Resonating Light

By Spirit-hime

Chapter 1: Prologue

***

Memories engraved in the past...

the sad past...

BAM he was down. Almost dead. Almost, but not quite. She was screaming his name. His true name. The name that he had not heard in centuries, but which stirred in his soul some deep, ancient feeling; some part of himself that had always been within him, and only now had been found. Just the sound of that name brought back the smell of a distant land--a land of lush trees and running water, of magic and holy things and mythical creatures. His name. His real name...

"Endymion..."

But all was darkness.

***

But for another, all was light. Bright, white light that flashed like perpetual lighting, that lit the world brighter than daylight. It was a light that could not be seen only with the eyes, but which was felt, tasted, smelled... overflowing the senses in a brilliant cacophony of perceptions. It was hot, cold, sweet, bitter, roaring and whispering all at once. It was stronger than any sun, grander than any heavenly body that could be found in the celestial plane. It was the light of the Ginzuishou.

For a few deadly moments, he was so overwhelmed that he was certain that he was dying. He stared at his hands, some part of him expecting them to disintegrate before him. But the hands remained in his view--a little calloused, perhaps, but perfectly intact, nonetheless. And then he was no longer concerned about his hands, because there before him, back from the dead, were three walking corpses. Except they were not corpses--they were alive, real, breathing. They were staring, their eyes wide, appearing as confused as he felt. But something in all of them was remembering. Some tiny, minute part of them that had never been destroyed.

"We were reborn on the surface to find our master... Where is our master?"

"Endymion..."

The memories came like a tidal wave. Everything they once were, everything they lost. The memories were as blinding as that holy light and yet, like the light, brought sudden clarity.

The bodies were melting, the corpses becoming corpses once again. Walking, dying corpses. And then there was nothing left save three precious, ordinary stones. He gripped the rocks in his hand, feeling the smooth, cool surfaces. He whispered their names one by one. Nephrite, Jadeite, Zoisite...

The light was fading. It was falling, like a teardrop, into the man who lay, like a fourth corpse, in the darkness. The light was inside him now, hidden beneath layers of black fabric.

The stillness that followed was like a void, so silent that he felt as though he had gone deaf.

"Kunzite! Now! Take the princess and the Ginzuishou for the Dark Kingdom!" The voice tore through the silence like the screeching of metal being twisted and torn upon itself.

He hesitated, staring at the man with the ebony hair and the angelic white being who hovered over his prone form. The Prince and the Princess...

"Kunzite! What are you waiting for?!"

He raised a hand, and two women in colorful costumes leaped in front of his beam, shielding the white creature from attack. But I notice you made no attempt to save him, he thought with a sneer, as the unconscious man was snatched from the arms of the goddess and into his outstretched arms. He shifted the man's weight close to him, feeling his warmth through the thick fabric of his tuxedo. Blood had soaked through his jacket, staining the grey uniform that he was now pressed against. His face appeared deceptively restful, too deep in his state of unconsciousness to feel the pain that arched through his body.

"Hurry, Kunzite! Return to the Dark Kingdom!"

He watched that face, the normally dark skin turned pale, the striking blue eyes like reflections of Earth hidden behind thickly lashed lids. Bring him back to the Dark Kingdom. Bring him back, and... condemn him. Prince... my Prince...

"Kunzite!"

"Endymion... hang on."

He pulled the man close against his chest, ignoring the screams of the abandoned Princess. Light surrounded them both, fading into darkness and shadows. They dissipated into the shadows, and were gone.

*****

Author's notes

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read Resonating Light! This fanfiction has been my baby for the past four years, and as I feel myself winding down on it, I felt that it was time to finally present it to a wider audience. Before I go any further, I must thank the readers who have been absolutely amazing in sticking with me all this time and giving me the encouragement, criticism, and ass-kicking that I needed to make this fic happen. Thank you to Elianthos and Veve especially, for being fantastic, as well as Scarlet Avatar, Roses Ablaze, Sage, and all the others who have dropped by to let me know they were reading. Because of these people, this fanfiction will someday be complete.

This prologue was my way of jumping straight into the action of the manga while giving quick snapshots of the state of the characters. I wanted to see what would happen if one very critical moment in the manga turned differently, if Kunzite didn't go back to obeying Beryl after the ginzuishou appeared and brought back his memories. Since this particular chapter is basically a rewrite of a manga scene, I wanted to blaze through it breathlessly to give a sense of the whirlwind it must have felt like. Future chapters will be much more meaty in terms of description and introspection. I was more interested in character interaction and development for this fic than in action.

I hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest!