Bittersweet

Chapter 13

Seamagik

Bittersweet Visions

A/N: Hard to believe I started this story over two years ago :O

I explain a few concepts at the end. If you need a brush up on some Greek myth terminology or the one big significant Sailormoon manga/anime storyline I'm using, you can find it at the bottom.

If you're still reading this... I marvel at your perseverance. And I love you. 'Nough said.

---

The pain stopped her in her tracks. Endymion, unaware of her discomfort, suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"It's just a log, Princess, I'll help you over it." He was actually in the process of doing so, if not in a very gentle fashion. His method seemed to involve just yanking her about by her wrist until she magicked herself over the blasted thing. Was it her fault she was wearing mud caked slippers that don't grip moldering bark very well? Bastard was just cheeky because he'd leapt the thing like a damned show horse. What only came up to his waist was well above hers. Trees shouldn't ever be allowed to get this big, she groused to herself.

The pain welled within her side again. "Ow."

Endymion smirked at the small princess, his eyes glancing to where her wrist was captured in his fist. "Too rough for you, Princess?" And then immediately grimaced as delightfully naughty visions clouded his eyes. He dropped her arm as if it were aflame.

Serenity didn't hear him. The pain… it didn't come from her wrist… didn't even really come from her side, now that she was paying attention to it. It came from somewhere… outside. Outside? Outside what? Outside myself? How could she feel anything from…

"Right." She said in wonder, "This is a dream."

"Hate to disappoint you, Princess, but this is no dream." Endymion growled at her, turning back to the path that was little more than a game trail. He briefly considered bringing out his sword to hack some branches away… but no, that could alert the centaur scouts… And he'd never do that to his beautiful sword…

She didn't know how she knew… but Ami was hurting. She had to get to Ami. Her name was not Serenity, it was Usagi…

He sighed, a long suffering expression on his face when he turned and realized she had yet to pull herself over the fallen trunk. "Do you really want me to leave you here?" He groaned. Not waiting for an answer, he scrambled, in a purely dignified manner, back over the felled tree and was about to fling her over his shoulder when she turned to him, regarding him with eyes that were far too knowing.

"Mamoru?" She asked softly, stepping close to him. His eyes narrowed in suspicion and he took a step back. Only, of course, to find his way barred by that blasted tree trunk. She advanced again, one slender hand coming up to cup his cheek so she could better peer into his eyes. She almost looked as if she were… searching for something.

"Mamoru, if you're still in there, if you can hear me… Ami's in trouble, I've gotta go to her. Get out if you can, and find the Senshi." She searched the face of this dark knight for her real prince.

His heart was hammering in his throat, and all from one little touch, one small body pressed closely to his. This was not good. But her eyes were shining… with love? "Are you daft, woman?" He asked, eyes widening.

She sighed and stepped away from him and only then did he realize he'd been holding his breath. "Only because I ever fell in love with an idiot like you." She muttered under her breath, causing him to start. Usagi shook her head in annoyance at his vacant expression before separating her consciousness from the form of Princess Serenity.

Princess Serenity cleared her e yes, and glanced up at the pale form of the Dark Prince. "Now what?" She asked, frankly tired of his hot and cold treatment of her.

"What is this?" He gaped in confusion. "Another trick to tempt me?"

"What are you babbling on about?" She asked in feigned arrogance. Examining her nails was better than seeing him eye her like a starving man staring at one of Jupiter's muffins.

The confusion seemed to leave his face, and he turned back to the trail, once again pulling himself up on top of the trunk. "We have priests that can help with that." He tossed a grin over his shoulder to her, leaping down and forging on ahead. Like the Princess, he knew that arrogance was an easier card to play than ignorance.

"Help with what?" She huffed, due in no small part to the log she was scrambling over. Great, now there was both blood and mud on her dress. And possible some squished bugs. Eeew. Mother wasn't even going to recognize her when they came for her.

"With the creature that possesses you." He grinned, making no move to assist her.

Finally, he was one up on her.

---

Elsewhere, Usagi solidified into existence.

"Ami," she called into the blue-grey emptiness.

"Over here!"

"Ami!" Usagi jogged to her friends' voice. Her friend's crouched form all but materialized from the mist. Usagi slowed to a halt, looking in confusion at the man who had his head resting so comfortably in her friend's lap…

Or maybe not so comfortably, given the sizeable wound in his side.

