My name is Katagillian, katagillian@yahoo.com Homepage is http://www.geocities.com/katagillian/ "Iron John" Once upon a time there was a king named Endymion. He lived with his wife, Neo-queen Serenity, in Crystal Tokyo and enjoyed long walks through his gardens. One morning, when he was walking, he came across a crystal shard that had a living glow within. "Release me!" cried a tiny voice from deep within it. "I don't know how," he replied, enchanted by the object, ignoring a prickling sensation along the back of his neck that told him this was both dangerous and wrong. "You have the power to heal. Use it to release me!" Endymion nodded hypnotically and placed his hands around the crystal, warming it with his powers. Suddenly the crystal shattered in his hands. He jumped back in surprise, wincing in pain from the numerous lacerations the splintering crystal had inflicted him with. An ugly little demon looking like it had been made from metal which had rusted whirled and danced before him in delight. "Who are you?" Endymion questioned, feeling his hands begin to heal already. The creature spun and laughed. "Many years I have been imprisoned here. Once I lived in a pond where I lured men to their deaths. Time wasted! So much time!" he lamented briefly, then turned towards the king and smirked. "I was called Iron John, for only iron will and true devotion can slay me." Endymion heard voices and running feet approaching. "The Sailor Scouts come, and you shall find much iron will and strength of purpose between them." A crafty look entered the creature's eyes. "A game then, for I think there's not a soul alive that can imprison me again." He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of blue light. King Endymion disappeared as well. "Where are we?" Endymion asked when the blue light dissipated from around them. They were standing in a tangle of weds, deep in the shadows of giant trees. "This is my world!" the demon replied, scrabbling in the dirt for a bug to eat. The king struggled to keep the distaste from his face as he watched Iron John eat his lunch. "But I don't recognize it." He was surprised at how calm he was. Why wasn't he fighting? "It's a little outside of time and space. There used to be a garden here." Endymion blinked, feeling sleepy. A faint blue mist surrounded him. "But what. . .who. . .am I?" he asked, sinking to his knees beside the demon. Crafty eyes followed his movement. "You're my servant. Don't you remember? And I have a task for you. . ." Serenity's poise was quickly crumbling. How could she be expected to attend a diplomatic function when her husband was still missing. Making polite excuses, she quickly rose from the table and hurried from the banquet hall. Pausing outside the doorway, she leaned against the wall and gave in to deep sobs that shook her thin form. Sympathetic arms quickly took her in a soft embrace. "Oh, Serena!" She struggled to smile at her friends. "Mina! Raye! I'm OK. I just need to regain my composure. Thank heavens Reeny is off training in the past and doesn't know about this!" Violet eyes angry, Raye muttered something about men running off without a word to their families. "He wouldn't have done that." Mina reproached her gently. "There was those shards-" "Which meant nothing! Amy has analyzed them to death and there's no trace of Nega-energy on them!" Serenity sobbed again and both girls stopped arguing guiltily. "Take her to her quarters and stay with her." Raye said and quickly transformed into Sailor Mars. "I'm going to go and look for him." Early one morning, Serenity stood on her balcony looking over the rose garden. How would she survive without her Endymion? It had been weeks since he had disappeared. She sighed and started to turn away when she noticed a gardener working right below her. He paused in his labors a minute and took off his hat to wipe the sweat from his brow and she felt her heartbeat quicken. "Endymion!" At the sound of her voice he turned towards her and she gasped in fear. The man wore a featureless mask, covering his whole face except for his eyes. Clutching at the railing, she gathered her courage. "You there! Who are you and why are you masked?" she demanded. The man stood and looked up in her direction. "I'm sorry if my labors disturb you my queen. I wear this mask as I am scarred." His voice was hoarse and low, not like her beloved's at all. Flushing, Serenity stepped back a pace, yet there was something about him. "Bring me some fresh roses." she called and turned away. The man bowed and moved to his task. Sleepy and irritable, Raye stretched out on the couch in the sitting room and closed her eyes. "Tell me again why I'm here?" She had been up late once again, seeking Endymion by fire readings. "I think I'm going crazy." Turning her head, she opened her eyes and stared at her queen. "You called me here for that? Serena, you've been nuts as long as I've known you." Serenity smiled wryly. "I know I can always count on you, Raye." Raye nodded and prepared to doze off. Man, she thought. I'm getting too old for these late nights. A knock sounded at the door and suddenly Raye tensed up. Something felt real evil outside. "Serena, don't!" she shouted, jumping to her feet and knocking her Queen away from the door. The door was abruptly pushed open and the gardener entered, featureless mask still firmly in place, his arms full of roses. "Burning Mandala!" Fully transfomed, Sailor Mars cast flame at the figure in the door and was astonished when the man nimbly left out of the way, scattering roses across the carpet. "Mars stop!" Serenity flew at the man whose attention was still on the Sailor Scout. Her fingers managed to tear the mask from his face before he threw her aside. Mars stood in shock as she realized the had almost burned the missing king. Realizing that he was about to grab Serenity, she threw herself at him, trusting