Sailor Moon: Hidden Memories

Chapter 4

As the night wore on in the city of Boston, all was quiet and serene, and the bright full moon graced a large hotel room with its silvery beams, almost as though sent from Heaven. But alas, it was not to be so for long. Suddenly, Anna quickly sat up in her bed from a disturbing dream, feeling sweat dripping down her dark face. "Oh... God," she whispered, burying her face in her hands. "The faces...!" Good Lord, when will those nightmares stop? It was getting too much for her now. She'd been having these dreams for a couple of days now, and it unnerved her like nothing.

A smaller figure rushed to her side a moment later, sitting down beside her on her bed. "Anna, are you okay? You were screaming...." asked Tanya, who had been awoken by Anna's yells. Actually, she thought there probably wasn't anyone in the hotel who hadn't been awakened by the screams. The bone-chilling terror in Anna's voice had made her shudder. Tanya had been sleeping peacefully herself on the bed next to Anna's, but with the desperation her cousin's eyes and voice, she knew it was seriously and couldn't be mad at her for waking her.

"No..." Anna whispered shakily. "I had another nightmare. It was awful..." Diefenbakar jumped up on to Anna's bed and she gripped him around the neck, hugging him tight. "I think it was of the Silver Millennium."

"Do you remember it?" Dief asked.

Anna thought about it for a moment. "Some of it," She took a few deep breaths and concentrated. "There was a storm or something...and a man was saying goodbye. I don't know how, but I realized that I'd never see him again, ever. I knew that he'd never come back! Or worse..." Tears were trailing from her eyes and she buried her face in Dief's comforting black fur.

After a few minutes sobbing, she was able to continue. "I also remember thinking about a young girl I'd lost...I think she may have been a family member. She was only about 12 or 13 years old, I think. She was very close to me...she even looked like me a little, and she'd been killed by...by... I don't know who did it, but I know she was murdered!"

"It's alright, Anna," Tanya said comfortingly as she gave her cousin a soft hug. "They're just dreams."

"I remember their faces..." Anna continued, giving a sad smile to Tanya. "She was such a pretty little girl. And he was the most handsome man I'd ever seen. I don't think it was just a dream, I think I'm remembering something from the past..."

"You might be," Dief said, his voice sounding anxious. "Even I can't recall the entire history of Polaris System, but I remember that it was dark. I remember there were less obvious reasons for why your father from that time sent you to the Sirius System, but I don't actually remember what they were." The black-furred dog furrowed his brow as much as he could, frustrated that he couldn't remember more to help his mistress.

"I remember your mother was very sad," Marco added, jumping on the bed next to Tanya. "But no one ever spoke about why." His brows were furrowed together in concentration as he also tried desperately to remember the past of so long ago.

"Maybe you're remembering something that we lost," Dief suggested. "Something so sad you repressed it, in two lifetimes."

"I hope not," Anna said, thinking of how she'd lost her present mother. She couldn't bear to go through that pain again, even if it was something that had happened a thousand years ago. What if she had lost her mother of the past tragically the way she did in the present, without even saying goodbye? She didn't know how she would have handled it.

"Marco, is there some way we could use the mini-comp to look up the people Anna is remembering? She says she can picture their faces," Tanya suggested, hoping that finding out who these people were would ease her cousin's pain. She remembered herself what it was like to lose someone she loved...someone she cared about very much; someone like her mother of the present. She hoped with all her heart never to go through something like that again.

"Maybe," Marco nodded, "We can try it. Why don't you call it up?"

Once Anna concentrated and called up the mini-comp, the girls sat Indian-style on Anna's bed as she typed the physical statistics into a dossiers program on the computer. The girls held their breath when Anna hit enter and the computer whirred in thought. Moments later, a screen reading "Search Complete, One Match Found." appeared.

Anna looked up the man's description in the results, and she clicked on the link to his profile. With a pounding heart, she read the entire history of the man who haunted her dreams and thoughts: His name was Tevra Illumate, and both girls gasped as they continued to look on the results; next to a full set of stats and his personal history was a picture. Although there were very slight differences, he was scarily similar to Travis, the man who was supposed to be Anna's trainer. "Maybe that's what we felt around him...the aura that suggests that we knew him from the past." Tanya said as the girls continued to read his profile.

According to what they read, he'd been a captain of the army of Polaris, the ruling planet of the Polaris Star System, and had taken a squad of men to fight in the first war against King Meerages. During that battle, he mysteriously disappeared and was presumed to be dead. No one had heard or seen anything of him again.

Even more sad, it said he was deeply in love with Lady Anja, daughter of the ruling family of the planet, and that they were planning to get married when she got older. The caption under it said the picture had been taken in his formal armor, and the flower he was holding had been a rare wildflower he'd picked up on a journey around the Polaris System. He'd brought it back to give to his love, Lady Anja. When Anna read that, her past memory clicked and she began to cry softly. She remembered him now, more clearly than ever before. She remembered now how much he cared about her, and how much tenderness he showed her when they were alone together. Her heart sank at the sweet memories, knowing she might never feel that way with anyone else again. How she missed him now! It was like a part of her heart was ripped out, gone forever.

Tanya put an arm around her to try and calm the sobbing girl, but it didn't do much good. "Let's go back to bed," she suggested a few minutes later, when Anna had calmed down a bit. "We can look up the girl tomorrow."

"No," Anna whispered. "I need to know, I need to know now."

Tanya nodded and Anna began to type in her search again. Two matches were found, one of which was the profile on Anja. They ruled that out and chose the second link. This was to a girl named Alexi Poelaryes.

Her picture looked almost exactly like pictures of Anna when she was about 13 years old. They read the stats next to the picture and learned that Alexi had been Anja's only sibling, younger than her by 3 years. Further reading showed that one day...a little before Meerage's attacked, the Poelaryes family had been visiting Indem, the smallest of the planets in the Polaris System and the farthest one from the star. They'd been suddenly ambushed by a group of Meerages secret soldiers, and although most of the traveling party and Anja and her parents had escaped, Alexi was tragically killed.

That was what led Honorius- a king before he joined Queen Serenity's Moon Kingdom and the Allied Systems, thus making him a Duke and the Polaris System a colony to the Moon Kingdom- to declare war on King Meerages and his forces. There was a note at the end of the history which said that Mercia Poelaryes had been depressed for the rest of her life after the death of her younger daughter, and had tried to shield her other daughter from any possible dangers. The girls and dogs assumed that this was the other reason that Anja had been moved to the Sirius System. Unable to speak after reading the tragedy, Anna could only weep for long moments, mourning for the little sister she now knew she loved with all her heart and wishing she could have been reborn with them.

"C'mon, let's get back to our beds and get some more sleep," Tanya said after Anna had finished crying from grief. She also could now remember Alexi, and the memories were driving her crazy. She remembered how sweet the little girl was, even though she never got to know her well from the few visits she made to the Polaris System in the past.

"Okay," Anna said shakily. Tanya hugged her close, letting her know she'd always be there to help. "It'll be okay, we'll always have each other, no matter what."

"Yeah," Anna agreed, "And we'll never have to fight alone." The girls nodded to each other, confident of the fact that they'll be alright. After saying a few goodnights, they settled back in bed and slept restlessly for the rest of the night, their minds still on what they learned.

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Dawn had barely broken through the Boston skyline when a tall, dark figure suddenly materialized in the large gymnasium of the building where the competition was to be held. Onyx, his eyes full and alert, searched for a place to hide his next warrior, one that would finish those pesky Senshi once and for all. He turned to his right and finally found a large box horse not too far away from him. His lips curled up into a sinister smile and he walked forward towards it.

When he stood in front of the box horse, he reached inside of his pocket and pulled out a small clay object. It resembled a horse that belonged on a Merry-Go-Round. The man placed the clay object on top of the box horse, and a few seconds later, it began to glow. Right after that, the object melted and merged inside of the box horse. The dark-skinned man smiled again and chuckled deep in his throat. "A perfect diversion!" he laughed. He stopped and snapped his fingers loudly. His Dark Kingdom uniform changed, and in its place was a blue and white sweat suit. He had become Travis again. "Well, time to play my part." He sighed and disappeared in a shimmer, leaving the place empty and silent.

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"Tanya! Did you see my hairbrush?" yelled out Anna. She was hopping on one foot and desperately trying to pull on her boot on the other one. There was chaos in the large bedroom earlier as each girl was running around trying to get everything ready for the competition that morning.

"Yeah, but you have to come and get it!" teased Tanya as she peeked out of the bathroom and wiggled Anna's brush between her fingers.

"OHH! Tanya, this is no time for games! I've got to go!" shouted an annoyed Anna, finally getting her boot on and reaching for the other. "I could use a little help here!"

"Alright, alright!" chuckled Tanya as she came out of the bathroom. She walked over and handed her cousin the brush. "Sorry, but I was just trying to cheer you up. I mean because...you know, after last night..." Her words trailed off.

"I know," said Anna as she walked into the large bathroom with Tanya. Both girls stood in front of the mirror and looked at their reflection. The taller dark-skinned girl reached up and began brushing through her long, brown hair that seemed to shimmer like gold in the light. "It was hard, but luckily, I had you and Marco to go through it with." She stopped brushing, then turned to the smaller girl beside her, looking deep in her eyes. "Thanks... you know, for being there." Anna blushed slightly.

"Hey, it's no problem! Whatever happens, we'll beat it," said Tanya, smiling and giving the girl a soft hug. She backed up and looked at her watch, then gasped. "But we can't beat time! HIYAKU!" Both girls rushed out, but stopped short when they looked into their bedroom; it was a complete mess.

"Errr, I hope they don't mind.." Tanya gulped nervously. Anna rolled her eyes upward and grabbed her hand. "It's their job to make sure it's clean in here, not ours for now! COME ON!" Anna rushed into the bedroom, grabbed their coats and bags, and rushed out. In the living room, Marco and Dief stepped up before both girls.

"Now you girls be careful. This Travis guy is a suspect and under suspicion, so NO letting your guard down," warned Marco as he looked over the girls approvingly. Dief nodded in agreement.

"Sure guys! As soon as any trouble shows up, we'll be sure to take care of it..." Anna was about to say more, but she then looked at her own watch and gasped loudly. She reached over, grabbed her cousin's hand, and rushed out the front door, slamming it shut behind her. Tanya could only yelp in surprise as she was nearly dragged off her feet down the hall by Anna to the limousine that was waiting for them.

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"Good morning ladies! I trust your trip here was pleasant," smiled Travis. He slowly walked up to them in front of the large Gymnastics Building in downtown Boston. Tanya let out a small, almost inaudible gasp, then stepped slightly back. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths of the cold morning air. Relax, she told herself. They only said he was a suspect! She opened her eyes and looked shyly at the tall dark-skinned man. But I can't help but feel such...evil from him! She turned to Anna and noticed with relief that she was feeling the same way.

"Y-yes it was, Sir... errr, Travis!" said Anna, forcing herself to smile. She squeezed the handles to her duffel bag tighter, hoping no one heard the loud thumping of her heart in response to this man's vibes. She sighed softly to calm herself.

"Very good," Travis said, nodding his head. "Then I guess you girls better head inside where it's warmer." He looked intensely at Anna. "I'll be seeing you in a while."

"Right, of course!" said Anna, laughing nervously with her hand behind her head. She reached over and pulled on Tanya's arm. "Come on Tanya, let's get inside!" But Tanya didn't move..she was still staring at the man intently. Anna rolled her eyes, and grabbing the crook of her cousin's elbow, finally dragged her out of the cold and into the large building.

Travis looked at them curiously as he watched them go. "Very strange," he whispered to himself. "I feel like I should know her, somehow." A picture of Anna's face entered his mind once more, then faded. "But why?" He sighed after a moment and shook his head. It didn't matter. There was work to be done now. He smiled evilly and turned to enter the building after the girls.

Once inside, the girls went their separate ways; Anna to the locker room to change, and Tanya to the audience seats and benches along with the families of the rest of the participants. The smaller girl sat down next to a very large family that belonged to one of the competing girls, and she watched them smiled and laugh with one another. Her heart sank when she realized that she was the only one for Anna. Oh Uncle James, why didn't you come? You promised! Tanya thought sadly to herself. Knowing that Anna's father barely made it to any of her competitions hurt Tanya as much as she knew it hurt Anna, but Tanya didn't push those feelings down as Anna did. Anna's father should be here, and Tanya silently vowed to speak her mind about it as soon as she saw him.

Soon, the first rounds of the Gymnastics Competition began. The contestants of this round were beginners, tumbling and flipping nervously and with stiff bodies on the large floor mats laid out for them. It was very close, but a young girl from Texas, her blues eyes more nervous than the rest, won by a 9.7778.

A few moments after that, it was Anna's group's turn; the advanced level. A few girls went up first, and they were very good, tumbling and jumping and twisting in ways Tanya didn't know was possible. The audience stood up and clapped loudly for all of them, yelling encouragements. Tanya gulped nervously. "Come on Anna, I know you can do it!" she said softly, crossing her fingers.

"Next up, Anna Kendon, representing New York City!" came a booming voice from the speakers. There was a loud applause, and Anna, wearing her lucky pink leotard, walked up onto the floor to begin her performance. But she never got to start as right then, the lights all went dim and people immediately began to scream. There was a bright flash from the large box horse that was not too far from the floor mats, and the lights came back on a moment later. As the stunned people watched, the box horse rose up to mid-air, hovered for a second, then began to transform. Horse legs grew out as well as a tail and ears, and when it was done, it looked like an evil version of a Merry-Go-Round horse. It roared loudly and reared up on its two hind legs

Anna stared at the monster in shock for a moment, not knowing what to do. She knew she ought to transform, but she was standing in plain sight of everyone who was watching the competition. As the evil horse dropped back on to its four legs, it turned to glare at her. A puff of breath escaped its nostrils, and black smoke curled out of them. The black smoke turned bigger and bigger, and when it was large enough, it traveled to the audience and competitors who was looking on in complete shock. Anna shook herself out of her stupor long enough to drop to the ground and cover her mouth. Soon, everyone fell unconscious as their energy was drained out of them and into the black smoke. The black smoke then floated over to the horse and absorbed back into him, making him stronger than ever.

Great, we've got an evil reject horse from an amusement park, and it breaths smoke... Anna thought as she got up and bolted away from the horse to the wall of the large competition arena. The horse pawed the ground and charged after her, flames curling from its mouth.

She was soon caught in a corner, unable to transform and about to be toasted, when she finally heard a voice shout out, "Hey, stop right there Mr. Ed!" A lone figure jumped down from the air in front of the creature. She pointed an accusing finger at the monster, "How dare you interrupt a day of friendly competition! You have no right here! As sure as the Star that shines brightest in the Heavens, I am Sailor Sirius, and you WILL be vanquished!"

The horse turned to her as Super Sailor Sirius posed dramatically. The creature narrowed its eyes and charged her, and she gulped in fear, thinking she got in way over her head. GAAH! What the hell was I thinking? Sirius desperately thought to herself as she sweatdropped. She sprinted away from the monster as Anna slipped unnoticed out of her corner and into a hallway to transform. "I can't let her have ALL the fun!" Anna chuckled to herself. "North Star Polaris Power! Make up!!" The familiar bright light surrounded her lithe body as the transformed.

When she returned to the room, Sailor Sirius was still running, already looking tired. Polaris could see that she needed to catch her breath and have just a second to dust the monster, but it was keeping her too busy. Let's see if I can do something about that! she thought.

"Yeehah!" Polaris yelled loudly, running and going in to a series of well practiced gymnastic backward flips. With a final expert leap, the Star Senshi sprang into the saddle of the surprised horse. The thing bucked and jumped, trying to shake her off, but she clutched the creature's mane tightly.

The horse dropped to the ground and then rolled over on to its back. Sailor Polaris managed to jump off just in time before it could crush her beneath itself. Its next move was to shoot flames at her, but it was quickly met by her call of "Polaris Magnetic Freeze!" Both the flames and the horse froze in place.

"Take it away, Cuz!" Polaris said, indicating the motionless horse.

"Sirius... Kiss of Death... Captivation!" Sailor Sirius yelled, blowing the horse a fatal kiss. Moments later, it was dusted. Immediately after that, all the energy that it had gathered and fed off of was freed and slowly drifted back to the audience and everyone else. Within seconds, the people slowly moaned and began opening their eyes.

"Let's get out of here-" she suggested, but was cut off before she could say more.

Onyx, looking very annoyed, suddenly appeared above them in a shimmer of air, his eyes flashing red with anger. Both girls were frozen in shock and surprise. "So, little Sailor Senshi. We meet at last. I see you dealt with my Merry-Go-Round horse. But I assure you, I will be harder to deal with."

"Who are you!" yelled Super Sailor Sirius. "Why are you attacking us!"

"I am called Onyx, and that is all you need to know for now." He smirked at Sailor Sirius, then turned his gaze Sailor Polaris. You....you look familiar, he thought, but said nothing.

"Y- You!" Polaris gasped, her face gone pale and scared. Travis DID look a lot like Tevra, she thought. But this man... Onyx...looks exactly like the Tevra of the past! Now there was no doubt about his true identity.

"And who am I, little senshi?" laughed Onyx after they stared at each other for a moment. He stopped laughing and fixed them with a hard stare. "But I warn you, soon you WILL be defeated and bow before my power, this I promise you!" He laughed harshly once more before disappearing. More and more people were beginning to awake and looked at the two curiously.

The taller girl's eyes blinked a few times in confusion, "T-Tevra," she stammered. Sailor Sirius walked to her and put a comforting hand around her shoulder.

"Come on Polaris, it's time to leave now," Sirius gave a sad sigh, feeling the same way as Polaris did, and led her from the room before anyone can question them. In the distance, police sirens finally sounded.

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To Be Continued.

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