Vicommi@aol.com Hi again people! I wish to sincerely apologize for the last chapter of this story. I spent too little time working on it, and certainly didn't proof read it enough. If you suffered through it, thank you very, very much. I will try to never do that again. If you are confused about what happened, I will be explaining further in each of the following chapters while at the same time attempting to move the plot further. This is the first time I am attempting such a complex plot (past, present, motives, reasons, ect. . . .) so I just hope that it is kinda understandable. Again, all rights to Sailor Moon character belong to Naoko Takeuchi for her brilliant manga and to the television stations who own the anime. The characters I do introduce are MINE however. This chapter will be back in the Silver Millenium and I will be adding a power for Darien in this chapter!!! For those who do not know, Darien has the ability to link his life force with another person and heal injuries. (I think that is soo cool and I just HAVE to incorporate it.) Thank you for taking the time to read all of this, now let's get on with the new chapter! (^_^) &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Ancient History Chapter 4 by Sailor Charon Two adolescent Earth princes played in Silver Meadow under a bright afternoon sun. Dulled swords were in each of their hands, and they ducked and attacked, parried and thrusted at each other in half work, half play. Prince Endymion had less skill than Prince Epsilon, and the match was not going in his favor. "What's the matter, Darien?" Epsilon cheerily teased his brother as he made another swipe for the young boy. Endymion barely blocked it. "Been reading too much, Little Brother? Not enough practicing? All those letters on all those pages must be affecting your vision!" Endymion's eyes narrowed slightly as he redoubled his efforts into the match. He brought his dulled sword edge down quickly, hoping to surprise Eplsilon and gain time to disarm him. His opponent's sword came up with ease to block the swing however, and Endymion found himself off-balance as Eplsilon came forward quickly and smacked Endymion's wrist with the sword flat. The younger brother dropped the sword and held his right wrist in his left hand gingerly. Eplsilon brought the tip of his sword to Darien's collar bone to show that the latter would be dead, had this been a real fight. Darien didn't look up to acknowledge the tap. The older boy stood looking at his brother's bowed head with damp hair falling into his eyes for a moment before sighing and putting a hand on Darien's shoulder. "Darien, don't get so discouraged! You fight very well for a ten-year-old! I'm very happy you take this so seriously, but really, this was only for fun! I am a *lot* older than you, right?" Eppie bent over a bit and dipped his head down so he could look into Darien's eyes. "Right," Darien sounded a little sulky. This confused Eppie because Darien hardly ever got upset over a lost match. He didn't know why his little brother was taking this so hard. "Little Brother, what is the matter? C'mon tell me." Eppie dropped his voice to a low tone to invite confidence from his rather quiet pupil. Darien's gaze was still averted from Eppie's face directly in front of his. "It's silly. It's nothing." The quiet voice portrayed that it was anything but 'nothing.' Eppie looked down at Darien and raised a brow to show that he wasn't buying the excuse. "I feel bad about it, it's really silly, Eppie, really!" Darien tried to get out of saying any more, but Eppie still stood there, slightly hunched, looking into his face disbelievingly. Darien finally looked up into his brother's eyes and stammered, "It's just that, well, I wasn't expecting you to hit me so hard, Eppie." Eppie looked slightly confused. "I know it's not right, I mean, I am practicing to really fight, and I should be ready to take a few bruises and not sulk about it. But, but it's just you've never hit me that hard before. You've always just moved my blade aside and ended the match that way, you've never actually hit me with the sword before, that's all. I know it's pretty silly." Darien's eyes dropped to the ground, afraid to see disappointment in Eppie's eyes as he registered Darien's cowardness. What he felt instead was a tightening of the hand on his shoulder in an understanding manner. Eppie pulled him into a hug and held him for a long while. Darien was confused now. He hadn't expected to be understood. Epsilon pulled away then and spoke to his brother kindly. "Listen, Darien. I know how you must feel, and I'm sorry if I hit you too hard. But you do realize that if you don't expect to be hit, an enemy will take advantage of that and REALLY hurt you. I can't be too nice to you and let you win or always leave without a scratch." "I know. I'm sorry, it just really surprised me that it actually hurt!" Darien smiled as did Eppie. The older brother asked to look at Endymion's wrist just to make sure he was okay. When he say the bruise he winced inwardly. He didn't like giving injury any more than Darien like receiving it, but small lessons had to be taught. "It'll be okay, Darien. Want to go and put some ice on it?" "No, I'll be fine." Darien rolled his sleeve back down over his wrist and began to rub the bruise with his left hand. "Well, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Epsilon's voice increased in volume as the mood changed. "I dunno. Want to go and climb the rock pile on the other side of the palace?" Endymion's mood brightened too. He was glad that he got to spend a whole day with Epsilon. Then Endymion started. He looked down at the wrist he was still rubbing as it began to tingle and feel warm. Darien became scared and quickly rolled up his sleeve just in time to see the last remnants of the bruise that had been a deep blue moments before face away. Eppie looked over to Darien to see what was wrong and frowned as he saw that the bruise was completely gone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darien put his right hand on a rock above his head and pushed himself up, making sure to keep his balance on the rock where his feet were positioned. He looked up to see Eppie above him, near the top of the rock pile. The large mass of boulders sat at the foot of a ledge in the canyon wall near the royal palace. The steep cliff rose sharply behind them, shielding them from the hot afternoon sun. Darien hurried to scramble over the rough rocks to join his brother. Eppie stood up on the top, twenty feet above the ground. Darien joined him moments later and looked out over the view on the other side of the pile. A second cliff rose in front of them similar to the one directly behind them. Green shrubbery sprouted out here and there amongst the cracked stone. The air smelled dry but sweet as the wind filtered through the trees up near the top of the mountains. Darien sighed and sat down on the rocks, Eppie stayed standing, looking around him. Darien spoke up to him. "Eppie, why did my bruise disappear?" Darien hadn't even asked that earlier. He had been too confused, feeling a strong feeling well up inside him and bubble to the surface, heating and healing his wrist. Eppie looked down at him an smiled. "Your magic is beginning to surface, Little Darien." "What magic?" "Magic runs through us all, Darien. It exists in every thing in this universe, but some people have the ability to tap into that magic. That ability runs in the bloodlines of all of the royal families of this solar system." Eppie squatted next to Darien. "That's why the Sailor Senshi have their powers. It's their magic. The magic of Earth is very different from that of the Moon Kingdom, so we really don't know what kind of magic you and I have inside. We do have magic, we just don't know how to focus it yet. When you were rubbing your arm, you tapped into your magic and healed yourself. Healing is one of your powers." "Wow! How come I never heard any of this before, Eppie?" Darien thought it was very cool to have the power to heal. He was very confused as to why he hadn't been told about all of the magic in the universe. His parents had teachers and tutors for everything else, why not teach him something *useful*, like how to control in innate magic? "Magic is something we have to grow into to be able to use, Darien. Also, we know little about Earth magic, because no one in our family has ever fully tapped into their powers, like they do on the moon to form the senshi. One thing that we do know however, is that it must be left to develop, or not develop, naturally. If someone interferes with the process by which our magic emerges, it could warp that very magic and cause great damage. The only reason I know is because I heard Mother and Father talking about the emergence of *our* magic, Darien, and I asked them about it." Darien sat quietly for a moment. He realized that he was the only one in the universe with his specific powers and no one, not even Eppie could help him practice using them or developing him. He never knew that he and his brother could use magic. This was cool!! Then another thought struck him. "Eppie, what's your magic?" Epsilon answered with a hint of irony. "I don't know, It hasn't emerged at all yet. I don't know what I can do. You showed your magical promise before me, beat me at something, huh?" Darien smiled a little. He really wasn't that competitive with Eppie, but it felt good to finally do something before his big brother. Eppie stood up quickly on the rock pile, stretching his legs out. "I really like it up here, it's always so peaceful." He skipped around from rock to rock, sending little pieces of dirt skittering down the pile from under his feet. Eppie then stepped on a loose stone, and his precarious balance was disrupted. He pitched forward, attempting to find something to hold onto, but found nothing and fell over the edge of the pile. "EPPIE!!" Darien's frantic call was masked slightly by Eppie's cry as he landed eight feet down. Darien quickly scrambled after his brother and joined him moments later, falling to his knees next to Eppie. He began to cry in extreme fright as his brother quickly shook his head and looked up to see Darien's panicked face above him. "Hey Darien, I'm fine, don't worry." Darien looked down at him with tears still filling his eyes. "I just made a stupid move, Little Brother. I'm not hurt that bad, really!" "But you are hurt?" The panic was apparent in Darien's voice. "Only my ankle, just a little." Eppie smile comfortingly and reached a hand out to remove the tears about to drip off Darien's jaw. Darien quickly moved over to Eppie's ankle thinking furiously. He could heal Eppie! He could do it! He just had to tap into his magic again. Darien became frustrated. He didn't know how to do it! The first time, he had healed himself without even thinking. He hadn't even meant to do it. But now, when he had a chance to do something *with* his powers, he couldn't figure out how to make it work! Darien laid his hands on Eppie's ankle and the older boy drew in a quick breath through his teeth. Eppie's brown hair was clinging to his forehead as perspiration beaded over his face. His ankle was probably dislocated. "Darien," Eppie's voice came out a little rougher than usual, "Don't worry about it." We'll get the doctor to wrap it as soon as we get back. Just help me to stand, and I'll manage to walk." Darien didn't give any indication that he had even heard Eppie. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Clearing his mind, he dispelled of his frustration so he could deal with the situation calmly. Endymion reached into himself and found his power, his love, his strength near his heart. He mentally dipped into this center of magic and pulled out his power. He felt it travel through his hands and into his brother's ankle. Eplsilon sighed as his pain disappeared, replaced by warmth and healing. When the process ended, Eppie looked up at Darien again, this time with amazement in his eyes. "I guess that could come in handy, huh?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The darkness of evil spoke again with it's subject. "So, the young Prince Endymion has discovered how to use a bit of his magic, eh? This could be a problem. We must do something to counteract the young prince if he ever decides to thwart us when we come to take over this planet." The dark form turned to the cowering servant. "Go and begin to turn Prince Epsilon's mind toward the darkness. He will become the instrument of the Silver Millenium's destruction. end of chapter 4 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& So what do you think? Please e-mail me with the answer. I know that this chapter was rather slow moving, (indeed they all seem to be) but I do promise that it will speed up in the future. I would like to suggest reading for anyone who would like to listen to my opinion. (^_^) Lianne is THE BEST!! Never neglect any of her writing, it is all incredible. She is currently working on at least three different works of fan-fiction that all are extremely well written and planned. Really tear jerkers and laugh makers, so read them. Also, for any Trekkies (Trekkers) out there, my brother, Adam, has been writing a Sailor Moon/Star Trek: The Next Generation cross over that I know you will enjoy very much. Thanks, Sailor Charon.