When The Goddess Begins To Rise
Chapter 4 in The Death of the Void
<krislenz@tampabay.rr.com>

Standard disclaimer- I don't own these characters, so don't sue
me. I revised the first chapter not all that long ago, soon I'll
be adding more flesh to the second one too. Hope you like this one.
http://Kristi_8.tripod.com/choice.html

---

And the crystal bejeweled scholar read from the parchment scroll to
the small circle of women and men. 'It was 7 years after the Parting,
a state know as New York was at its peak, getting ready for the turn
of the century and the new millennium...A stirring had been felt and
the one reborn through the Goddess's blood stood at the edge of a
new dawning. For it was the ending of the eight year cycle and the
Goddess was to be reborn...'

---
December 1st, 1999, New York City

Minako sighed as she dropkicked another mugger. <Really,> she smirked,
<you'd have thought they would have learned.> Then her smile drooped as
the last male went down with a vicious right hook to the jaw. <Damn! I
wish one of them would have presented a little more challenge...>
Brushing her strawberry-blonde locks off her face, Minako turned and
headed out of the gloom of the musty alley into the snowing streets of
New York.

As she let her jacket flutter loose, she thought about what had drawn her
here...to the bustling center of hostility and hate in the New England states.
A man hunched low into the sharp wind bumped into her and turned to give
a piece of his mind. Taking one look at Minako's face, he pulled back with
wide eyes and used a little more speed than necessary getting away from
her. Maybe it was Minako's eyes...maybe it was because of the look on
her perfect porcelain face. A look that held no pity and clung only to
the tatters of humanity left in her shattered soul. Shattered it was
because of the ever-growing pain of separation from the woman that
held the other half of her. Usagi...Serenity...the name didn't
matter any more...only that she was gone. Yet somehow, what Minako
didn't know was that beneath the layer of ash on her burnt heart, a
stirring was beginning. The cycle was almost coming to a close.

<Ah...the pain and uncaring feelings circling around in the air here.
Almost enough to make a woman shudder in pleasure...> The smirk was
back on her face and Minako closed her eyes, letting the animal in her
take over as she tasted the air, tasted the emotions coming from the
people moving around her with a wide berth. Mortals knew death when
the felt it.

Minako's eyes snapped open as she caught a faint whiff of someone she
had known a long time ago... After she had left Japan and the senshi
for good. Eyes still half closed, she started to move in the direction
the ribbon of natural perfume came from.

---
Depths of Chaos

The blackness was like a blanket, smothering everyone and everything
that dared tried to separate and pierce its deep folds where secrets
lay sleeping. One such fold was stirring...the shudders rippling through
the deep shadows starting from the inside where a birthing was going on.

The birthing of an old soul into a new body.

The two onlookers to this event stood side-by-side and held hands. They had
no gender, yet one gave off an air of 'male' and the other 'female'. The
woman turned to her partner and spoke softly, even though her mouth didn't
move.

::The birth is beginning...I am so weary...We have beheld many of these such
birthings. Do you think this one might be the one we have been waiting for?::
Her mouth curled upwards in a hopeful smile.

The male turned and looked at the beauty standing beside him, his hand
disentangling from hers and caressing her face. ::My love...this one has the
best chance of any. It has evolved and learned from past mistakes, even though
the soul only remembers them on the deepest levels of the inner core. I think
this one might be the one to release us from our eons-long wait. She was the
one meant to never weary of this. We are only caretakers for her place and
now...we might have the chance to rest and fade back into the Darkness.::
He sighed wearily and if one looked, his eyes were very wise, and oh-so sad.

The woman grinned up at him and pulled his head down to meet her waiting lips.
::Ah...but I will miss our eternal nights...:: She murmured in that mind-
speak as she teased and placed lingering kisses everywhere. ::But it will be
heaven to not have to see her soul constantly reborn into a body that is
killed. I am so very weary of watching that.::

::Nia...you might be a personification of the Void...and we might even die
tomorrow for all I know...just know that I will always love you.:: Chaos's
eyes glistened as he looked down on her tear-streaked face.

::Anata ga suki da, Oro.::

And as the proceeded to demonstrate that love to each other, there seemed to
be an added desperation to it. Almost as if this was the last time they would
confirm that love in the way only a man and woman can.

And the ancient soul being reborn looked on...and felt pity.

---
December 1st, 1999, Tokyo

The audience looked on with awe as the woman on the stage performed the
intricate Fire-Dance. Wheels of flame surrounded her hands and body, circling
her waist, brushing through her hair, making love to her parted lips and closed
eyes. The encircling flames grew brighter and hotter with each passing moment
as the woman dancing with the flames fanned the slow burning inside her body.
The heat shivering down her veins and through her limbs spurred her passionate
dancing to new heights. Her whispered thoughts of release echoed in the
stillness of the bright heart of the colored rings of heaven encircling every
aspect of her being.

As she reached the peak of her dance, a outside thought slipped into the
heat of her soul and told sweet lies until she finally reached the highest point,
looking down into the stars burning deep inside of her.

Memories stirred in her brain, memories of a past she tried to forget. ::When the
time comes...
soon...
She will be reborn...
The number eight into the side pocket...
Don't deny me, Rei! I know you! I know everything! You cannot HIDE!:: At that
piercing snarl accompanied by the low growl, Rei's eyes snapped open and the
fire suddenly blinked out. All heat and light inside her, all passion that had
been stirring through her blood, ceased to exist as she pinpointed the voice's
owner.

Minako speaking with Usagi's voice and eyes...

And with shock clearly written in her wide eyes, Rei rushed out of the circle of
questioning eyes and ran to the bathroom as quickly as she could. As she threw
up in a scuffed toilet bowl inside one of the park's little buildings, she
remembered the date of the incident years ago. All the warnings and faces flashed
through her mind's eye as she stared at the graffiti on the wall behind the
porcelain she now clutched to until her knuckles were white.


January 1st, 1993.


~Sera Luanma
http://kristi_8.tripod.com/choice.html


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