The chronicles of Light ************************************************************************ Written By Nathan Burnham. Ley@pac.com.au ************************************************************************ PART 1: A new warrior ************************************************************************ CHAPTER 1: Returning Memories He felt sick. Not good to be sick on your twenty second birthday. It was a strange kind of sick, it was hard to describe. He actually felt well, but it felt like there was someone inside him. Another person, or animal. He definitely felt weird. Weird was actually an understatement. He didn't feel himself. The phone beeped at him a couple of times and he answered. "Hello, Conner here." "Conner MacLeod? You're application for the position of Chief Programmer has been accepted. We would like to know if you can be here within month?", said a voice. A voice with a distinct Japanese accent. 'I GOT IT! Wow. Amazing.' He thought . "Hai. Arigato-Gozaimasu" He was very happy, even the weirdness seemed to go away. He packed, sold his house (unfortunatly for a bit less than it was worth) and left for Japan two weeks later. There was nobody to say good-bye to, he was an orphan. He really only knew one person well enough to call a friend, and that was another orphan living in Japan who he wrote to regularly. The flight was ok, not the best he had been on. He arrived in Japan very early in the morning. By the time he arrived at his new home it was about school time. In fact, he was just about to walk in the gate when he bumped into a young blonde haired girl running to school. The thing that made her stand out was the way she had her hair, it looked like odango. "Ooooff. Hey, no need to hurry" he said, in English. The girl made a strange face and said, "Sorry, late for school!" before she was up and running again. 'Well, she sure was rude. I must remember to speak in Japanese...' Conner thought, but he soon forgot about it and went inside to look around. His house was nice. Quite amazing actually, it was about the same size as his old home. His home office was well set up. A direct connection to his offices computers. He only needed to go into the office once a month. That afternoon he was going outside when he again bumped into the blonde haired girl. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." He said, in Japanese this time. "I am sorry also, hey you're that guy that's just moved in!" she said. "Yes, I am Conner MacCleod. I just flew in this morning. And you are?" "I'm Tsukino Usagi, welcome to Japan Conner San." She said, "How do you like Japan so far?" she attempted to say in English, but it came out as "How does Japan like you?" Conner got the idea of what she was trying to say, but as she did not seem to know English very well he replied in Japanese. "Japan agrees with me. Except for this morning when I was run into by a girl going to school." He replied, looking at Usagi strangely. "Ahhhhh ummmmm." She said, looking around for an escape "Oh, here come some of my friends! I'll introduce you to them." She said, sighting Makoto, Minako, Ami and Rei. The four girls walked up to Usagi. "Who's the cute guy Usagi?" Whispered Minako to Usagi. Conner blushed a little, he was not used to such comments from such young girls. "His name is Conner, he has just flown in this morning." Usagi replied as quietly as she could. "Conner, I would like you to meet: Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako" said Usagi, pointing to each of the girls in turn. They each said 'hi' and shook his hand. "Would you like to come in for tea?" asked Conner, pointing to his house. "Um.. That would be, um, great thanks.. But um, we *really* have to speak to Usagi." Replied Rei. The girls left, and Conner walked back inside. He could just make out Makoto say something about him looking like her old boyfriend, he could definitely hear the sigh that seemed to come from all of the girls. Conner went straight to bed. He had had a very big day. Conner woke up and decided to test out the computer system, after all he would be working with it for the next year at least. His computer was very good and very expensive, it must have cost the company a lot. He logged onto the companies system and checked his mail. He didn't expect there to be any and was surprised to find welcoming mail from all of the staff. He spent the next two hours writing back to each of the staff individually. He spent another hour after that writing a note of thanks to his boss. He logged off and ate breakfast. He decided to go shopping, as he only had a few clothes. He would need