Dream World Part 9: The Dream Monarchs
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Mike Chenoweth [Ultrace@aol.com]
September, 1996
Serena had trouble believing what was happening, even while seeing it with her own eyes. `Mina's too strong for this, it'll never work on her,' she had told herself. But the moment Mina attacked them, Serena knew she was wrong. She hadn't seen the chains coming, even after Mina shouted out the attack. It looked like Rei and Lita had tried to dodge, but they were snared as well.
Now the three of them were fighting to free themselves, even though they knew, having seen Mina use the chain against monsters, how useless it would be. Mina just stood there with a determined scowl, gripping the end of their bonds.
"You're too weak," Sylvite said, watching their useless struggle with detached amusement. "I doubt you could break out of those even in your best condition, and I've seen to it that you are not. I wanted you worn down, fatigued... That way even the four of you together could not defeat us."
Serena, Rei and Lita listened to him--they couldn't do anything else. Amy was another matter entirely. If they could delay him long enough for her to wake up... "What about the monster attacks?" Serena asked. "How do those jewelry stores fit into this?"
For a moment, Sylvite looked as if he didn't know what she was talking about, then he suddenly seemed to remember. "Oh, those. They were a distraction, something to keep you guessing... And they worked perfectly, didn't they?"
Amy chose that moment to make her move. She could only assume that the others didn't know she was feigning unconsciousness, so their startled reaction to her leaping up was no surprise. Amy grabbed two of the chains and yanked on them as hard as she could. She was not the strongest of the scouts, and felt dead on her feet already, but she was able to shake the chains from Mina's grasp; they disappeared, leaving Lita as the only one still bound.
Rei knew that Sylvite's concerns were right--the only way they stood any chance was if all four of them worked together. Instead of attacking him, she grabbed the remaining chain and gave it a savage pull.
Nothing. Mina was prepared now, and only needed to hold the chain with a single hand to keep it secure. While Serena tried to decide what to do, Amy switched on her visor and started scanning both Sylvite and Mina.
Sylvite was mildly amused at this surprising turn of events, but he couldn't make the mistake of underestimating them like so many of their fallen enemies had before. "Destroy them, Mina," he said. "I'll help you."
Mina sprang into action. "Venus Black Pulse!" she yelled, pointing her free hand at Lita. A bolt of energy like her crescent beam, only wider and black, sprang out of her finger and struck Lita full force before Rei or Serena could try to help. Mina let go of the chain that had been holding Lita, who was lying unconscious back near the wall with Luna and Artemis.
Amy had completed her energy scanning, something she chided herself for not doing when she first examined Mina. Invisible to their eyes but clear on her visor was the secret. "He's controlling her with some sort of dark energy--he's forcing it right into her body!" she said.
Serena took the broach that held the Silver Crystal from her chest. "I'll take care of that--and then I'm going to take care of him!"
"Right," Rei said. She looked at Amy, who nodded. "Mars Celestial Fire Surround!"
"Mercury Ice Bubbles Freeze!"
Sylvite crossed his arms defiantly. Rei and Amy watched as rings of fire and numbing-cold bubbles were hurled, but came to a halt at the forcefield surrounding him.
"Venus Pulse Shower!" Mina cried, catching Amy and Rei off guard and blasting them back to the wall by dozens of smaller black energy beams.
They had bought Serena a chance, and she took it. "Moon Crystal Healing Activation!" Waves of bright pink light began pouring out from the crystal, washing over Mina, who turned to face Serena.
"It's too late for that, now. You can't undo what I've worked for, even with the Silver Crystal," Sylvite said with a smile. He glanced over his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Mina?"
Mina didn't answer. She just stood there, arms hanging loose, a vacant look on her face. There was a single tear, running down her cheek, sparkling in the light of the Silver Crystal. Sylvite stared at her.
"No!" he yelled, knocking Serena back against the wall with a wave of his hand and sending the crystal broach from her grasp. "You... You made her cry..." he said, turning back to Serena. His casual, carefree air vanished, and he started advancing on Serena with a murderous expression. "I am going to kill you!"
