Despite the fact that the facilities of the Moon Palace were run by a highly sophisticated super computer that controlled both temperature and light, several small candles provided a dim glow in the Queen’s darkened personal chambers and the open window delivered a slight, natural breeze.
“Mother?”
Queen Serenity’s shoulders slumped. She cracked an eye open. Meditation had never come naturally to her daughter, but despite the teen’s excitability, the Queen was confident that the Princess possessed a commanding state of calm when she needed it most, and so, she chose to humor her.
“Yes, Serenity?”
“My guardians, Endymion, everyone I love… I want to help them.” Her voice had been a whisper, awkward at first, but growing steadily in both conviction and courage. “They act for me, and I feel powerless, watching them fight while I do nothing to assist them.”
There was a silence, and the young Princess wondered if her mother was in too deep a meditative state to have properly heard her. Accepting her fate, she closed her eyes and tried once again to calm her troubled soul and join her mother in meditation.
“Come with me, my daughter.”
Surprised, Serenity’s eyes shot open. She had to scramble to her feet and quicken her pace to closely follow on the Queen’s heels as her mother, holding a small candle, led her deeper into her chambers.
The blonde’s breath caught in her throat. A hidden room. She had to turn her body to the side to enter through the small door hidden behind a tapestry, and once she was inside the small, stone space, she found there was barely enough space for her mother and herself.
But the real reason for Serenity’s disorientation was that the room was filled with images akin to video - magical projections of all those she held dear.
In one such projection, the golden light of Earth’s dawn streamed through rice paper partitions and in an expansive bed, with white sheets pulled up to their chins where they lay snuggled together, Minako and Rei were just beginning to stir to wakefulness. In another, Makoto and Ami were in the palace kitchen, the taller woman carefully guiding the blunette through a well worn and tattered recipe that lay on the counter’s edge. In yet another, Haruka sat at an expansive piano. Her fingers flew over its keys and Michiru stood, pressed against her back, her eyes closed as her violin matched harmony to melody.
“These girls,” the Queen said softly, “they love each other because they love you.”
Another image came into view, this one of Endymion. Sitting amongst a rose garden, he held a small, black device in his palm longingly. Serenity’s hand ghosted over its twin, hidden in the folds of her dress.
“This man loves you for you.”
Blue eyes began to water. The Princess dabbed at the corners of her eyes as her gaze tried to pay each image equal attention.
“Do you think that all of these people, so completely different from each other, would be so blindly devoted to you if they felt that you were not so deserving of their love?”
A tear slipped down Serenity’s cheek unchecked. Her mother turned to her. Soft eyes so very much like her own studied the Princess with kindness.
“You have a power within you that surpasses all of theirs combined, my daughter.” The Queen smiled slightly at the incredulous gaze that threatened to dispute her claim. “You will understand that power when the time is right, and you will fight alongside them as you so wish.”
The Queen’s smile faltered slightly. “But it will not be easy, Serenity. And there will be many failures before you come into your own.”
Tears rolled freely down the Princess’ cheeks. Uttering a nearly silent sob, she threw herself into her mother’s waiting arms and allowed the Queen’s gentle strength to soothe her.
“Yes.” Minako replied easily, securing one side of her long blonde hair into Serenity’s distinctive ponytail-bun.
Even Rei, perched carefully on the edge of the bed and pressed closely against Minako where they shared one communicator between them, averted her eyes. The whole thing did sound a little far fetched, after all. If it weren’t for the conviction of her own senses, she wouldn’t have believed it either.
“So then… where do we go from here?” Serenity’s desolate voice sounded hopeless and far away.
Haruka’s fist pounded her open palm. “Attack Beryl. If we take out the avatar, what happens to the darkness?”
Michiru shook her head. “It would find a new host, only delaying the inevitable.”
“Besides, if we were to take her out, we’d have mutiny on our hands. The shitennou, whether they are simply under her sway or the sway of the darkness, follow her.” Minako said this matter of factly as she brushed out the other half of her hair.
Haruka threw her hands into the air. “Fine. Nuke the whole damn planet then!”
“Uranus Haruka!”
