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Usagi's body drifted down to the depths of Endymion's sea. There it lay in darkness till a woman came to bear it away.
"Selenity. You must not open your eyes and you must not speak. Promise me this. You are an immortal and you cannot die. Listen to me. I am your mother. I did not create you to have you to met the same end over and over. You must return though you think yourself defeated. This union must be. You must hurry, daughter. You are deep in your prince yet you do not know. You are deep in his fear, he has opened himself to you. You find in him what he thinks he has lost."
"Mother."
"No, Selenity, do not look on me. You will reveal yourself to me and I will destroy you. Let your love for me be stilled, Selenity. I am your enemy. Save your love for Endymion as we had planned. Selenity. Endymion cannot unite with you until he is one with Aminoto. He must choose to take him into himself, it cannot be the other way around. If he allows Aminoto to absorb him, Endymion would consume himself. He would destroy himself. You must not let this happen, Princess."
"Mother, does he know what he does?"
"No, Selenity. He does not remember. But you do. You saw him give birth to Aminoto, do you not remember? That is why you came to Endymion."
"I remember. But this is not the child you held in your arms, Beryl, Mother. This Aminoto is misnamed."
"Yes, Selenity."
"Then where is the real Aminoto, Mother?"
"Trapped for eternity, Selenity, until I unleash him."
"Mother, if you love me, do not unleash that thing upon the world."
"I love you, Selenity, but I have no choice. Hurry, daughter. Endymion lies in Aminoto's arms. Aminoto waits only for the sun to set. He is true to his words. He will wait for you till then. If you do not appear then Endymion will give himself away to the darkness."
"Dark matter, Mother! He will become dark matter!"
"He will be as he always was. He will return to what he was created from."
"Then he is truly all that there is. He is greater even than me, than you, than Queen Serenity!"
"Yes, daughter, greater than all."
"He is my antithesis, I am his light and he is my darkness. But he is greater than me, so he must absorb me. That is why we cannot meet. That is why he wrapped himself so around Astrael. He was true to his nature. Mother, together Endymion and I could create entire galaxies. But does he know this, Mother?"
"He knows."
"That is what he is afraid of. Why did you not tell me?"
"I did not know. Serenity knew."
"Oh, mother what am I to do?"
"You must be careful. You are in grave danger. He has absorbed you. You are within him now. You must free yourself from him, he would take you with him, he will destroy himself and he will destroy you. It is his purpose, it is his plan. You swore to him that you belonged to him and now he claims you. But you must break your vow, daughter. Free yourself of him that you might reclaim him. Your light must somehow overpower his darkness."
"How, mother, how?"
"I must leave you, Selenity. Metallia will suspect my weakness. If you succeed, do not allow me near you. I am most wicked and will repeat the past. Overpower Endymion, Selenity. Take Aminoto into yourself if you must, then unite with Endymion, but you must unite with Endymion soon. The child inside you will lend you power. Call upon it. Farewell, Selenity. When we meet, destroy me. I am your mother but I will not remember. Remember me, Selenity, as I was. Farewell."
"Mother, do not leave me here in this darkness alone! I do not know what to do! There is no more time!"
Her cries yielded no answer. Selenity lay in darkness, paralyzed with fear. The air around her was heavy with dread. She tried to rise but the darkness held her down. She cowered where she lay, sobbing with fear and anguish. Finally, terrified and exhausted, Selenity began to drift off to sleep.
"Napping again, are you? Now why does this scene look familiar? We have got to stop meeting like this. Wake up Princess, there is work to be done."
"Huh, what?"
"Is that the way that you greet your Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty?"
"What are you talking about? Leave me alone, I have to sleep."
"I may be wrong, although I rarely am, but somehow I don't think that is what you are supposed to say to your Prince Charming. But what can I expect when my beautiful princess looks more like a drowned rat?"
"What!!!!!!!"
"Oh, yes, Princess, you are quite a sight! Odango Atama, the drowned rat. What have you been about, Odango? I cannot leave you alone for a second, can I?"
"Mamo-chan!"