At the worst possible time, the sleep that Serena, Amy and Rei had lost seemed to catch up with them. Whatever adrenaline that had rushed through them earlier in the fight with Sylvite was now gone. As Sylvite made his way over to where Serena was half-laying, Rei was the only one who could get to her feet and try to stop him, but he simply backhanded her away as though she were some bothersome insect. He stepped in front of Serena, reached down and put his hands around her throat.
Sylvite was just starting to squeeze when he was stuck in the arm with a rose stem, making him recoil away from her in an unexpected jolt of pain. He didn't need to look to know who had thrown the rose; Tuxedo Mask was a common figure in the dreams of these girls, and Sylvite was quite familiar with his style of entrance.
"Corrupting the heart and dreams of one so pure is a crime against everyone who has such virtues," Tuxedo Mask said. "For all those who dream of greater things among us, this cannot continue!"
Sylvite pulled the rose out of his arm and threw it to one side. He glared at Tuxedo Mask in the doorway. "What do you--any of you--know of Mina's dreams? I can see what she dreams of, what she wishes for. I can make her dreams come true and give her everything she wants."
"Maybe you can feel love, but you can't understand it," Serena spat, trying to prop herself against the wall in order to stand up. "You say you love Mina, but how can anyone hurt someone they love like this?"
With a sneer, Sylvite grabbed her by the blouse and yanked her up. "What are you talking about?"
Tuxedo Mask started to move to attack, but then he saw something in Serena's eyes... There was fear, but there was also a look that said she knew what she was doing.
"I'm not the one who made her cry," Serena said. "You did, when you made her hurt her friends. You did this to her!"
Sylvite looked back in horror to Mina, still standing like a statue, empty of all her liveliness. "No."
"Can you tell what she's feeling now?" Serena continued. "It's shame and sadness over what she's done--what you made her do."
"But I... I didn't mean..."
Amy cut him off. "If you really knew how important dreams were, you'd see that they're so precious because of how hard we have to work to make them come true. Dreams don't mean anything if someone just hands them to us."
Sylvite turned to her. "But without those dreams, I can't offer her anything!"
"You could've offered her yourself," Rei said. "That's all she ever wanted. Mina loves you for who you are, not what you can give to her. Let her go and she'll tell you that herself."
As Amy and Rei got up, Sylvite looked back at Mina uncertainly. He finally let go of Serena, who slumped back against the wall, but remained on her feet. "You're wrong." After a long pause, he continued. "I can see now that I don't deserve someone like her." Walking over to Mina, he took her by the arm, led her back to the bed, laid her down and pulled up the covers. "All I wanted was for us to be together. I never meant to hurt her--I'm sorry."
"Everyone deserves a second chance," Serena said. "I know Mina would forgive you."
Sylvite shook his head. Serena thought she could see the dark red eyes watering. "I'm not like those sisters you helped. I can't be healed by your crystal. This is what I'll always be."
"Just like Neflyte?" She asked, and smiled as he stared at her in what looked like confusion. "I learned a while ago that it's never too late to change if you really love someone."
Sylvite's head dropped and he took a last look at Mina. Before any of them knew what he was doing or could make any protest, he disappeared in a whirl of mist.
Amy immediately went to Lita, Luna and Artemis to make sure they were okay. Lita and Artemis were beginning to come around, and Luna didn't appear to be seriously hurt. Rei had gone over to Mina and found her unconscious, but otherwise alright.
Serena remained motionless, staring at the dissipating mist where Sylvite had been. Darian approached and put a hand on her shoulder.
"He loves her. I could feel it," she said, sadly. "He really thought what he was doing was right..."
------------------
It had only been one day since Sylvite returned to the fantastically beautiful and magnificent place that could be called his kingdom. Except it was neither fantastic, beautiful nor magnificent now. Nothing there meant anything without the presence of Mina's smile.
That single day had dragged itself out like a whole year of torment, and he felt more alone now than he ever had before. Was this what he had an eternity to look forward to?
When he had searched through dreams, he found a girl named Molly. She had fallen in love with a man so evil and ruthless, who had lied to her and used her... She changed him with the power of her love, and he fell in love with her as well. And just like in human storybooks, they lived happily ever after...
Serena's words had cut open Sylvite's heart like a knife. He had wanted so much to have a chance like Neflyte--where did he go wrong?
"You know the answer to that one," the voice said behind Sylvite. It startled him, the first time anything had ever taken him by surprise in his realm.