The Uranian winced at the sharp scolding from her Princess. But again, her face hardened. “While we wait, the situation will only worsen.” Her hazel eyes circled the room, lingering on Makoto and then turning to the communicator’s projection to eye Rei meaningfully. “It’ll worsen on all of our planets while we do nothing.”
The Martian and the Jovian studied Haruka intently. Instinct demanded they follow the Uranian’s subtle war cry.
Serenity stood and broke her tentative quiet. “Our only option is to wait this out.” She began to pace the length of the conference table, staring more at her hands than the other women. “To attack would be to bring war to the entire Solar System, and to break our treaty with Earth. If we were to break our treaty with Earth, the other planets would question the Moon’s integrity.”
She turned to the grainy projection of Minako. “We have to wait for Beryl to make the first move.”
“Ah… yes.” Minako said slowly, for she was not the only one totally taken aback by the calm sense of confidence and leadership displayed by their young Princess.
“You know your position is even more dangerous now than it was before.” Michiru stated quietly.
The Venusian nodded sharply. “We do.”
Michiru smirked. “Oh, and Venus? About your little trip to the pole-“
“Save it.” Minako said, suddenly cracking a grin. “You can punish us later. We’re running late for a meeting with the Earthlings. Venus out.” She had the audacity to flash her friends a “v” with two fingers before abruptly ending the communication.
Rei turned to her commander with a deadpan expression. “What’s this us business? So quick to sign me up for punishment?”
“Way to be a team player, Rei.” Minako affected a wounded expression. “If I recall correctly, this whole thing was your idea.”
The Martian found a hairbrush being pushed into her palm. She eyed it warily. The Venusian looked at it expectantly. With a sigh, Rei acquiesced and set to securing the other side of Minako’s hair to match Serenity’s look. She ran the fine bristled brush through golden strands carefully.
“Mina…”
“Hnn?”
“I’ve just got this feeling… I want you to be careful today.”
The Venusian cracked an eye to glance sideways at her lover. “Shut up and brush.”
Rei sucked her teeth noisily. “I’m not fooling around here.”
“No?” Minako turned and grabbed the hand brushing her hair. She was met with little resistance as she pushed that hand, and its owner, back to the bed’s pillows. “Well I am.”
“Ch’.” Rei’s curse was swallowed by a passionate kiss. She turned her head sideways to free her lips. “I’m afraid Beryl’s on to us, Minako.”
“Nonsense.” Undeterred, she found a suitable replacement for the Priestess’ lips in a spot under Rei’s chin. “I’m much too good an actress for that.” Questing hands slid under the Martian’s nightshirt.
“But… I can’t shake the feeling…”
Minako paused her ministrations to find muddled amethyst eyes. “You said yourself that your senses were clouded here.”
Rei frowned. “You don’t believe me?”
Minako met that intensity. “You don’t trust me?”
The silence between them grew. The two women were at a stalemate. This was dangerous territory, and neither one knew how to answer each other’s loaded questions.
So they didn’t.
Minako smirked. “Would you stop worrying and freaking kiss me already?”
Rei was still a moment, and then she found herself rolling her weight over Minako to pin the slightly smaller woman in a similar hold. Her lips hovered over Minako’s neck, bared and waiting for Rei’s possession, however, it seemed the Martian was still in a teasing mood. But that was fine with the Venusian, for she could banter through any occasion.
“I thought you said… we didn’t have time… for this.” Rei found her protest halted by playful kisses that otherwise busied her lips.
“Beryl? She can wait.” Minako’s breath hitched in her throat as Rei’s fingernails brushed across her stomach before skirting lower. Her back arched off the bed, pushing her chest into Rei’s as she felt teeth on her shoulder. Deft fingers began to quickly unbutton the front of the Venusian’s shirt.
“Besides,” Minako accused, “you’re not ready either.”
Never pausing in her descending worship of Minako’s bare skin, a crimson light illuminated Rei’s form. Sailor Mars roughly fondled one of Minako’s breasts.
“Happy now?”
“Yes. Wait… no.” Minako half pouted, half gasped as she thought it over. “That’s not playing fair.”
