SSC - Fiction: Short Story
Secret Truth
“This is so NOT my thing,” Sailor Star muttered as she headed through the Palace, towards the room that she knew her family was in, and placed her hand on the doorknob, hesitating for a moment before turning it and walking in. Three sets of heads turned at her approach, and she sat heavily on a chair before touching her hair barrette. Her fuku dissolved into black and silver ribbons, which retracted into the silver crystal shard, leaving her in her formal silver dress. Finally, she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her clutch, fished one out, and held it between two fingers. “I assume you have some questions?” she asked finally.
Her father nodded quietly. “What was that about?” he asked.
Bethany sighed heavily, her fingertip lighting with a silver glow, which she used to light the cigarette. She took a deep drag before continuing, pretending not to notice the stunned looks on their faces. “Suffice it to say that I am a Sailor Senshi, sworn to protect Neo-Queen Serenity, and at the same time the child of one of her fiercest enemies, with all the implied power that accompanies that dubious distinction…”
Her uncle blinked suddenly. “That little tale you told me so long ago…” he said, stunned, “That was all true?”
Bethany nodded. “Perhaps it’s best I start at the beginning.” She took another puff of the cigarette and sighed. “It was about a thousand years ago, more or less. There was a sage on Earth by the name of Beryl; she was respected by all the people, but her heart longed for love. The young man she loved, however, cruelly rejected her, driving her to unseal a great dark power, as well as sleeping with a young nobleman who already had a young son by his first wife –- that would be you, Papa – and her desperation and depression only grew afterward. She found out she was pregnant shortly thereafter, and used her growing powers of darkness to hide her pregnancy. However, doing this infused the baby with those same great dark powers as well. AS soon as the baby was born, she returned to your lands just long enough to hand her over to you. That baby was me. Beryl then threw herself fully into the darkness and was lost to the people for many years.
“Shortly thereafter, on the Moon, the wise Queen Serenity learned of my existence, and made a special trip to Earth to take me from you, and took me in to raise me as a Sailor Senshi, as she didn’t want that dark power inside of me to be misused. She gave me a home and a mission, and took me in when she didn’t have to, and I served her for many years, always from the shadows. I was only to make myself known if something happened and I had to protect the Princess. Otherwise, I spent much of my time either on secret missions for Serenity or in the library on the Moon. It wasn’t a bad life… until the attacks.”
Bethany took another puff on the cigarette and flicked the ash into a nearby ashtray. “Meanwhile, Beryl had undergone a transformation from a kindly sage into a darkness-twisted monster, who thought she saw her lost love in Prince Endymion of the Earth, and sought to take revenge for her rejection, as well as take the power of the Ginzuishou for herself. To that end, she used the power of the dark Queen Metallia to attack the Moon…” And then she took another deep breath. “I remember it like it was yesterday. I was out practicing with my katana, and I looked at the Earth. A dark cloud grew over its face and then… I heard laughter around me. There were youma all around me, all laughing sinisterly, and my first thought was to warn the Queen. I turned and ran… and then one of them shot me with an energy bolt through my left side. I took a nasty fall, and got up again, though I knew the wound was mortal, and I ran to the Queen’s chambers, and with my last breath, I told her the invasion had begun. Then the blood loss caught up with me, and I collapsed, dying on the floor of her chambers.” Her voice was flat. “I still dream about that, you know, and I wake up with a terrible pain in that side… I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”
“Then what?” her father asked, his face pale.
“From what I’ve been told, Queen Serenity sent us all to Earth with the Ginzuishou to be reborn. I think it was the shard of the Ginzuishou in my barrette that allowed me to remember most of my past, but I didn’t dare tell y’all – what if you didn’t believe me? So I kept quiet until I turned fifteen, and that’s when I inherited that box from Mama… the box that held my transformation brooch and katana.” She laughed sardonically and took another puff. “I couldn’t believe they were both here before me, but I took advantage of that and began to relearn the sword. I wasn’t needed as a Senshi yet, but I knew it was coming, and soon, so I prepared. And then, we moved to Japan. And then I reassumed my old powers one night. But something began to bother me; why was I feeling these dark twinges? What did they mean? Shortly thereafter, I wound u blowing my secret identity in front of Damion…”
“I still stand by my opinion that that skirt is far too short,” her brother interjected.
“Bite me!” she fired back as her father and uncle stared at him. “Anyway, things led to us heading back to the Moon, and into the Room of Ages, where I finally learned about what Serenity hadn’t wanted to tell me, about Beryl and the darkness within me. And finally…” She took a final puff and put out the cigarette. “It was just before the final battle with the overpowering darkness that threatened the land. I slipped off and tapped into my inner darkness as a distraction, in the process destroying my brooch and any chance of remaining a Senshi after that. I took in as much of the dark power as I could handle, but it ate me away from the inside… and again I died in the service of the Moon.
“I don’t recall much after that, although I do believe that Neo-Queen Serenity wished for me to be reborn, and I resumed my former life. And I think y’all know what happened after that...”
Her father shook his head with a sigh. “Simply incredible…”
“What about Kurama?” her uncle asked abruptly. “Is he from your past life too?”
Bethany began to blush like mad. “I’d really rather not discuss him now…”
“Old boyfriend?” Damion asked.
Bethany made a face. “If you REALLY must know, I slept with him once. Quit looking at me like that!” she retorted at their shocked faces. “He’s probably taken up with someone else anyway, so you can’t find him and shoot him…”
Her father just shook his head. “Silly child,” he said, drawing his daughter into a tight hug. “Just remember, you know where to find us if you need us…”
Bethany closed her eyes and smiled, all her fears dissipating. “Thank you, Papa…”