Ami lifted a tear stained face to her Princess. "I don't know what to do, Usagi. It keeps getting bigger…"

Usagi glanced again at the wound, only to start in amazement as she watched its edges sizzle and widen. She instantly dropped to her friend's side. She didn't know who the man was. She didn't care. All she knew was there was someone suffering and if she could help, she would. Ami muffled a groan as the wound widened and Usagi looked up in startlement as she noticed the blood on her friend's shirt for the first time.

Seeing her gaze, Ami explained tersely. "We're linked, he and I." She paused, searching Usagi's eyes for understanding. Pact be damned, this was important. "He's the source of my power, Usagi. And I think, that's translating in the form of his injury, as well."

Usagi paused for a moment, staring deep into her friend's eyes. Power sources could be examined another day. If his wound was killing Ami's mind, then she would heal it. End of story. Even if it wasn't slowly seeping the life out of one her best friends she'd heal it. Her mouth set into a grim line of determination. So best get this over with... She reached for his wound...

"It's okay, Serenity," the man rasped, his eyes clenched close in pain. "You cannot heal it, you are not strong enough. It may very well kill you to try."

"I have to try, for Ami, if nothing else" she responded grimly, uncaring at the point how the man knew her. He started, opening pain filled eyes to stare up at his Chosen, his most loved, his Ami... But was it worth the risk of Princess Serenity's life? Usagi's hands reached out to grasp his side. His larger hand grasped her wrist and she glanced up to find his stormy eyes burning into hers.

"You know not what you do, little Princess."

And in that moment, his eyes deepened into a star filled darkness and she caught a glimpse of eternity in his eyes.

His eyes, they bore into her soul, filled her with the loneliness and emptiness that only an eternity of living can bring. An eternity she had once seen in the eyes of Sailor Cosmos.

And she felt the pity in his eyes. And the truth hit her like a ton of bricks. He knew, he knew about Sailor Cosmos, knew what she hadn't been able to share with the Senshi, with Mamoru. A truth she hadn't even begun to comprehend herself. And eternity of fighting... alone. "I will live longer than you," She said softly to the man, and in her statement a thousand questions roiled.

Ami started, wide eyes coming up to search her friends face. "Usagi, He's a God-"

Usagi pressed her hand again into his side. "I will live longer than you," She repeated softly, her sad eyes holding his. "So, really, which of us should afraid of death? Which of us, in the end, is the God?"

And she surrendered herself to the Power.

---

The banging on the door brought Minako running, praying to God and Aphrodite and anyone else who would listen that it was Usagi. Her shoulders sagged in defeat as Mamoru's soulful eyes glanced past her.

"Usagi's working on it." He said tersely.

Minako's head lifted in relief, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. She ushered him in, past the entryway, uncaring at this point if he took his shoes off or not. He preceded her into the living room, where two forms where huddled around Ami's unconscious form.

"She's been saying something," Rei murmured to them, her eyes never leaving the wane face of her friend. Even now, Ami's mouth was moving in a murmured plea.

"Usagi's gone to find her." Mamoru replied, just as softly. It was if they were all afraid that raised voices may damage their friend's delicate psyche.

Makoto, who held the blue-haired girl's head in her lap, brushed Ami's bangs back from her unseeing eyes. She lifted her ear from where it had been poised, hovering over Ami's mouth to better hear her words. Her eyes glittered with tears as she looked at Minako.

"She's saying, 'Don't let me die.'"

---

The light, it burned her eyes. So she shut them. The wailing, of pain, from both her God and her friend were too much, so she clapped her hands to her head and prayed to God for something she felt only He could grant her.

"Don't let me die. Don't let me die. God, please, never let me die. I couldn't bear it. Don't let it be true. Don't make her live without me. Don't let her spend an eternity without us. It's too much. God, please."

---

Ami's eyes were glowing. As soft, warm light was shining out from behind her irises. A warm light shone from her side in a neat circle, as though welling from a wound. But no one noticed.

They were too busy staring wide-eyed at the towering forms of Phobos and Deimos.

"Phobos? Deimos?" Rei questioned, softly. These were not the playful goddesses up to (mostly) harmless trickery. These were two Goddesses on a mission.

They were not in the form of children. They were tall, seeming to tower above them all, heads extending up and up into darkness, looming far larger than Minako's ceiling should have allowed. Only the light shining from their star sprinkled eyes and the movements of their mouths gave them any indication as to where their heads where.