He turned to find the shadow-form of Mina that existed only in his kingdom, only for him. She was fully formed now, almost every bit as pretty as the original. "Mina..." he said.
"Is that what you believe?" the shadow asked, in an almost annoyed tone. "You made me in her image like you were some sort of God, but did you ever think you could recreate something as special to you as she is?"
Sylvite was stunned. Whatever he was expecting of the shadow, this was not it. He wanted it to have a free will, like Mina, but it was not at all like her...
"You want to know why you failed?" the shadow asked, not waiting for an answer. "You failed where Neflyte succeeded because you were unwilling to make sacrifices! You wanted her to give up her friends, the meaning of her existence for you, and what would you give up for her? Nothing!"
Sylvite's red eyes blazed in anger. He clenched his fist. "That's not true!" he yelled. "I'd give up anything for her! Anything!"
"You wouldn't give up your precious kingdom for her," the shadow said. "All this glorious wonder, where you reign supreme and none can question you. The infinite power that is held in dreams. You would have to give all that up for her, and you can't."
"Shut up," Sylvite commanded.
"That's why you'll never have her!"
"SHUT UP!" Sylvite screamed. He annihilated the shadow with a thought.
After she was gone, he sat there, alone, quivering in rage and haunted by her words.
Amy correctly predicted that if Sylvite stopped interfering with their dreams, almost all the ill effects of their sleep deprivation would disappear overnight--and they had. The girls spent part of the day and the entire night at Mina's house, where they woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed.
Mina did not. Her body functions dropped to the point of a deep sleep almost as soon as Sylvite left, but had slowly been working their way back to normal. She just needed time to rest, Amy told them. But as the hours passed, the underlying worry of the other three girls, and to some extent Amy herself, was driving them all stir crazy. The tense atmosphere building in the room wasn't going to help Mina any, so Amy had thrown them all out except for Luna and Artemis.
The others weren't in the mood to go anywhere or do anything, so they made their way to the temple and just moped around, waiting for the call from Amy telling them that Mina was awake again. Rei's grandfather and Chad both seemed to sense that the girls were not in the mood to be disturbed, so they kept a considerable distance.
Rei was absentmindedly sweeping up as Serena and Lita sat on the steps when a cry from Phobos and Deimos called their attention to someone coming up the long flight of steps. It was Sylvite, in Brian form. Rei blinked, dropped the broom and went for her power stick. Lita jumped up at the same time and grabbed hers as well. Sylvite paused on the steps as they did so.
"Wait," Serena said. The two of them stopped as they were about to transform, but they kept the sticks in their hands and didn't take their eyes from Sylvite. "He didn't come to fight or he would have attacked us," Serena said, standing up. "Right?"
Sylvite nodded and continued up the steps until he was only about ten feet away from her. "I was thinking about what you said. About Neflyte. I want to try and do what he did. I don't know I can prove that I'm serious to you..."
Rei's eyes went wide at the sheer nerve that Sylvite possessed to come to them and try this.
"That's okay," Serena said, smiling again. When she looked at Sylvite, her eyes were gentle yet somehow he felt like they were boring right into his soul. "You don't have to prove it to me. I know."
Rei's jaw dropped, as she turned and stared at Serena in shock. What was she saying? Lita looked dumbfounded as well.
"Thank you," Sylvite said, and for the first time, he seemed to really smile--not a smile spurred by malicious intent, but the kind of smile only given when one is truly happy. "But I have to ask a favor." Serena seemed wary now. "Mina won't remember any of what happened, and I want to keep it that way."
This was too much; Rei shook her head. "She has a right to know."
Sylvite defended his request. "What I did was wrong, but I don't want her to have to know what I did to her--what I put her through. She doesn't need to go through that kind of pain... If she knew, I'm not sure I could face her."
Serena thought it over for a long time. Sylvite was right--Mina would be completely devastated to find out all of this. But Rei was right as well--it wasn't fair for them to keep a secret like that from her, to not let her know the true identity of the person she loved.
"I won't tell her," she finally said. If she had shocked Rei before, then Serena floored her this time--but she wasn't done. "You have to."
Sylvite looked down at the ground. "I can't."
"Then I will," Serena said. "And when I tell her what happened, and you leave because you can't face her, she'll hate you forever. Is that what you want?"