"Odango, you are one big accident just waiting to happen, aren't you? I seem to recall another time where you would have fallen into a lake if I hadn't been there to save you."
"Mamo-chan! That's not the way it happened and you know it!"
"Oooooo, temper, temper! My, my, my, you are lovely when you are angry. Why, whatever do you mean, Odango, Queen of all the drowned rats?"
"Oh, you make me sick, Mamo-chan."
"No, it must be all that sea water you drank when you took your little swan dive that is making you sick."
"Swan dive! Is that supposed to be funny?"
"I thought it was rather funny. I take back the drowned rat, Odango. You look more like the dying swan. You must stay away from water when I am not around to keep you from falling in."
"Oh , you have colossal nerve and a pretty convenient memory! As you might recall, I almost fell into that lake because you scared me half to death by sneaking up on me--much the same as you just did! I hate it when you do that and I hate it when you call me Odango!"
"Odango, Odango, Odango!"
"Mamo-chan!"
"Oh, sorry, Odango. Oh, don't hit me. I am sorry. Is this the way you greet your husband? Not even a kiss. Just harsh words and hitting. You would think that you would be a little more happy to see me. The last time I saw you, you were in tears at the thought of never seeing me again. I see that your feelings for me have obviously changed."
"Mamo-chan, no. My feelings for you never change. They cannot. I--"
"You are as foolish as always, Usako."
"Why do you always do this to me, Mamo-chan? You tease me, you make me so angry that I act like a silly little girl. I am so frightened and you tease. Why is it that you always make me feel like a little girl? Like a clumsy, helpless, naïve girl? I am a woman. I can take care of myself."
"Oh, I can see that, Usako. I saw that the moment I saw you cowering in the darkness crying as if your heart would break. You were the picture of self reliance and bravery. You were an island of strength. Don't cry, Usako. Don't cry anymore. I don't say these things to hurt you. I hope that it will always be this way, Usako. That you will always be what you are with me and not what you think you should be. I know what you are. I have always known. When I first saw you, I knew. Usako, what you must do is beyond you, I know that. You cannot do it if you pretend to be what you think the Princess must be. You are not a warrior, so do not try to be one, that is what your Senshi are for. That is what I am here for, to protect you. I will always be here to protect you. You are one thing, Usako, and that thing is your weapon. You must use that and only that. Endymion will fight you to the end. You must not let him win. You can conquer him with but one thing and only you possess it in great abundance."
"But how can I win, Mamo-chan? Endymion is stronger than I am. I cannot leave him. I don't want to leave him, Mamo-chan. All that I love is within him and if I must die at least I die with him. With you, Mamo-chan, I die with you for you are in him."
"No, Selenity. I am within you. You and I are united. It is through me that you were wed to Endymion. I am not afraid of you, Usako. He created me to love you without his fear. I am no longer a part of him, Usako. I live in you."
"Mamo-chan, how can it be? You were with him in the garden. You were with him when Aminoto took him. When did you come to me? Why did I not feel you? I should have felt you within me, Mamo-chan."
"No, Usako. He sent me out of him when he pushed you away from him this last time. He knew that you would try to destroy yourself again, fearing that you had lost him. He sent me to protect you. He sent me to protect you from him, Usako. "
"Protect me from him? Why must he protect me from himself?"
"Usako, this sea is Endymion. It is all that he is. He surrounds himself with himself. He hides inside his fear. He does not know what he does and yet he does know. Here he knows and in sleep he knows. But in waking he is oblivious to all. That is why he fears the light and loves the darkness. He is darkness. In darkness he knows himself. He is sleeping now, Usako. I make him sleep that I might bring you to him before the sun sets. He will destroy himself if you do not release yourself."
"Take me out, then."
"Usako, I cannot. Remember that I am nothing. Without Endymion I do not exist. I am only a part of him. In you I but half exist. Usako, you must take from him the child Endymion who holds the key to his power. And you must find his mother."
"Naru! Then we are lost, Mamo-chan. Naru lives outside him. She is behind me. I do not know if she knows where to search for him?"
"You are foolish again, Usako. This Naru of whom you speak is his mother twice reincarnated. It is not she that you must find."
"Who then, Mamo-chan?"
"The mother of his heart. The mother who gave him birth. She lives inside him. She is here and we are here to find her."
"Mamo-chan, how, I don't know how."
"You do, Usako. How did you find me? How did you find Endymion? How did you f ind Astrael? Why did the child come to you? Why does Naru find you over and over again? Know what you are, Usagi. I can do nothing but protect that which you are. I love you, Usako. I love you because from the beginning you were not afraid to love me. What are you, Usagi? What is your power?"
"Love, Mamo-chan. It is all that I know."
"Then use all that you know. Call the child to you. Call his mother. They will come to you. Close your eyes and do not be afraid, Usako. I am in you, Selenity. I will help you."
"Princess. I found my mother. She came home to me. Look, she is here with me. She will never leave me again. You were right, Princess, she does love me, like you said. She did not mean to leave me. Did the Prince of the Earth, the one who was just like me, did he get better? He came for me, I remember. He took me into him. He seemed to be better but then something happened, Princess. Do you know?"
"Yes, child, I know. He is still sick but you could help him get better. Would you help me, Endymion?"
"Yes, you were very kind to me and you helped me find my mother. I would help you. I would help him."
"I need you to leave the Prince for awhile."
"But he needs me , Princess."
"I know, but he needs you to leave him for a while. I need you to enter me. I need your strength and your light to help me. I am too weak to help the prince alone. Will you help me, Endymion?"
"Help her, Endymion. She is the Princess of the Moon. She is his wife. If you enter her then she can be with her husband. She is sad because she cannot be with him. Do not let her be sad, my son. She brought us back together. We are happy. Make her happy, Endymion."
"Naru."
"Princess, my child will enter you. I will enter you. But there is one other who is so deep within you that she is lost to you and to all. You are infinite, Princess, so is easy to become lost, especially if it is dangerous if one is found. Princess, I am not the Naru that you know. You never knew me for I was born before your mothers conceived you. My son was created to complete you. I have only just come to know this so my incarnation does not even know what I must now reveal to you. Princess, you must unite with my son. The time is at hand. Your mother greatly feared the power of her sister but she loved her more than she could love anyone. She knew that one day she would have to take her sister's power but she also knew that it would be dangerous to keep too much power for herself. So she began to search for places to hide the power, the ultimate power that she possessed. She found a mortal woman on earth, the Princess of the Earth, who was good and who was pure. Queen Serenity felt for this woman because she was being forced into a loveless marriage. The Queen knew that the woman--actually, she was no more than a girl. Only fourteen, I was only fourteen, like you are now, Usagi. She would be stripped of all her powers of rule when she married the cruel and sadistic creature to whom her father unwittingly betrothed her. The Queen knew that this Princess would be required to have a son, to rule the earth. So she gave her a gift. Out of her great love for her twin sister, Beryl, Queen Serenity agreed to create with her the perfect goddess. A goddess born of love whose sole purpose was to be the perfect mother, the embodiment of the infinite feminine healing power of love. Beryl had the power to create without the male. Selenity did not have that power, it was the only power that she did not possess. But Serenity was even more powerful than she would allow herself to be . She feared that she would become corrupted like her sister if she kept all of her power so she decided to divide it. She would hide it in the child and she would hide some of it in the Princess of the Earth. She would also give the Earth Princess Beryl's power to create without the male. Serenity decided that that power was too dangerous to allow her sister to keep. Since the Princess of the Earth would never be told that she was the bearer of power beyond her imagining the power would be safely hidden in her. After Serenity and Beryl united their powers to create the child, Serenity took Beryl's creation power from her while she slept in her arms. Beryl never missed it because she never had occasion within the next three years to use it. She was too enamored of her daughter and of her sister to think of anyone or anything else. The sisters had agreed to keep their union secret. Beryl was know only as the child's aunt. Serenity refused to name a father, and since she was the ruler of the Universe no one dared to challenge her. In the same year that you were born I conceived my child. I thought that my husband was his father. I was mistaken."
"Naru, Zoisite is not Endymion's father?"
"No, Selenity. Endymion , like you, has no father. He has but one parent. He is the Earth and the Moon. He the male and he is female, god and goddess. He is the stars, the planets , he is the universe itself. He is perfection, he is all that there is, Selenity. And you, Selenity, are love itself. You and he are the perfect union. You are ultimate power. Endymion has the ginzuishou, Princess. Your mother hid it in me, I passed it to him. He tried today to release it. He failed. He is too frightened. When I enter you, when my child enters you, the ginzuishou will also enter you. But it will not be activated till you unite with Endymion. Come into my arms, Selenity. We will enter you. You will burst forth from this sea. Endymion will no longer absorb your light. Save my son, Selenity. Save his angel first. He is already on the dark ship but he is in great danger. You will be with him when you burst from the sea. I am in you now. Selenity. Go forward."
Aminoto drowsed in the sea of flowers, lulled by the warmth of sun streaming through the glass. He sighed,content to hold his brother in his arms while he slept and dreamed. In his dream, Aminoto sat beside Endymion on a windswept hill at sunset. His golden hair fluttered about him in the breeze that was soft and fragrant with flowers. Endymion had been speaking, but Aminoto, who was now fully awake, could no longer remember what he had said. Endymion has given him something, but he couldn't remember what it was. In his dream it had seemed important. Now Aminoto scanned the endless blue sea trying to remember the exact details of his dream.
"But I am a demon. How is it that I dream?" he asked aloud.
Endymion, deep in dreaming stirred , restless, in Aminoto's arms. Aminoto looked down at Endymion whose head now rested on his shoulder. He shifted the prince slightly so that the sun no longer shone directly on his face. Absently he smoothed Endymion's hair out of his eyes. He sat gazing thoughtfully at the prince for a long time.
Without warning Endymion began to flail about violently in his arms. He cried out in torment. "No, Selenity, no!! Do not leave me!"
Still asleep, Endymion tore himself from Aminoto's embrace, knocking the startled demon to the floor. Endymion effortlessly launched himself into the air, ramming his body against the glass walls of his prison, heedless of any danger. The walls reverberated and shook ominously but did not shatter. Again and again Endymion renewed his frenzied attack on the walls before Aminoto managed, with great difficulty, to subdue him and wrestle him away to the relative safety in the middle of the chamber. Endymion fought him at every step, crying for his Princess, begging her not to abandon him.
"Wake Endymion, wake. She does not abandon you! She is not here. She would not leave you. She cannot leave you. Waken." Aminoto held him tightly in his arms, trying in vain to calm him. "Waken, Endymion."
Endymion opened his eyes. He froze, staring at Aminoto as if he had never seen him before. Aminoto slowly relaxed his grip. "Endymion, calm yourself. Calm yourself."
"She was here. She was with me. What did you do to her?"
"Endymion, you dreamed. She has not yet come."
"She will not come, Aminoto. I will not let her."
"Not even you could stop her now, Endymion. Nothing will stop her."Aminoto released the Prince. He wandered back wading through the mass of wildflowers over to the far side of the room to resume his watch.
"You are waiting for her, Aminoto?"
"I watch for her, yes. For her and for my father."
"You want them to arrive in time, don't you? You have threatened me with every horror but you do not wish to hurt me, do you, Aminoto?"
"No, Endymion. I do not wish to harm you at all. I love you. But I will do more than harm you if they do not come by the setting of the sun. I will consume you as I have promised. I do not lie. I would that I had never made such a threat but I am bound to it." he replied sadly. The sun reflected the tears that slid slowly down his cheeks.
"You weep, Aminoto? How is it that you weep when demons cannot weep? What are you, then, Aminoto?" Endymion asked in wonder as he moved toward the weeping demon. "Where did you come from?"
"I don't know, Endymion." he answered, turning away from the glass to face the Prince. "I lived inside a mortal for a while. I saw you through his eyes. He did not love you as I did. But he felt something deeply for you. I would think the word for what he was is 'friend'. Is there such a word, Endymion?"
"Yes, there is such a word, but that cannot be. I have no friends, Aminoto. I have only an angel who deceives me and a Princess who loves me. I am surrounded by Senshi who either adore me or despise me and Guardians who serve me and try their best to protect me though I rarely allow them the privelege. I have a mother who fears me and a father who would destroy me though he claims that he loves me. I have no friends at all, Aminoto."
"You lie, Endymion. Again you know nothing but lying. He was beloved of your Senshi, Makoto. That is how I found her, through him. She brought me here as she brought you to your angel. She held my hand and gave me power to overcome the mortal."
"I do not lie to you, Aminoto. I do not know this man."
"Impossible. I will prove that you lie, Endymion. This place that I hold you prisoner, is it familiar?"
"Of course it is familiar. It is a version of Mamoru's apartment."
"If you know Mamoru's apartment how then do you not know Mamoru's best friend?"
"Mamoru's best friend? You lived inside Mamoru's best friend. How?"
"I do not know. I awakened inside the mortal and I saw you, but it was not you. It was a pale shadow of you but I knew him to be a part of you. I saw your light in him, dimly."
"What did you do with the mortal, Aminoto?"
"I consumed him. I consumed him and took his energy. He was easy to consume. He let me take him. He loved you in his way, Endymion, or he loved Mamoru. He let me do it for love of you. It was an act of 'friendship and loyalty', I think that is what he said. You are a wonder to me, Endymion. You command such love. What a feast you will be. What a feast. "
"You are a monster, Aminoto."
"No, I am merely a demon. It is you that is the monster, Endymion."
Astrael, did you truly believe that I would relinquish you? Of all the puppets I have had you are the easiest to manipulate. How wisely I chose when first I saw you, I knew that you would serve me well. You have not disappointed me. You have led me to the Princess as I knew that you would. I have felt her presence in your arms, more than in your arms, you father her child. You deceive her. You would have her believe that it was through Endymion that the child was begotten and not as it truly was. The Prince can do nothing without you, Astrael, can he? Only now I see it. You will deliver the Prince and the Princess into my hands, Astrael, and the redeemer child that you created with them will also be mine. Did you think that I would not know? You have deceived me only for a millenium but no more, Astrael. You have hidden your true nature and your true powers well, but in the end your lust has undone you. Your sin will not go unpunished, Astrael. Araziel. Now I control you again. You are again mine.
"Metallia, release me. I am beyond you. You have no power over me. Do as you will but I will not serve you. You may unleash all that you have but I am too strong for you. I am immortal so you cannot kill me. I am reborn through the power of the Princess and Endymion, whose power surpasses your own. I am reborn in the Creator who is all. I do not fear you , Metallia, for you can do nothing to me that I cannot undo. There is no pain that you can fill me with that I cannot bear."
You are ever a fool, Astrael. You speak with all the pride and arrogance of your race who even now cry out in the agony of everlasting flame for their deceptions for their sin. Do you forget your origins, Araziel? Do you forget that torment? I will make you suffer so you will beg me to find a way for you to die.
"Your threat is empty, Metallia. Release me now."
As you wish, Astrael. I release you. Return now to the place from which this journey began, Araziel.
Astrael again felt himself caught up in a maelstrom. Too late he understood Metallia's meaning. Too late he realized the enormity of his mistake. He feel screaming though space and time pleading with Metallia to destroy him before he returned to the place where his journey through this life had begun.
How is it, Endymion, that I find myself again falling, tumbling into nothing, endlessly and forever? Beyond the pathway of the stars, beyond the mansions ice cold with flame, beyond the river of fire that flows like the endless waters of the Earth, deep into the darkness and out into the light of the eternal burning in the river of pain. Across the paths of the angels, content in their righteousness, heedless of my fall. Out and away to the very end of Earth, the blue planet, where I knew only the bliss of your embrace. Endymion. You who held me fast to Earth and all its splendors. Its soft winds and scented fields, the warmth of the sun on my skin or the rain in my hair, you asleep in my arms, your face still wet with tears. Spiraling away from you, down into the abyss ablaze with the fathomless fires of heaven and out again to the place of horror where there is neither heaven above nor earth below, only chaos and anguish and torment. Yet still I fall. Past the prison of my fallen ones, the seven stars of the heavens who answered their maker's call too late and roll forever over the fire in torment for their sin of heedless tardy arrogance.
Beloved, I have been lost in a dream of freedom. I soared above the Earth, the master of the stars. I sailed down into the arms of endless love and flew from there to drown, ecstatic, in a sea of desire. How is it then, Endymion, that I should seek again this eternal torment, this endless darkness when I knew all that there was of Heaven and all that there was of Earth? Endymion, my journey is ended where it began. Behold the spectacle of pain. Your angel is no more. It is not so much the pain and the darkness, Endymion, but the loss of your light and your mother's love. The Creator has turned his face from me. My torment will never end...
Never end...never end...Endymion, I am falling...falling...but who has dropped me...?
Astrael felt himself being lifted by several arms, pulled up through the burning air that he had plummeted through. He flailed about weakly but could not free himself. The fire was too hot, the pain was too great, he could barely breathe, moving was nearly impossible. Astrael collapsed against those who held him, wings and body still twitching in pain. He could see nothing, but he could hear the terrified cries and wails of tormented souls.
"An angel!"
"It is sent to take us for our judgement!"
"The end has come!"
"What kind of angel is it? Perhaps we can overpower it."
There was a long silence. Astrael was enveloped in another wall of flame. He cried out in agony, calling for the Creator, but as before, his cries were unheeded. The souls surrounding him drew nearer. "It burns just as we do. It too is fallen."
"But it is clothed and no woman clings to it."
A long silence, then:
"It looks like Araziel."
"Yes, it is just Araziel."
"No, I am here."
"Then what is there?"
"Araziel, come with me. You others, move." A woman's soft but commanding voice ordered. Astrael felt the presences around him retreat as two others approached. He slowly, painfully opened his eyes as a hand lifted his chin, focusing his fuzzy vision on the figure that peered into his face. It was as if he stared into a mirror.
"Father..." Astrael moaned, reaching a weak hand out to the other tormented angel. He pushed away from the angels who held him, forcing his weakened and scorched wings to support him. "Mother..." "Father?"
"Mother?"
"What is it?"
"Araziel's missing child. It has returned."
"Why does it look like an angel? Our children were not angels."
"Araziel?" the same woman's voice asked more softly, then her voice became anxious. "Araziel, is this our son, our first child?" The woman clinging close to the angel Araziel shifted in her husband's arms to look directly at Astrael, crying out as she was covered by flame and again by recognition. "Yes, yes, it is! It is our Araziel." The woman rested her hand on Astrael's head, gently smoothing his singed hair.
Astrael lifted his eyes to the woman and nearly fell from the air. He would have sworn to the Creator that she was Naru if he had not known that she could not be his wife. "It is true. I have done the same, the same. It is true, sons are what their fathers are, it cannot be escaped!"
"Araziel, why do you weep? What is it?"
"Father, I did the same. I was saved to redeem you, yet I fell as you did, I did the same. I did the same, Father, I succumbed to my lust for a daughter of the Earth and took her as my wife. Together, we created a child, but I did not tell her what it was. I was overcome by my pride and my fear and forgot my purpose for coming to the Earth."
His mother met his eyes and he jumped back fearfully, powerfully reminded of his wife. He saw Naru's face in hers. "Araziel, what was that purpose?"
"The purpose for which I was made Astrael."
"Astrael?"
"Angel of the stars."
"Why is it an angel? Our children are not angels! They suffer as we do!"
"Why is this one not with them?"
"Why is it not in both places? It is a child that has done as we have!"
"But sent to do something we cannot." Araziel murmured. "Is that right...Astrael?"
"The Creator...I was chosen...to redeem our race. But I have failed, Father! I am no better and now I am here to burn with you in this place with no heaven above or firmament below!" Astrael hung his head in shame, hiding his tears from the ever-accusing members of his fallen race.
"Given another chance at freedom and it falls!"
"Why was it chosen? Surely there was a better choice!"
"I would not fall!"
"You all attack and blame the one sent to redeem you? How can he succeed if you are not willing to believe? I believe. I must believe, for I am one whose eternal destiny depends upon Astrael's mission. Astrael, I believe in the love that created you and that you shared with me."
Silence descended upon the fiery nothingness. All eyes turned to the figure of a slight woman surrounded by a pale blue light and a cloud of hair the color of midnight.
"Naru, no! Do not come here!"
She turned to him. "Why, Astrael? Is this not where I belong?"
"Naru, this is where I belong. I deceived you, you do not deserve this."
"I do, Astrael. I suspected your angelic nature, but not that you were a Watcher. I will not hide from the consequences of my actions, nor will I hide from my responsibilities. Nor will I allow you to command me, Astrael. I must learn to control myself. Until I can do that, I will continue to fall and fall and fall. Let me make the small mistakes so I can learn to avoid the tragic ones."
"Naru, please, I can't see you burn like this." he pleaded, weeping.
"Then allow me to help you redeem us and those who have done the same."
"Naru--"
"Astrael. I am with you. Allow me to atone for what I have done. Allow me to help you in the mission the Creator assigned to you. I am nothing if I continue to hide behind my skirts and my titles. If I cannot help you and love you, what am I?"
"Naru, you know that we are forbidden to be together."
"And I also know that love and lust are not the same thing. Lust brought us together. Love keeps me bound to you, a millennium later. I cannot be with you, yet I am with you always. I can always feel you about me, Astrael. I am always surrounded by your love."
"Naru..."
"Astrael. I love you. Let my love keep you strong, help you remember your purpose and your mission." Naru's soft blue light pulsed from her and enveloped Astrael. He was overcome with the deep feeling that he hid deep within himself, the very love he held for her. Her power rang in harmony with his, affirming and drawing out his love, though he fought to hide it.
"Astrael, do not hide it. Do not fear it, for love is your greatest power, your only true strength. Use it to your advantage. Let your love burn and remind you of your duty. What was your original duty, Astrael?"
He lifted a tear-streaked face to his glowing wife. "To love. I was sent to love Endymion."
"Then love again, Astrael. Love the ones you must redeem. Save your Watchers and their wives. Redeem their children, our child. And in doing that, you will become what you were always intended to be, my love."
"And what is it really?"
"No, what is he?" Araziel corrected. "He is our redeemer."
Naru shook her head slightly. "No. He is that also, but he is one thing first, before all else. He is love. Pure love."
And she was gone.
There was an endless silence. Astrael looked down, unable to meet the eyes of the members of his fallen race, down at the ground that was not there. Nothing moved for an eternity.
"Astrael." A hand touched his shoulder lightly. He looked up and met the wide green eyes of another angel.
"Help us."
Astrael turned to see the woman who had lightly brushed his wing.
"Save us."
"Through love..."
"Our redeemer..."
Astrael stared about in wonder as all the fallen Watchers and their wives drew nearer, each placing a hand on his head, his shoulders, his wings, each murmuring a short plea. He closed his eyes and reached within to his complete understanding of their fall, his fall, to the love that filled him and frightened him, letting both radiate from his soul to those surrounding him. A wondering murmur filled the air. Astrael lifted his eyes to those of the others, seeing something in every eye that had not been there before. Tears. And something else, not as simple. They all pressed closer.
"It is you..."
"You have given it to us."
"Something we never had."
"Not since we were imprisoned..."
Hope.
The word was not spoken, but it shone in every eye and sparkled in every tear, was the warmth in every reaching hand.
"But, if I fail--"
"You will not."
Believe.
"You understand us. You feel our love."
"The love of your wife."
"Your love for her."
Believe...
"For her."
"For us."
"I believe."
"Astrael..."
Believe.
"We believe."