"Rei, my friend." Phobos' voice coiled into her gut like a stab of fear. "Things are coming to a head."

Rei stamped down the panic that accompanied Deimos's voice. "My Sister and I are learning… disturbing things."

As impassive monoliths go, Phobos gave a good rendition of a snarl. "We do not like when the reigns of fate have been wrenched from man's hands."

"Wha-"

"The Stygian Witches… The Graeae… they have had a vision, only just now finishing their verse."

Deimos converted to a small child, for the moment, kicking her heel petulantly. "All we wanted to do was steal their eyeball and toss it about for a bit, but then they got all oracle-y on is." In a heartbeat, she was back to the towering form of impassiveness. Truth be told, though, it didn't have to same effect after hearing the Goddess whine about not being able to play with an eyeball, of all things.

"Deimos stayed throughout the verse." Phobos continued on, heedless of her sister's lapse. "I left to confirm with the Oracle that sleeps deep beneath Delphi. The same verse, She gave to me. When two Seers have the same vision-" Phobos lapsed into silence, her troubled thoughts gathering round her head as storm clouds.

"It is not as easy to ignore a vision when two sources say the same thing." Deimos said, and the hint of fear in her voice was made all the more dreadful by its monotone.

"What are you talking about?" Rei demanded, rising to her feet, heedless that her friends were staring agog at the Goddesses. "What vision?"

The voices of the Goddesses rose and joined, echoing about the darkness of their forms. It settled deep into the bones of the Senshi, startling them with the ominous foreboding that accompanied it.

No Gods to walk the Earth

No Gods allowed, save Them

Their Ancient Brother awakened

Chaos stirs again.

Darkness…

No longer sleeping,

Gods…

Once more weeping

Their Charges…

Subverted,

To the Titans' way;

Converted.

The conjoined voices of the Twins faded and their forms shrank, becoming that of beautiful young women. They looked at the group in earnestness, hoping that they might shed some light on the the verse. As far as they were concerned, anything involving the Titans was Bad News. And that vision was nothing, if not about the Titans.

"Is that it?" Minako asked, her awe of the Goddesses dissipating in the light of her disappointment. She had hoped for something a little… lengthier… with possibly a little more explanation involved. The vision sounded menacing enough what with words like weeping and what not. But what really made her blood run cold, what really demanded an explanation, was one little word.

Chaos.

That dark malevolent force, encapsulated in Galaxia's form. Anything involving Chaos was Bad News.

"It is a verse... a vision of the Titans and what may very well be their awakening at the hands of Chaos."

"I don't understand." Makoto frowned, her eyes steely. "Usagi sent Chaos into the cauldron. It's over."

Phobos barely stopped her jaw from dropping. The battle between Galaxia and Sailor Moon had been fought on a plane of existence that the Lesser Gods, such as themselves, could not walk, and hence could not see. If Chaos had indeed been sleeping inside Galaxia, the answer to one of her most burning questions was answered; how on earth could a mortal survive in the Nethers? Of course, that didn't answer how Usagi had survived… But, the real kicker, in Phobos's eyes, was that not one of the Gods, herself included, had known that Chaos had been in Galaxia. And they were probably still ignorant, even now.

"Chaos is the cauldron, you foolish girl." Deimos hissed, holding back her shock and snapping Phobos back to the present. "He is the ether of the cauldron, the source of the physical realm. He makes and unmakes the Cosmos in an endless cycle, resting only when beaten and only till he's regained strength. He has never been truly defeated." She fell silent, glancing at her sister in fear. She could not bring herself to mention the role Sailor Cosmos played in this drama. They themselves had only just learned of Sailor Cosmos's importance by listening in on the older gods... Scaring Germanic barbarians was one thing. Scaring Avatars that you couldn't squash your soft spot for… not so much fun.

"What your princess fought, it may have been Chaos." Phobos mused, the horrible truth beginning to dawn on her. "But if Chaos was in the body of a mortal, he must have been sleeping. She must have been his latest cage. Expunging him from Galaxia's body and plunging him back into his own habitat must have begun his resurrection. And once he is awake, he will attempt to waken his siblings, the Titans."

"We think." Phobos interjected.

"True," Deimos replied, nodding her head in agreement. "Now that we know Chaos was part of Galaxia, we're guessing that's what the vision means. That and a big war. God's usually only weep when we're warring against the Titans. Doesn't happen very often. Once every few thousand years, when one of the Titans wake up."

