratching her
neck.

"Fine," Prince Endymion turned away. "Then tell the honourable 'King'
that I'm leaving. I'll find Serenity before you do." He strode out of the
room, his boots making loud sounds as he stormed across the floor.

"Matte!" she called after him, but he was already gone. She turned to Helios
with a pleading look in her blue eyes. "Please convince him to stay. I think
you're the only one who can."

He bowed once more. "Hai."

******************************************

*'Nan desu ka' = What is it?
**'Nani yo' = What?! (in an annoyed tone)

******************************************


A bright light appeared overhead, and when it dimmed, a girl was left lying
on the soft ground. A gentle breeze blew from the south, and the emerald
grass swayed as it was touched by it. The girl, more of an maturing teenager
really, gingerly sat up. She smoothed out her pearl white gown and she
looked at her shoes. Her mouth turned into a frown. They were scuffed. Darn.
But she had to cover her eyes when she looked up. She hadn't seen the sun
in over 10 years. Was it just her, or did it's rays get more intense?

"Where am I?" she mumbled to herself, fingering the necklaces she wore. Her
surroundings were so colourul. To her at least. There were trees, a pond (as
she soon discovered) and the blue sky overhead. She stepped over to the water
and touched her finger in it. But a second later, she took it out. The water 
was so cold! Her eyes widened. She could see herself!

She stared in wonder. She had deep crystal blue eyes, almost hidden under
her thick eyelashes. Her lips were small and pink. Perfect in proportion to
her china doll face. Minutes passed as she looked into the clearness. This
was the first time she had ever seen her reflection. She didn't know what to
think. Was she beautiful, or ugly? She couldn't draw the conclusion. Her
whole life, most of it anyways, she had only seen Sailor Pluto. Could she
even compare to the Guardian's beauty?

She had always admired her friend. She was tall, elegant, graceful...but what
did the world think? Would she be considered vain if she continued to look
at her own image? She tried to think, but all she could do was smile at what
she saw. When she laughed, it laughed back at her. It was like her own
twin.

But she was drawn out of her thoughts at what she turned her gaze to next.
Over a hill, she saw a little town. People were walking in the gravel
streets, horses trotted in the meadows with their masters in tow.. She had
never seen anything quite like it. Deciding to travel there, one of her
necklaces glowed in response. The Sailor Crystal of Venus.

*************************************

Helios ran to the stables. There he saw the Prince mounting his prize
winning steed. Mayonaka. The horse was a good match with him. Both stood
tall, almost with a sense of pride. Endymion was about to set off, when his
teacher came running up to him.

"Oji-sama!*" he called, his loose clothes were flapping. "Dame!**" Luckily,
the two obeyed. They looked rather impatient.

"Why should I stay? They don't want me here," he stated, gripping the
leather reins. "They want to kill her."

Helios hunched over. He was panting from his run towards them. "No they
don't. I'm sure you could reason with them. I'll admit, but you could talk
with your mother more about this. She seems more optimistic than the King,"
he pointed out with a certainty.

"Why should I believe you?" Endymion sounded skeptical. "You've lied to me
before. And about the most important thing in my life, too. Do you have no
conscience?"

Running his hand through his white hair, the priest didn't answer the
question. But he did ask a question back with even more significance. "Do
you really love her enough to defy your parents?"

Helios's eyes softened as he saw Endymion's reaction. His dark haired
student had looked down, and the slightest blush was evident on his usually
emotionless face. He had never once been embarrassed before.

"Yes, I do. I don't know why. After all, you've even said that I haven't
seen her in over a decade. I suppose it's not even plausible for me to have
such feelings for a woman that could have changed so much..." his sentence
faded off.

"But it still doesn't explain why you told me lies! The exact thing you said
was impossible happened. And now her life in in danger because of *MY*
Kingdom! I won't allow it!" Endymion finished.

"I..I'm sorry for doing that. But I thought.." Helios pondered for the right
words. "..I thought that maybe if you didn't know about her..that you
wouldn't be as hurt..As hurt as you already are.."

It was now Endymion's turn to make his eyes soften at his teacher's kind
words. He jumped off of his horse. "I won't leave then. But only if you can
promise me that she won't be hurt."

"I can't do that," he shook his head. "Your father's wishes are everyone's
commands. If he says that she has to be eliminated for the good of the
planet, then she will be."

The Prince was about to protest, but he was silenced. "What I can promise
you though, is that she won't be killed. That is, if you stay in the palace.
I'm sure that you can protect her and reason with them. In the time it will
take to find her, you can either be chasing her in a wild goose hunt, in
which you are blind of directions..or trying to prevent her death by your
own authority. Take your pick." Helios offered.

He thought for a moment, then smiled. "I guess you're right," he agreed
finally. "I will stay. For the good of us all."

"Arigato," Helios smiled back.

**************************************************

Once the princess with the long, silver hair entered the small town,
everyone was aghast. Their mouths were open without an understanding. But
after a few silent minutes, they grew weary of the new sight, and continued
on their ways. But one merchant was still looking in her direction. Seeing
no reason not to, she walked over and starting talking to him politely.

"Excuse me, where am I exactly?" she asked. The man regained his senses and
his mind started to work again.

"Munashii, Miss. The town of Munashii," he said. His navy hair was ragged,
and his sideburns were bushy. "Where are you from? You look as though you're
from the Golden Palace itself."

She stuttered. Was it that obvious that she wasn't from around here? But she
digressed and answered the question. "Uh..two towns over.." she blurted out.

"Ah, Kiri-zu? It's a nice place. If you like water," He rambled. But he
could see she was confused. "That *is* the one, isn't it?"

"Yeah.." her mouth twitched. She had better watch what she says.

The man thought he was talking to an angel sent to him from the heavens
above. She looked like royalty, with her dress of fine silks, gold and lace.
But it was nothing compared to the blueness of her eyes. The only thing that
seemed out of place was the crescent moon on her forehead.

"It gets cold here at night.." he took a cloak off the wall of his station.
"Here." he offered.

Her pale hand reached out and took the clothing. It was black, and had a
hood. She thought that it might be useful to hide her identity. "Thank you,"
she replied.

"It's nothing.." The man blushed. "Look, if you don't have anywhere to stay
while you're here-"

She cut him off. "I do!" she exclaimed. In reality, she didn't have a clue
where she was going to sleep that night. But she couldn't let him know that.
She had an inkling not to trust this guy. She put on the cloak and walked
farther down the street. "Good-bye!"

But she walked head-on into another person. She looked up and captured the
green eyed gaze of a man that was at least a foot taller than her. He
smirked as he brought her delicate hand up to his mouth and kissed it.
"Now who might you be?" he asked with suave.

"Se..Serenity..." she said quietly. He took a step closer to her.

His clothes were dirty, but he was well built. He put a hand on her cheek
and brought his face within an inch of hers. He looked deep into her eyes.
She could see what his intentions were, but when she tried to pull away, he
only tightened his grip. Just as he was about to crush his lips against
hers, a voice screamed at him.

"Higashi!" the woman came into view. She had long blonde hair, and was in a
simple blue dress. Her eyes were almost as blue as Serenity's, but they had
a certain twinkle that made them differ. "What were you doing?!" her shrill
voice cried out.

"Nothing Minako-chan!" he backed away from the girl and held up his hands up
as though he were being arrested. The blonde girl, who's name was just
uttered from the man's mouth, still continued to walk closer. She turned and
came face to face with Serenity. She shook her finger with anger.

"And what were *you* doing with *my* boyfriend?" her tone was menacing. But
the only thing that interrupted the moment was one of Serenity's necklaces
blinding them with an intense orange light.

*********************************************

*'Oji-sama' = Prince
**'Dame' = Don't, or Stop!

*********************************************

- He he! I finished Part 4! When I should be doing homework again! ^^; I
swear, if my room mate would've bugged me one more time about that, I
would've done something drastic..but I don't know what. ^^; It's obvious
who that was in the last scene, ne? But something more is gonna happen..

** Disclaimers = I don't own any of the characters in this fanfic. Most are
owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Toei, TV Asahi, Koudansha, and plenty others. Don't
sue. This fanfic is copyright MinaP Aino, September 2001. **

Ja ne! MinaP 9:06 PM 15/09/01