The golden haired woman flipped her weight and pinned Mars underneath her. One more fight for dominance in this direction would land them both on the floor and so Mars surrendered.
“I fail to see where you ever play fair.” The Martian said huskily.
Minako slipped a knee between Mars’ thighs. “Like now?” She asked coyly.
Mars could only half growl, half purr her response.
“Take me to the Earth!” She cried.
Makoto recoiled, a frown pulling at her lips. “You know we can’t do that, Princess.” She glanced to her partner for backup, and was unpleased to find the blunette seeming to consider their young charge’s demand. “Ami-chan…” Her voice wavered.
Serenity jumped at the chance to divide and conquer the rift between the two further. “I order you to take me there.”
To this, the Jovian laughed distantly. “Now I know that’s not you. You’d never order any of us to do something we knew wasn’t right.”
“Do you feel the circumstances are so dire if you don’t go, Serenity-chan?”
The Princess of the Moon looked to Ami while nibbling on her bottom lip. Her next words were a whisper. “Yes. And if you don’t take me now, then I’ll go by myself.”
Makoto bristled. “I won’t-“
“Are you going to stand guard on her twenty-four seven, Mako-chan?” Ami quietly interrupted. Avoidant blues eyes indicated that she didn’t like the idea, but liked its alternative even less.
Hazel eyes hardened at the Princess. “You’ll put Venus and Mars at even greater risk if we go to the surface.”
“I don’t wish for that, but…” Serenity met her guardian’s disapproving glare. “I can’t seem to explain it, but this is something that I have to do.”
He could hear muffled voices just beyond the door.
“I’m opening the door now. Can you behave yourself for a little while?”
“I don’t know, can you?”
There was a long suffering sigh. The door finally opened. The conversation itself could have been interpreted many different ways, but when Princess Serenity grabbed Sailor Mars’ wrist and pulled the other woman towards her for what she promised was “one last kiss”, Jadeite’s blue eyes widened, and with red cheeks, he took to his heels.
Darting down hallways at full speed, he turned corners until he was out of breath. Breeching protocol, he barged directly into Beryl’s chambers.
“Queen Beryl!”
The tactician turned to the intrusion and frowned. “I am not Queen… not yet, Jadeite.”
“Haa! Of course.” The young man bowed even lower. “Not until you’ve managed to brainwash Prince Endymion.”
There was a rush of high heels across the stone floor. The lone shitennou was lifted off the ground by long fingers boasting longer fingernails. A harsh slap echoed off the room’s walls.
Beryl released Jadeite, and the man too eagerly fell to the floor in a prostrate position. “My deepest apologies, my… Beryl. I meant, until Endymion falls in love with you.”
The tactician regarded the shitennou coolly. “What do you want? I’m overdue to meet that aberrant Princess and her little senshi.”
“That is exactly what has brought me to you. I’ve come to let you know that I observed Serenity and Mars outside their suite in a rather… compromising position.” Jadeite chanced a hopeful glance at Beryl, who only regarded him with icy eyes and arms crossed over her chest.
“That is not Serenity, you fool.”
“Wh… what?”
“It is Sailor Venus disguised, and Mars is her little pet.”
“This is deception!” Jadeite shouted, his expression falling into a snarl. “An affront to the Earth!” The youngest leader of the Earth jumped to his feet, his hand gripping the hilt of an ornate sword at his belt. “We should attack!”
“Soon, Jadeite.” The tactician smiled slowly. “Very soon.”
Beryl heard the click-clack of heels hurrying in her direction. A phantom pain wedged above the bridge of her nose, the tactician forced herself to open her eyes and pull her fingers from her temple. She summoned as much strength as she could to stand tall.
“Good morning, Princess Serenity, Mars.” Her words were like an oil slick as she turned to them “I’ve taken the liberty of setting up different meetings for today. I figured that Mars and several of the shitennou might like to meet separately to discuss tactics and warfare and the like,” she smiled at the Princess, “you know, boring stuff.”
“Ah.” Serenity replied with a strained smile. “Of course.”
“In the meantime, you and I can discuss more about mending the relationship between Earth and the Moon. