FIRE SOUL BIRD IN LOVE
A Sailor Moon Sekkushiaru Roman

by Sailor Mac
PROLOGUE: THE SILVER MILLENIUM
	King Cephus of Mars looked at the face of the only woman he'd ever loved,
the woman who'd given him his first child. The woman who was not his wife.
	Her beautiful face was filled with shock and dismay, for he had just told
her the future he had planned for his second child. The one born to the
woman he'd been forced to marry.
	He swore his daughter would never know the same heartbreak that he did.
	"Cephus, that's insane! You cannot do that to her! What kind of a life is
that for a young girl?"
	"A life without pain and misery!"
	"You're denying her pain and misery - but you're also denying her joy and
happiness!"
	"Happiness? There is no happiness for the heir to the throne of Mars.
That's the way it's been since ancient times. Every heir has had their
marriage arranged at birth, and it's always to the son or daughter of the
parents' political cronies. None of us have ever had a chance to marry who
we truly loved." He drew the woman into his arms. "The only times in my
life I have ever been happy have been the times I was with you. And every
day, when I wake up next to that other woman. . .it drives a knife of ice
in my heart."
	"Cephus. . .you're the king! You can change the law!"
	"I wish it were that easy. On my planet, both the king and queen have to
agree to change a law. . .and you know she's too tradition-bound to change
anything."
	"But isn't there another way out for your daughter?"
	"None. The law states that for a female heir to the throne, the only way
out of an arranged marriage. . .is to be given to the god of our planet as
his bride."
	"Cephus, please. . ."
	"It's too late. The ceremony is being performed in secret by my high
priest as I speak."
	"No! You can't. . ."
	"What's done is done." He embraced the woman again. "I love you. . .never
forget that." And he turned and left, pain tearing at his very soul as it
always did when he left her.
	You will never know this pain, Rei, he thought. And you should consider
this a blessing. . .
* * *
TODAY
	"What's with Raye? Is she in some kind of pain?"
	Serena idly played with her straw wrapper as she posed the question to
Amy, Lita and Mina, who were sharing a booth with her at Crown Cafe. They
all knew Serena had voiced the question that had been at the back of their
minds for days.
	"Something's wrong with her, that's for sure," said Amy. "For awhile, she
seemed really calm, really mellow, and then in the past week or so. . ."
	"She's been like the old Raye, squared," said Lita.
	"Maybe there's something wrong with her grandfather," said Mina.
	"No way!" Serena said. "I passed by the temple the other day and saw the
old guy jogging up the steps like Rocky."
	"And flirting with every pretty girl that passed by to boot," Lita added.
	"You think it may be a boy?" said Mina.
	Amy stirred her soda as she thought for a second, then said, "I don't know
if any of you have noticed this but. . .it seems that for the last few
months, Raye hasn't been interested in boys at all. She never mentions
liking any cute guys at school or the arcade anymore. . ."
	"I thought that was just because she was still hung up on Darien," said Lita.
	"No, she's not," said Serena. "They've become good friends. . .haven't you
noticed how she needles him and calls him 'Tux Boy'? She wouldn't do that
if she. . ."
	Just then, the subject of their conversation burst into the cafe like a
whirlwind. She slid into the booth and said, "Sorry I'm late. . .I've had
things to do. . ."
	"What kind of 'things'?" said Serena in a teasing tone of voice. "Animal,
vegetable, mineral, male. . ."
	A passing busboy who had been eavesdropping on their conversation piped
up: "Hey, I resemble that remark!" Serena stuck her tongue out at him.
	"Just things, okay?" Raye snapped. "Honestly, Serena, you can be such a
child. . ."
	Amy put a hand on Raye's arm. "Raye. . .calm down. We were just talking
about how concerned we were about you. . ."
	"Concerned? Why? I'm perfectly fine!"
	"You seem a bit. . .edgy lately," said Lita. "Is anything wrong?"
	"You can tell us anything," Serena added. "You know we care about you."
	"Is it something to do with a guy?" said Mina. The others glared at her.
	Raye suddenly got to her feet. "Why does everyone assume that as soon as
somebody has a lot on their mind, it has something to do with a guy? Grow
up, people! There's more to life than chasing boys!"
	"Raye. . ." Amy said.
	"I've got things to do at the temple." She stalked out, leaving her
friends looking at each other in shock.
* * *
	Raye hurried down the street, tears burning her eyes.
	They said I could talk to them about anything, she thought, but I can't
talk to them about this. Oh, how I wish I could. . .it's tearing me up
inside. There once was someone I could tell anything to. . .but I
definitely can't tell *him* about this, either.
	Why, why can't things go back to the way they were before? Why did things
have to get so complicated?
	She thought back to when her dilemna began, about two weeks ago. . .
	Raye had been putting out food for the ravens when she heard some sort of
commotion in the temple gardens. She hurried over to take a look. . .and
saw that Chad and some of his buddies had set up a ramp and were performing
skateboarding tricks. Boys will be boys, she thought. . .In spite of
herself, she found herself watching with a combination of amusement and
fascination. Chad looked quite attractive in his tank top and cutoff
shorts. . .she hadn't really noticed before how well-built he was. . .
	Raye suddenly felt her cheeks flush and a flash of guilt and panic. How
could I look at him? she thought. I belong to somebody else. . .I am the
consort of a *god.*
	She started to turn back to what she was doing. . .when she heard Chad
yell, "Hey, watch my 360 Indy Nosehold move!" This was followed by a crash.
	"Chad?" She flew down the temple steps, and saw him lying on the ground,
holding his arm, his face twisted in a grimace of pain. His friends were
kneeling around him, looks of deep concern on their faces. . .
	"Oh, Gods, Chad!" she said. "Hang on, I'll get the ambulance. . ."
	She had ridden to the hospital with him, and sat in the waiting room while
he was examined, trying to tell herself that the reason she felt so panicky
was that she didn't like to think of her friend and co-worker being hurt. .
.
	As it turned out, his arm only had a mild sprain, but he was told to keep
it in a sling for awhile. Raye called home to let her grandfather know that
everything was all right, then they headed back to the temple together in a
cab.
	By the time they arrived, Raye's grandfather had gone to bed. They had the
whole place to themselves. . .
	"Does it hurt?" Raye asked him.
	"A little," Chad replied, but the look on his face told her it hurt more
than a little.
	"Why don't I make you some of my herbal tea? Grandpa says it's better than
Tylenol for aches and pains."
	"Cool," he said. As they entered the kitchen and he seated himself at the
table, he said, "Ah, man, I can't believe I was so stupid, trying that 360
move. . ."
	"You're right," she said as she filled the kettle. "It was stupid." She
put it on the stove. "But at least you weren't hurt any worse than you are,
and that's what matters."
	"I don't know why I did it. . ." Then, after a pause, "Yes, I do. I knew
you were watching. . ."
	Raye had been measuring out different kinds of tea leaves, and when Chad
said that, she almost dropped the cup and spoon. "You. . .knew I was. . ."
	"I thought maybe. . .I'd try to impress you. But you're right. . .it was dumb."
	She felt her stomach turn over. "Chad. . .you don't have to do any stupid
tricks to get my attention." Oh, no, she thought, why did I say that?
	"Really?"
	"I've always considered you to be my friend," she said quickly. "And
friends don't have to try to get each other's attention." She decided a
fast subject change was in order. . . "Have you been skateboarding long?"
	"I took it up a few years ago. Gives me a way to keep in shape between ski
seasons."
	"You're lucky to have grown up in a family that owns its own ski lodge. . ."
	"Yeah, that's cool. . .but in a way, being from a rich family really
sucks. You don't know if people really like you for you. . .or for your
money."
	"Is that why you came to the temple, and you. . ."
	"Act like a slacker? I know what you were going to say, Rei. You're a
no-bullcrap kind of woman. And I like that."
	She felt heat rising in her cheeks. Oh, Gods, she thought, am I blushing?
I never blush!
	"Well," she said, "I always believed that telling the truth was better
than giving people phony-baloney B.S."
	"Unlike most of the people I knew growing up. Rich people are the most
phony-baloney on the planet."
	The water boiled, and she poured his tea. "Tell me more about when you
were growing up."
	"Well, my parents made me go to this prep school. It was out in the woods,
which was cool, but it was like military school. . ."
	They had sat up for the better part of the night, talking. Chad told her
stories about his highborn childhood, and he told her the real reason he
came to the temple was that he was looking for spirituality to give some
meaning to what had been a materialistic life. She confided in him about
her absent father, about how she considered her grandather to be her "true
parent." She even stopped just short of telling him that she was Sailor
Mars.
	By the time they finally retired for the evening, she had a mixture of
feelings churning inside her. She knew she was seeing Chad with new eyes.
She was starting to think about him as more than a friend. . .
	But how could she, when she loved Mars. . .when it was her destiny to be
the consort of a god?
	Raye got precious little sleep that night. In fact, she hadn't slept
through the night since.
	And now, those feelings were continuing to churn, and churn, and churn,
until she thought she was going to explode. . .especially when she recalled
the last words that Chad had said to her that night:
	"Raye. . .I'm glad we had this time together. I always hoped we would get
to know each other better. . .and it was much more than worth the wait."
	Raye shook her head, trying to push the thought away, and doubled her
speed. She wanted to get her chores done when she knew Chad wouldn't be
there. . .so she wouldn't have to face him.
* * *
	Meanwhile, in the Negaverse, someone else had churning emotions.
	Hematite felt like he had tried everything to capture the Sailor Scouts.
Absolutely everything. He had locked himself in his chambers, combing and
recombing all the records of previous generals he had read hundreds of
times before, looking for the tiniest clue.
	If only, he thought, Sailor Moon hadn't healed the Seven Shadow Warriors.
Now *those* were formidable weapons. Get all seven of them together in one
place - which Beryl had been unable to do - and they could take those
Scouts easily.
	Hmm, he thought. What if I could recapture them. . .and infuse them with
enough Dark Energy that they would take on their Shadow Warrior forms
again. . .
	I'll just have one captured for now, to experiment on. And if the
experiment is a success. . .
	He grabbed the reports on the human forms of the Shadow Warriors and
searched for a likely test candidate. Aha, he thought, here's one. Someone
who's bound to put up very little fight and little resistance. A little old
man. . .
* * *
	Darien headed for the temple as soon as he got out of his last class.
Serena had called him at the college near tears. She was so, so worried
about Raye. . .
	And if she won't tell any of the girls what's wrong, he thought, there's
only one thing it could be. It's got to have something to do with *him.*
	He entered the main area of the temple, and found Chad cleaning out an
incense burner with his one good hand, the other still in the sling. "Hey,
dude," Chad said, holding up his hand for a high-five. "How's it hangin'?"
	"Hi, Chad," Darien said, slapping Chad's outstretched palm. "What happened
to you?"
	"Just a little wipeout on my skateboard. I'll live."
	"Is Raye around?"
	"She's in her room." A dark shadow seemed to pass over Chad's normally
mellow face. "She's in her room all the time now. She doesn't even come out
to read the fire anymore. . ."
	Just what I suspected, Darien thought. If she doesn't want to read the
fire. . .if she doesn't want to look into the next world. . .then it
*definitely* has something to do with. . .
	"I'm going to see if she's willing to talk," Darien said. "The girls are
worried sick about her."
	"You wanna know something? So am I."
	Darien went down the hall, to where he knew Raye's room was. It was
deathly quiet in there. . .except for a very soft sound. . .like sobbing.
	He knocked on the door. "Raye?"
	"Go away!"
	"Raye, please talk to me. The girls are frantic over what's been happening
to you. . .and so am I."
	"It's none of anybody's business!"
	"I know what you're upset over, Raye. It's got something to do with *him,*
doesn't it?"
	There was a pause, and then he heard the sound of footsteps. The door
opened just wide enough for Raye to peek out. "Please, Darien. . .I can
handle this."
	"No, you can't. Why don't you come out into the garden with me, and we'll
talk about it."
	She didn't agree to go outside, but she did open the door wider and step
away from it, an invitation for him to enter. She sat down cross-legged on
the floor, and he sat opposite her.
	"Okay," she said, "you wanted to talk. So. . .talk."
	"I think you should be the one doing the talking. Raye, why didn't you
tell Serena about your relationship with Mars? She *is* your best friend,
you know."
	She shook her head. "I couldn't tell any of them. . .they'd never
understand. How could they? All of them have had somebody they've been
destined to be with since the begining of time. . .all I had was. . .was
*him.* And now. . ." She started to cry again. He reached over and hugged
her, letting her cry on his shoulder.
	"Did he reject you?"
	"No! No, that's not it at all! I almost wish he did! Then I wouldn't have
to worry about. . .about. . ."
	Darien started to fit the pieces of the puzzle together in his head. Raye
wishing that Mars would reject her. . .Chad overly concerned about her. .
.and his psychic senses were picking up a certain kind of vibe. . .a vibe
he normally felt around Serena, or around one of the other girls when she
was with her lover. . .
	"Raye," he said softly, "do you have feelings for Chad?"
	"I don't know!" she sobbed.
	"I think you do know. . .and you don't want to admit it to yourself. It's
all right, Raye. . ."
	"It is NOT all right! What am I going to do? You can't just break up with
a god! This is part of my. . .my destiny."
	"I think you should talk to him."
	"Talk to Chad? What am I going to say to him? 'You're a nice guy, but I'm
spoken for by a deity'?"
	"No, not to Chad. . .to *him.* To Mars."
	"He'll destroy me."
	"You don't know that. It could be that he loves you, but he feels as
trapped in this destiny as you do. . .Tell you what. I'll put you in a deep
trance, and I'll be beside you the whole time. If I sense things are
getting out of hand, I'll send help."
	"Help? From who?"
	"I'll tell you when you're feeling better. . .let's just say I also have a
friend in the World Beyond. Now, you get comfortable on the floor, and I'll
go get what we need for the ritual. . ."