a car as well, or a bike (or both!). Money wasn't a problem, his parents had died a long time ago and they were very rich. Even if he didn't know who they were. When he turned 18, he asked his families solicitor. The only answer he got was that they didn't want him to know. Two years later, after a lot of persuasion he was told that they didn't have any record of who they were. There must have been some record somewhere, but it was gone. He went to the mall. The mall was big, a bit bigger than some of the ones back in Australia. He bought himself some new clothes and decided to go shopping for a car. He managed to find a black Ferrari that resembled his old one back in Australia and so he bought it. He usually didn't make spur of the moment shopping decisions like that, but he It was late, he must have been shopping for hours. He was about to leave when he saw someone entering the mall. She looked strangely familiar, but he couldn't know her. Her long green hair almost touched her feet. A name came to mind, 'Sets....'. He decided against talking to her, she would probably think that he was crazy. He drove back towards home, but suddenly found that he was lost. He drove around for a bit until he passed Usagi. She was sitting at the curb outside her high school. "Usagi, what are you doing here? It's late." "Ah, Conner. Is this *your* car?" asked Usagi, shocked by the fact that he was driving a black Ferrari. "Yup, I just bought it!" "Um, Rei was supposed to meet me but she hasn't arrived yet." "I am a bit lost." Conner said, rather helplessly. "And you want to know where you live?" asked Usagi Just then, Ami spoke through Usagi's communicator. 'Usagi, we need you at the park!' Conner looked around to see where Ami was and Usagi looked a bit sheepish. "Um, do you want a lift to the park?" Conner asked Usagi. "Ah, no thanks. The park is near my place, could you just drop me off there, if that's ok?" Usagi got in and Conner drove her back home. Usagi got out and immediatly started running off towards the park. Conner's curiosity got the better of him and he followed her. He felt weird again, maybe it was just jet lag. He reached the park to see something very weird. Some strange woman, with tentacles growing out of her head was standing over a young girl in a sailor costume. Six other girls in sailor suits lay sprawled in other parts of the clearing. Conner was only able to stand there in shock, this sort of thing didn't happen to him very often . The woman was about to kill the girl below her when a sharp object hit her hand. She looked up. "Beauty is not just in the skin, sometimes even the most ugly is beautiful. However you are not. You may not harm Sailor Moon." The Tuxedo suited man said. Conner looked at the ground, there was a rose embedded into the ground near the woman. She growled and then laughed. "You cape-boy?! You dare to think that you can defeat me?" She said and before she had finished the tentacles on her head writhed and shot out at the man. The Tuxedoed man flew back off the tree he was standing on and struck another tree, falling down unconscious. The woman turned her attention back to the girl. Conner felt very weird. Suddenly his vision clouded and everything went red. Sailor moon woke up to the sound of a wolf howling. She looked towards the sound to see Conner lying on the ground unconscious. The rest of the scouts were also out. She crawled over to Conner. His arms were slashed, his face and shirt bloodied. She bent over to wipe the blood off his face, to see how badly he was cut. 'Oh no,' she thought, 'he must have followed me!' As her hand touched his face, his eyes opened. "Where am I?" he asked first, then he looked at who it was and asked "Usagi, is that you? No, sorry. Who are you? Why do I feel like I have just been through a wreckers?!" "You look it" said Sailor Moon, as she tried to wipe the blood from his face. Sailor Mercury was the next up, she pressed one of her earrings and a blue band covered her face. She looked at Conner for a second. "Um, Sailor Moon. He has some cuts on his arms, but that is about all, the blood on his face isn't his." She told Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon cleaned up Conner, and walked him home. Conner woke up. 'I feel weird, weirder than in that dream.', he lay back down. 'No, nothing could be that weird.' He got up, got himself some breakfast and changed. 'Hmmm I could do with a walk. Might as well go now.' He thought. So Conner got up and walked outside, intending to go down towards the park. He reached the front gate and a man walked past him. 'Wait a sec, was that Mamoru?' "Mamoru?" he asked. The man turned around, and looked at Conner. "Conner?" he asked. "Mamoru, we finally meet!" exclaimed Conner, and shook Mamoru's hand rather vigorously. "No need to write now." Replied Mamoru. Conner had known Mamoru for a very long time. They were both orphans and became pen-friends when Conner was ten. Since that time they had written regularly, at least twice a month. "What are you doing here?" asked Mamoru stunned to see his friend. "I have a job here. I will be working for at least a year, and all from home." "Home?" asked Mamoru. Conner pointed to his house. "Ahh I thought that was who Usagi spoke of when she told me who her new neighbour was, but I could not be sure." Said Mamoru, and added "I was just going in to see my girlfriend, Usagi. To um, speak about, um. Something we ahhh did last night." "Ahhh. I had a very strange dream last night, I think that you may have been in it. Maybe Usagi was in it also." Said Conner. Mamoru looked away at this. "And the strangest thing was that there was a clown in it, and some guy wearing a tuxedo. A very strange dream." "Yes it is a very strange dream isn't it!" replied Mamoru, looking at Conner strangely. Mamoru looked at Conner. 'This can't be the Conner that Usagi was talking about, his arms aren't scarred!' Mamoru thought. "Um, I have to see Usagi. I will come and visit you soon." Added Mamoru, hurrying into Usagi's house. Conner continued walking. The next day was a Saturday, and was very, very cold. Conner woke up, very early. He felt weird again. He quickly got dressed, and before he knew what he was doing, he was driving down towards the mall. 'What am I doing? The mall won't even be open yet!' he asked himself, but as he was so near to the mall he thought 'There must be some reason, I must have just forgotten'. Conner pulled up and walked towards the entrance. The doors were open. Conner walked inside, and paused. Listening. There seemed to be sounds coming from down one of the hallways. Conner started running and soon came upon a scene similar to the one in the park. A woman was standing over the unconscious form of seven girls in sailor outfits, and a man in a tuxedo. She looked strange, her body was that of a lion, and her tail that of a serpent. She had wings as well. She was gloating. "Ha! You will soon learn to stop meddling in the affairs of Sphinx! Die Sailor Moon!" 'Almost as weird as the woman in the park.' Thought Conner. Conner again felt strange, but did not blackout. He had changed, he could smell everything and could even hear the cars outside. He managed to see his reflection in a window. Was it his? He was a wolf, a very large wolf. A wolf that was currently bounding towards the woman, it's jaws open wide. He couldn't control himself, it was like he was just watching it all. He jumped, knocking the woman away from Sailor Moon. His claws scratched. His jaws locked around her neck, his fangs sinking into her flesh. She was also scratching him, ripping great gashes along his back, ripping fur and flesh alike. He turned off the pain, he knew he was hurt but he didn't need any distractions. She punched out, and he flew off into a wall. "Leave that poor animal alone! I stand for love and justice, and in the name of the moon I shall punish you! I am Sailor Moon!" Sailor moon was up, and had attracted the attention of Sphinx. Sphinx turned around. He could feel himself changing, from a gigantic wolf creature into something in between. Standing up he looked at himself in a piece of broken mirror. His reflection was that of a half wolf half man creature, fully seven feet tall and covered in fur. His head was that of a wolves as well, not really the 'classic' werewolf. He turned his attention to the ongoing fight. "Back for more eh?", sphinx snarled and jumped at Sailor Moon. She never reached her. Her path deviated rather violently as Conner smashed into her, claws raking her side. "Who are you?" Asked Sailor Moon. "No time...now, destroy!" He growled. Sailor Moon pulled out her spiral heart moon rod. "Moon, Spiral, Heart Attack!" she cried, a beam shooting out at Sphinx. Sphinx was running toward Aurora at the time and was very close to him. When the beam hit her, something strange happened. She exploded, throwing Conner back through a store window. Sailor moon ran up to Conner. "Are you ok?" Asked Sailor Moon. "Yes...fine." Replied Conner, although one side of him was caked in blood. Conner finally managed to get control of himself once again and he stood up, although somewhat shakily. "Conner!?" came a cry from behind them. Conner span around, behind him was a black cat and a white cat. "Luna...Artemis?!" he growled, and suddenly knew who they were. In fact, all of a sudden he knew who all of the Sailor Scouts were and most importantly he knew who he was. Conner bowed and growled "Advisers..I..have....returned." He looked over at the scouts before rushing over to them. He seemed to instinctively know what to do. He woke them one at a time using some unusual pressure points. After each of the scouts were awake, memories flooded into his head. He feinted and dreamed. He woke up to the faces of Usagi and her friends. The two cats, Luna and Artemis were also there as was Mamoru and four other girls he had seen before although one he seemed to remember more clearly than the others. Sailors Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Pluto. Pluto looked lovingly at him, it was obvious that she had not told the others of his identity. She did like to keep secrets, from everybody. He appeared to be in some sort of temple, Rei was wearing some sort of traditional dress, she was wiping his side, trying to remove the blood that matted his fur. Conner brushed her hand away. "Not important." Conner said, wincing as Rei touched a cut. "What?! Don't worry about it? Are you crazy?! This is serious! If it wasn't for the questions you'd be in the hospital right now!" Replied Rei, shocked. Setsuna smiled knowingly. "Like this?" he said chuckling, "not serious, I not crazy.". He shifted back into his 'human' form. There was blood on him but the cuts seemed to have healed. "Damned magical creatures.... Oh that hurt...." he said, smiling slightly. "Conner?! What happened, where's the blood?" said Rei, shocked. "The blood's here, the cuts aren't." Replied Conner, looking at Setsuna for a second. Setsuna looked away, blushing. Ami looked from Conner to Setsuna and realized what was up, but chose to say nothing. "What are you?" asked Haruka, bunching her fist "Are you from the Dark Kingdom?" Conner chuckled again. "Not a very good judge of character are you Haruka..chan?", "Not to worry, Michuru-chan is perceptive enough... for both of you." Haruka eyebrow twitched while Michiru blushed. Conner continued, "I'm not very good at telling stories, Luna could you tell them?" "Ok then.... lets see." Luna said, before finding a suitable place to start the tale. "Conner appeared on Usagi's seventh birthday back on the Moon Kingdom. It was a very interesting entrance to say the least. All of you, except for you Mamoru were sitting in audience hall when there was a great noise at the doors. The two inner guards opened the doors to find Conner with his sword drawn about to kill one of the outer guards." Conner blushed a little, and said guiltily "You can skip that bit Luna...." "Oh no, you wanted me to tell the tale. Conner was arguing very loudly as well, saying something like 'Let me pass, I must be here!'. Although we later found out that he was a very good swordsman, he was disarmed rather easily and restrained. Queen Serenity asked the guards to bring him up to her and they did. When he reached the foot of the dais he brook loose from the guards and knelt down. 'Queen Serenity, I present myself Conner MacCleod to serve you and guard your daughter Princess Serenity.'" Luna finished before looking at Setsuna, as if asking her to continue. "Since the start of time I have known who it is that I would one day marry. Because I live outside of time, so must he." She said, "I walked in, just as Queen Serenity was about to have him sent away. I told her that he must be allowed to guard Princess Serenity, and serve her, hinting at his birthright. He did not question my appearance, nor my belief in him. He did however tell me that I was late." Usagi giggled, Haruka and Michiru raised their eyebrows in surprise while Conner looked like he was about to burst with hysterics. Setsuna looked reproachingly at him before continuing. "He was not often needed, staying with me outside of time, only returning to the Moon Kingdom when Princess Serenity's life was in danger. Because of this he died trying to save you when the Dark Kingdom invaded. He wasn't too worried about this because both of us knew that he would be reborn in this time." "But *what* is he?" Makoto asked Setsuna. "There are some parts of the timestream that we cannot see. Conner's birth is hidden from me," she said turning her attention to Conner "And *you* never told us. Everytime we asked you, you would get out of it somehow and we would forget." Conner looked down at his watch, smiled and said six words that cleared Rei's room in a matter of seconds "Shouldn't you be at school now?".