Chronicles of the Stars 5: Tainted Shadows

(A/N: Yes! Finally I got this up! Ugh, I've been so busy and distracted lately. I'm so sorry to all my readers. However, I've finally finished it and it's up. Now I can finally focus on getting other stories up and posted and all those other stories I've been neglecting like the sequel to this one which picks up from the cliff-hanger in the last. Anyway, enjoy.)

Only the Beginning

The years crawled by in peace, and for that time all was well. The children grew under the safe and protective arms of their father and mother… It was when the boy was five that it happened… They were in the garden, all four, and Hecate played with her darlings as Tabuu watched silently… Then from the woods two men came… All eyes went to them. They were beautiful in appearance and almost identical. There was no flaw to be found in either, and their skin was pale, their hair white… He knew who they were, and cold dread seized hold of him…

Hecate rose, eyes flashing, and demanded, "Who dares intrude upon the palace of the Shadow Queen?!"

The two men said nothing, their eyes unreadable and black as coal. Their otherworldly gazes slowly, eerily, turned to Tabuu. Tabuu felt sick to the stomach. He approached them slowly, evenly. He looked from one to another. "Hecate, my Shadow Queen, stand down." Tabuu simply ordered.

She looked guardedly at him. "Papa, who are they?" the little boy questioned.

Tabuu never answered. "Announce our presence forthwith, defiant knave," one of the men hissed disappointedly.

Tabuu bowed his head low and knelt before them, saying nothing. The second reached out, though, and gently his hand fell upon Tabuu's shoulder. Tabuu looked slowly up at this one. "You can no longer flee your sins and errors. Child, if only I could change it all… Make the most of this time you have left," he gently said. "You have no reason to fear us yet."

Tabuu felt a tightening in his throat and swallowed. He knew what they meant. Slowly he rose. "They are my father and my uncle," he declared. Hecate became pale. Master Hand and Crazy Hand in human form! But if they had come here… She felt a shiver of dread. What had he done…? What had her husband done…?

SMB

The little girl and boy looked up at the two strange men sitting in the dining room in awe. "You are our grandfather and great uncle, then?" the little boy questioned, appraisingly summing the duo up.

"Yes, little one," Master Hand answered.

"What are your names?" the little girl asked.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand exchanged looks then turned back. "Our names, darling little Light, are of no consequence," Crazy Hand answered.

Hecate set before the two of them desserts prepared by her finest of chefs. After all, these two were gods walking on earth. Not even these finest of dishes could hope to compare to what it was they must have eaten in Star Haven, so she could only offer her best. "You have waited until now to check on the welfare of my husband?" she asked coolly.

"Our reasons for not coming sooner are our own," Master Hand answered.

"But…" she began.

"Do not question us, mortal!" Crazy Hand spazzed, startling the children and Hecate. "I mean Shadow Queen," he quickly covered.

"You imbecile," Master Hand said, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head hopelessly at his brother's freak out. "Control yourself, brother."

"Brother, you know I cannot help it. After all, I'm crazy," Crazy Hand bit, smirking devilishly with a crazed glint in his eyes.

"Oh I know it all too well," Master Hand dryly answered.

"Hecate, take the children, please, and leave this place… I must converse with my father and Uncle alone…" Tabuu said.

The Shadow Queen looked uncertainly from Tabuu back to Crazy Hand and Master Hand. Soon, though, she rose. This was not the time to defy gods. "Come, little ones," she said, ushering her children out. She looked back once more, uncertainty in her eyes, then shut the door.

SMB

Tabuu reverted to his immortal form. Crazy Hand and Master Hand retained their already divine human forms, only this time in their full glory. "You know what we came for," Master Hand said.

"I do," Tabuu answered.

"Have you nothing to say?" Master Hand asked.

"I will not apologize to you," he replied.

"You will… Before this is done you will…" Master Hand said softly and pityingly, gently resting a hand on his nephew's arm.

Tabuu looked up at them. After a moment he said, "I'm sorry… Oh gods, I'm so, so sorry… But not to you all… Never to you all… It was you who brought it upon yourselves… I am sorry for my children's sake, and for the sake of my bride."

"I suppose that is the best we can hope for. You are Crazy's son, after all," Master Hand replied. "But even he cannot help you now… Do not think he will… He has tried all he can…"

"He is your nephew, Master. Let this go," Crazy Hand growled out.

"His fate is not ours to decide anymore," Master replied, bowing his head painfully.

"Of course it is!" Crazy argued.

"Enough!" Master yelled. "His fate is sealed!"

"No!" Crazy defied.

"What can you do to stop it, brother?" Master asked.

Crazy fell silent. Nothing… He could do nothing… Nothing without having to go to war with the Star Spirits and Elemental Gods… And Master Hand himself… "I beg you… show my son mercy…" he finally said, tone meeker than was usual for him.

Master Hand visibly cringed, a muscle in his jaw twitching. After a moment he reached out, placing a hand on his sibling's shoulder. "You know I would do anything for you… But not this… I can't… I'm sorry…" he answered.

"Then you will regret it," Tabuu suddenly growled, causing both to turn to him. Tabuu slowly looked up, eyes glowing dangerously. "You will regret it…" he repeated.

"You speak dangerously, but we hear your fear… You are terrified…" Crazy Hand gently said to his child, standing and going to Tabuu, kneeling in front of him and taking his shoulders.

"He should be," Master Hand stated.

Tabuu was quiet. "You meant everything to me…" Crazy Hand murmured Tabuu, ignoring Master. "Never forget it…"

"I do not want to leave you… or them…" Tabuu answered, and this time he could not hide his fear or the breaking in his voice. Master Hand looked away, closing his eyes.

Crazy Hand felt a foreign burning in his eyes as he gazed at his child. After a moment he moved forward, softly pressing a kiss to Tabuu's forehead. Drawing back, he answered, "Alas, my child, my creation, if only you could have thought of that long ago… Now it is too late…"

"What must I do?" he asked.

"When they awaken tomorrow, you will be gone… Spend every moment you have left with them…" Master Hand answered. "Your trial begins in morning's light, your sentence will be a fate crueller than death… I'm sorry, nephew…"

SMB

"Grandpa, Great Uncle, look at me!" the little boy said, floating in the air and flipping. "It is a trick father taught me."

"I can float too. See me Grandpa and Great Uncle," the daughter declared, also floating in the air—but not being quite so playful or show offish as her sibling—adopting a more practical and serious method of floating.

"Well done, little ones," Master hand praised.

"That is nothing! Watch and observe true talent," Crazy Hand boasted. He immediately floated into the air and began zipping and spazzing in unpredictable patterns in the air, body bending at all angles.

"Wow!" the children exclaimed in awe, watching.

"Show off," Master Hand bit.

"You're simply jealous," Crazy Hand said, alighting to the ground and huffing.

"Hardly, brother," Master Hand answered. Crazy Hand harrumphed. The little ones giggled and for a moment Master Hand and Crazy Hand's expressions softened, smiles coming to their lips… Right before they remembered just why they were here. Crazy Hand bowed his head. Master Hand became solemn.

"Grandfather, Great Uncle, what is it that makes you sad?" the daughter questioned curiously.

"It is nothing, my dear, nothing," Crazy Hand assured.

The daughter looked unconvinced. The son was hardly paying attention. "Lina, let's sled down the big hill!" the boy called out. The daughter grinned and hurried to join her brother. The two traipsed to the top then slid down, screaming in delight. Soon enough Crazy Hand and Master Hand themselves had been suckered into joining the two children, sledding with them and laughing for the rest of the day.

SMB

Tabuu silently watched out the window as Crazy Hand, Master Hand, and his children finally stopped sledding and headed back in. Spend every waking moment you can with them… And he did so all the rest of that week. Until his children were fast asleep on that last fateful night he stayed with them, stargazing and speaking to them endlessly of so many tales and things and telling them over and over how deeply he loved them… And as they drifted off he whispered he loved them, and he whispered his final goodbye…

Hecate wept helplessly as he told her all that would befall him that night. She couldn't speak if her life depended on it. Gently he stroked her cheek with his hand as she sobbed. "Remember my words… I yet have tricks up my sleeve… The temple, the spell, the Door… You will see me again…" He knew even as he spoke, though, that his words were a lie… He sensed it… She sobbed again, leaning forward and kissing him passionately.

She drew back, cupping his face. "I cannot say goodbye," she wept.

He kissed her adoringly once more. "You will not have to…" he answered. A lie… it was all a lie… She sobbed, falling into his arms kissing him desperately, longingly, and together they lay in bliss, taking pleasure in each other for the last time. She clung to him desperately, even after she finally passed out of exhaustion having cried herself to sleep. To let him go… Perhaps if she held him here like this, he would not be taken from her… But as she slept, and as he softly stroked her hair gazing at his wife, his body began to fade away. He was being taken from her arms to Star Haven where he would face his final judgement.