her instincts that there was something wrong with him. Very wrong. Seeing the woman in the Sailor uniform coming at him, he shouted, "Iron John!" and disappeared a moment later in a flash of blue light. For the next week, Endymion tried to deliver roses to the Queen. When Ami met him on the stairs or when LIta confronted him in the hall, he immediately shouted that mysterious phrase and disappeared. No one could get anywhere near him. Serenity grew pale and thin, anxiety causing her eyes to appear larger and more luminoius. When the Scouts sat down in a meeting, they talked of ideas and immediately discarded one after another. "We let him bring me the roses." Serenity said for the ninetieth time. "No!" the others would shout and the talks would go on. Another week slipped by. Serenity was woken by the sounds of alarms ringing throughout the castle. Although the days of battling the Negaverse were long past, pockets of Nega-energy remained and when living things stumbled into them, frequently there were changed into terrible monsters. One such creature was approching the palace. The Scouts were used to this sort of battle, as these creatures frequently seemed to seek them out. Amy tried to explain that this was because Evil was attracted to Good, in the way that magnets of opposite polarities attracted, but after getting blank stares from most of the others, she gave up trying to make them understand why it happened. Serenity stood on the palace steps and watched as the Scouts encircled the monster some distance away. This creature was large and reptilian in appearance. She wondered idly if it had been created from a lizard or perhaps an iguana. Unaware that her long blond ponytails waving in the morning breeze had caught the beasts attention, she idly wondered where Endymion was and when he would try to see her again. "Iron John!" The shout broke her trance and saw the monster a short distance away and closing fast despite attacks the Scouts were throwing at it. She realized that Endymion was riding on it's back and thought for a minute that he was trying to make it turn. It came to her then that he was encouraging the monster up the stairs. Screaming, Serenity turned to run, but tripped on her skirts (would she never get over being clumsy?) and fell. Endymion leaped down from the beast and stood over her. The lizard-thing, free from the man on it's back turned away from the treacherous steps and turned only to be confronted by the Scouts. They stood in confusion, not knowing which was the greater danger. As the creature spewed fire at them, they quickly made up their minds and threw all they had at it. Unaware of how the battle was going, Serenity stared at the masked figure before her, straining to see the eyes behind the mask. "Endymion." she whispered, feeling tears on her cheeks. He moved toward her, a rose in his hand. "I have something for you." She dropped her eyes to the bloom that he held, well aware of the power of the roses in his hands. Scrambling to her feet, she forced herself to stand and wait as he approached her. Finally he stopped, inches away, eyes remote behind the mask and reaching for her. Avoiding his hands, she reached up and removed his mask and gasped. The face of her Endymion was so cold and remote! How could this man be her husband? The father of her child? "The rose," she said finally, nodding at the flower in his hand. "It is my death?" "Yes." There was no malice in his voice, at least she had that much to hold on to. For that matter, there was no emotion in his voice whatsoever. Behind them, the monster roared once in pain and lunged up the stairs to avoid destruction. Casually, Endymion threw the rose and the beast disappeared in a bright flash of light. Serenity blinked and realized there was another rose in his hand where the first had been. "You've saved me!" she cried. "I saved me. You, I shall kill." he replied, drawing back his hand to stab her with the rose. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Serenity knocked Endymion to the ground, tumbling down the stairs with him while the Scouts' attacks went over their heads. "Serena, get away!" Sailor Mars shouted as she and the other scouts approached. "No!" she cried, throwing herself in front of him. "I cannot allow it! There's good in him yet! I know it!" she was sobbing, and had lost all of the composure she normally had as queen. Endymion grabbed her, pinning her to the ground with a quick lunge. "You're a fool." he hissed. "I know you. I know everything about you! We've shared etenity. I BELIEVE IN YOU!" she was screaming now. "I KNOW THIS ISN'T YOU! I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS. . ." her words were disjointed, her eyes wild as she struggled in his grasp. "I WILL NOT ALLOW. . ." She threw him off of her and struggled to her feet. Hysterical, screaming, sobbing all at once. "I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS!" Iron will. . . True devotion. . . A pause, everyone frozen as if in a tableau and then. . . Screams filled the air and a small man, looking to be made of rusty metal appeared out of nowhere. Blue light surrounding him. Blue light that seemed to be leaving King Endymion and growing brighter and brighter until it was an intense white light that hurt to look at it. Serenity reached and found Endymion as the light whirled around them and the screams grew louder until finally, they stopped. Dead silence. The Scouts stepped forward, reaching their King and Queen together and surrounding them, still dazed by what they had seen. After assuring them over and over that she was fine, Serenity finally managed to take her husband into the palace, away from the steps and the crystal shards that were scattered everywhere. He was in a daze and seemed confused about what had happened, but that wasn't important. He was home. And that's all that really mattered.