"No, I couldn't live with that. I'll... I'll tell her. Soon, but when the time is right."
Serena looked at Rei and Lita. "Is that okay with you guys?"
Rei and Lita both mumbled something noncommittal, but they didn't disagree, and Serena realized that was the best she could hope for. She smiled.
Rei stole a quick look at Lita, who, as though reading her mind, nodded almost imperceptibly. Ignoring Sylvite's presence, Rei looked down at her watch and gasped. "Oh no, I promised Amy we'd bring her some food while she watched over Mina!" she grabbed Serena's arm. "Come on and give me a hand, Meatball Head. That is, if you can avoid pigging out on the food long enough for us to deliver it..."
Serena found herself being dragged toward one of the buildings. "I'm perfectly capable of finding the kitchen myself, thank you--and don't call me Meatball Head!" she snapped.
Lita and Sylvite seemed perfectly content to let them leave. As soon as they were out of sight, Lita walked over to Sylvite, and glared up at him--he was taller than her by at least an inch.
Without any signal or warning, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could, not bothering to wince as her own hand stung. The crack of the blow was tremendous; Serena and Rei probably heard it even in the kitchen. Sylvite's hand moved up to to the side of his face where a red imprint of her hand was already visible. Lita could see him struggle to hold his temper in check. She stared him in the eyes.
"That's for what you did to us," she said. "What you did to me." Her voice was uncharacteristically cold and flat, but it carried every bit of anger that had built over the past few days. She waited to make sure he understood before continuing. "Serena's a lot more forgiving than we are, but I'm not going to ever forget what you put us through. She's right: everyone deserves a second chance. But you'd better not blow it, because if you ever hurt any of us again--especially Mina--I will kill you. Got that?"
Sylvite nodded wordlessly and walked away from the temple.
------------------
Mina opened her eyes, and saw Lita peering down at her.
"Hey, she's awake," Lita said.
Mina sat up and looked at the four girls warily. "What are you guys doing here?"
"You don't remember?" Serena asked.
"Remember what?" Mina asked, cautiously.
Rei hesitated for a moment and Serena looked at her expectantly. They'd prepared this story perfectly ahead of time. She felt terrible for doing this, but it was too late to back out now. "That huge fight we had here with the guy who was behind all those nightmares?"
Mina looked at her blankly.
Lita felt almost as bad as Rei, but she did think it was for Mina's own good not to know right now. "Maybe that'll jog your memory," she said, pointing to the wall that she and Rei had blasted through.
Mina followed her finger and noticed the wall. Her eyes got impossibly huge. "Oh, no! My parents are going to flip when they see this! I told them I could take care of the house..." she wailed.
"Uh, your insurance does cover monster attacks, right Mina?" Serena asked. "We're witness, we all saw him. Really big, really ugly, you know?"
Mina just looked at her. "Insured against monsters? You've got to be kidding."
"If you're still having trouble with your memory, maybe we do need to check you into a hospital after all," Amy said, heading for the phone.
Mina bit her lip. "No, wait! I remember!" she said, frantically. She looked at the hole in the wall, blackened around the edges. "That's from when Rei tried to zap him with her fire. I remember it now."
"An amazing recovery," Artemis said.
Serena had an unbelievably easy time of convincing Artemis to not tell Mina about Sylvite. She didn't question it, though; Artemis knew Mina best, after all, and knew what was best for her. Serena didn't know, of course, that Lita had called Artemis first and explained everything to him, including what she and Rei would do to Sylvite if he so much as breathed on Mina the wrong way.
"Incidentally," Artemis continued, "Brian came by to remind you about meeting him at the cafe at two, but I told him you weren't feeling too well, so--"
"You WHAT?" Mina yelled and hopped out of the bed, unconcerned with how terribly wrinkled her clothes were or the fact that she couldn't remember making plans to go to lunch. What concerned her was that it was one-fifteen--which left her only thirty minutes to get ready.
"What's that?" Serena asked, slyly. "A date already?"
"It is not a date," Mina said, flatly. Her mouth turned up in a confident grin. "Well, maybe... And I've got to get ready for it!" She grabbed a change of clothes from her dresser, and dashed out of the room, oblivious to the sighs of relief behind her.
-= To be concluded =-