"Farewell, my beloved one, my Shadow Queen, my Hecate… Forever I will love you…" he whispered faintly. The next moment he was gone, and she was all alone…

SMB

Horrified at the desecration of the balance, the gods glared murderously at Tabuu in hatred, disbelief, and treachery as he made to them his confession. "You stupid, treacherous, defiant, creature! You will pay a price steeper than any you could have ever been able to imagine for this thing you have done!" Skolar furiously screamed. Crazy Hand and Master Hand, now in hand form, lingered back, hardly moving. They would not speak, they would not comment. They just watched blankly, their gazes fixed on Crazy Hand's creation solemnly. The Cosmic Spirit was weeping, lamenting not only the forced destinies of her nephew and niece—his own children that Tabuu had cursed in his blind rage and lust for revenge—but her cousin's fate as well. She knew it would not be pretty. Tabuu stood expressionless and defiant, neither speaking to defend himself nor to gloat over his victory. The Star Spirits and Elemental deities either floated or sat, their gazes hard and cruel, their anger and disgust towards their fellow evident.

"Be banished for all eternity to your accursed realm of Subspace, never again to walk upon the mortal coil; never again to set foot beyond the boundaries of your miserable and empty plain of existence," Eldstar dangerously said.

"I will return," Tabuu replied without emotion. No more would there be any emotion… None say for hatred and resentfulness… and longing and pain… No, no! Only Hatred, only Resentfulness… No more… No more…

"You will not," Master Hand stated darkly. "Seize him and bind him in the most powerful of chains, unbreakable bonds from which not even I would be able to escape."

Tabuu stiffened, eyes widening in shock. Immediately the chains appeared and bound themselves tightly around him like serpents squeezing the life out of their helpless prey. "You wouldn't dare," he breathed. "You impudent dogs!" he screamed, struggling against the bonds holding him back.

"We would," the Thunder god stated.

Immediately the bonds tightened painfully, making it so he was hardly even able to breathe let alone move… and these chains, oh how they were painful. He writhed and screamed in anguish as waves upon waves of pain pealed through his body without letup; pain so great that never would he be able to adapt to it as he had the mortal methods. Not until he was freed of them would he be released. Crazy Hand turned away, as did the Cosmic Spirit. Master Hand sank low to the ground. Tabuu glared hatefully at them all. They would regret this…

"Cast him into the darkest depths of Subspace, his realm. You will never leave that place again, nephew. Forever looking out at the living world but never able to join them… We will be sure of it. Not even she will help you this time," Master Hand declared.

Tabuu's eyes began glowing murderously. Hecate. They had meant Hecate! In a fury he began screaming curses to them all in the language of the gods, catching quickly onto the threat they had uttered. His eyes lit with lasers but were quickly covered up. His mouth was gagged tightly. Roughly he was seized and powerfully they thrust him down from Star Haven, sending him plummeting into his realm once more, never to escape again, weakened enough that there would be no point in even trying… And with that his wife was alone with two little ones who had not even seen one decade… No more sorrow, no more emotion, only hatred, only pain… And never again would he speak, no matter what happened. Never more would he speak again until the day he was reunited with his beloved ones…

SMB

For two years she mourned the loss of her husband, and her children lamented the disappearance of their father. Born of the Shadow Queen's grief and anger and hatred sprang three entities whom she dubbed the Shadow Sirens, and these she kept hidden away from the sight of her children… These were those with whom she shared her plot to bring back her lover. These were those who swore their whole devotion and loyalty to her, their 'mother'.

With the aid of the Shadow Sirens and her army, the Shadow Queen slowly and meticulously began to permeate the world until she had all but taken it over in her effort to find the temple of which her husband spoke… And then it was there, and she found herself kissing her children goodbye… Mommy will be back… Those were the words she had told them… And they had made her promise, and she had vowed it… But it was a vow slated to be broken…

So determined that, were the gods to never have Tabuu see the light of day again, then she would do it herself… When they saw how close she had come, they sent the four warriors to defeat her so that no more could she aid Tabuu or release him from his bonds and his prison… She fell, the warriors victorious… Just like that her babies were orphaned… Just like that it was over… But respecting the last wish of her cousin, the Cosmic Spirit came down to earth to care for the little ones who now mourned their mother as well as their father and knew not how to cope, and on top of this all the curse their father had put on them so long ago… The damage to the two children had been done, and there was nothing the gods could do anymore except for wait… Wait and perhaps separate the brother and sister to ensure that war between them never came about and the world was never destroyed in their battle…

SMB

Our story begins a very, very long time ago with a young girl. One day, this girl spotted a rusted spaceship holding a small star child.

"What's your name? Are you lost?" the girl asked the Star Child.

"I'm Luma, and I'm waiting for Mama. She's coming for me on a Comet!"