"And despite what the myths tell you, Zeus didn't really seal the Titans away for eternity. It always happens the same… Titans wake up. Gods and Titans war. Gods and Titans get tired. Gods find hero to seal Titans in big cages, or y'know, turn them to stone, trap them in long lived mortal bodies, or whatever. Titan's fall asleep from sheer boredom, wake up in a few thousand years with enough strength returned to break out of their cages and wreak havoc."

"But here's the thing." Phobos warned. "The Titan's haven't all been free since the beginning of history. There's usually only one or two active at a time. If they were to all wake up at the same time…" She lapsed into silence, amidst visions of bloodshed too grim for even her.

"And I'm guessing this war affects mortals."

Phobos shook herself from her thoughts, peering at the dark haired man. "No, not really. It affects the poor louts who are chosen as Champions, mostly. Hercules, Perseus… poor guys had tough lives. Wasn't all sandy beaches and baklava, if you take my meaning."

"The wars are always fought in the Heavenly and Nether Realms." Rei mused, snippets of her life in the sacred shrine of Ares sending much needed information to her brain. "The only way humans would ever be affected by the wars was if the Titan's were to win. Which they would if they were all wakened at the same time. Say… by Chaos, maybe?"

The thought made the artificial blood in Phobos's crafted blood vessels run cold. She had fought by the side of mortals for millennia. And though she sowed the seeds of pain and panic where her Father directed, she could not help but love these vessels of clay. Though their time was short, their passion was profound. As old as she was, she had never felt as strongly about anything as a mortal might feel about, well, anything, on any given day. It was as if eternity had warped her, made her dull. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing the passions of mankind once again subjugated to the whims and wiles of the Titans. Sure, Zeus might have had a few good times with a few girlies, back in the days, but he never flooded the Earth because a few mortals didn't want to prostate themselves at his feet. Stupid Gaia. Never crashed a meteor into Earth's crust because mortals weren't quick enough to worship. Bastard Uranus.

Then again, maybe there was a little passion left in her, after all.

The thought left her breathless.

"Since we're Avatars," Makoto ignored the shocked intake of breath from Mamoru at her disclosure, "we're kinda like the Gods' Champions. Are we supposed to fight them? Is that what this is about?"

Deimos glanced at her sister. They had indeed, feigned disinterest on the subject of the Senshi and their role in Usagi's life. But they hadn't survived this long by ignoring any tidbit that could be used as blackmail. Let's just say, a little eavesdropping on Zeus and Hera had gone a long way… Phobos sighed, lifting absurdly long fingernails to scratch at her scalp. Finally, she plunged ahead. "We think you were made so that Serenity might last long enough to kill the Titans and end the war once and for all."

Deimos ignored their looks of shock, attempting to clarify before the questions started again. "She will have no choice but to fight them. If they awaken, they will see her as a threat. As they saw the Lunarians as a threat two thousand years ago. A bastard child of Selene should not hold that much power, they will say. When they look into the future and see the shining city of Neo-Tokyo, a populace filled with love (which even makes me a bit squicky) they will become jealous of the earth's devotion to Neo-Queen Serenity. No Gods to walk the Earth… No Gods allowed, save them. They have long been blinded by their own importance. They think that they alone are fit to hold the reigns of man's destiny. They will not appreciate Serenity's appearance on history's weave."

"A war borne of jealousy?" Rei asked, enraged, slipping into the clipped speech of her past life. "Surely, even they cannot be so petty."

"And it doesn't matter" Makoto argued, "Usagi is no God."

"You do know Cronos ate his children so they wouldn't become more powerful than him, right?" Deimos asked with arched brow. "And you do know, one thousand years from now, it can only be Cronos who would open the gates of time to the Black Moon Family, so that they might kill the Neo-Queen Serenity. Mortals less deserving than she have ascended and become Gods. They will think to nip it in the bud, so to speak, and just be done with her."

"But the Black Moon Family came for Chibi-Usa!" Mamoru protested, ignoring for now that not only was he talking to two Greek myths, but that one of said Greek myths had just informed him that the Father of Greek myth was gunning for his girlfriend.

"He must have known she'd be drawn to her mother." Rei's face twisted into bitterness. "And though he didn't tell it to the twisted, lowly mortals he was guiding, he had hopes Usagi would be caught in the cross fire and either subverted or destroyed."

Rei had been the plaything of the Gods for so long, it was becoming easy to see Their twisted hands pulling the strings of destiny.

"But that gosh darn girl keeps bouncing back." Deimos snapped her fingers in a mockery of a classic aw shucks moment.

"The good news is, he's not awake right now. We'd know it if he was. The first thing he'd do is summon all of the Gods on Olympus and chastise them."

"And by chastise," Phobos deadpanned. "She means torture."

Deimos smirked, knowing full well that she would be involved in the chastisement, once it came. She only hoped she could spit in Cronos's eye ere she was thrown bodily to the Source. "The bad news is, he was awake in the future. Or at least, conscious enough to open the time gates and let the family through."

"Actually," A usually pleasant voice was chilling with its strength of malice. A form stepped from the shadow of the doorway. "That was me." Setsuna frowned her disapproval at Phobos and Deimos.

"Aphrodite's bastards… you are a long way from Olympus."

"Hey, we know who our Dad is," Deimos sputtered. Phobos placed a calming hand on her sister's arm.

"Setsuna?" Minako questioned, a hard edge to her voice.

Oh god no. Not this.

And with frightening clarity, the lines of the prophecy rang in her head

Charges subverted,

To the Titans' way; converted

Tinkling laughter erupted throughout the room. The small head of the Messiah of Darkness peeked around Setsuna's form.

"Boo!"

A/N

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN…

Lots to keep up with. I know I dropped a lot of bombs in this chapter. Gonna get back to other stuff, like Makoto's breaking and life as a Geneticist here pretty soon. And how and why Usagi and Mamoru and possibly even the Senshi (gasp) are actually hitching rides in the forms of their past incarnations instead of merely dreaming and remembering about it. And why the Gods created the Senshi, the significance of Usagi, and Selene's rabid fascination with Endymion and the danger it poses to mankind. And of course, what the hell is going on with Pluto and Saturn (who seemed so normal only a few chapters ago…. Hee )

SO! RECAP AND GREEK STUFF INFO!

In the manga, Chibi chibi was Sailor Cosmos's star seed. Sailor Cosmos appears to Usagi in the final book to tell her that she's been battling Chaos forever, blahblabbityblah, and she had lost her strength to do so. It was only by seeing Usagi, her past self, fight that Cosmos was able to regain her strength and whatnot. Kind of a dour note for me, because the manga doesn't mention any of the other scouts in the conversation, leaving the distinct impression that Usagi is going to be battling Chaos, alone, long after the Earth goes kablooey. In the Anime, Chibi chibi and Sailor Cosmos were not Usagi in any way shape or form. Which was retarded. 'Nough said.

The Stygian Witches in the movie Clash of the Titans (Hee!) are known in Greek myth as the Graeae "The Gray Women" and are the sisters of the Gorgon. They are three witches that share one eye and one tooth between them. Perseus had to consult them to learn how to get the head of Medusa to bring home to a wicked king. I gave them oracular abilities. But hey, that's cool, cause Disney did too, as well as combining them with the three aspects of Fate. At least I didn't go that far

Turn to stone comment, because Perseus ends up using the head of Medusa to turn Ceto, a sea monster (daughter of Gaia) to stone so that he can save Andromeda and make with the canoodling.

I only capitalize Gods when I'm attempting to portray heavy significance. Otherwise, whatever, I'll use lowercase. And yes, I do differentiate between the One God (a.k.a the Source, the big G-man) and the other Gods. God, singular, when in the context of the big G-man, is always capital.

Chaos- not really male. A non-gendered Titan. The nothing from which everything was created. Can't very well say 'It' for the next however-many chapters though. And since Usagi, the white hat, is female, I threw in a bit of balance and made my Big Bad male. Please ignore the Buffy euphemisms. Chaos, in Greek myth is the big source of everything. Think 'Greek explanation of big bang.'

Cronos- or Cronus, or Kronos, or Chronos, etc. etc. is a Titan, not just some low level time god. He's the big Kahuuna. The God of Everlasting Time, he's the daddy to all the heavy hitting gods; Hera, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, etc. I chose the spelling that I did because most people associate Chronos with a lower level God, involved in time, but not very significant. The thing about Cronos is, he's big time significant.

Long A/N, I know. Hope to get another chapter out soon. Ciao Bella!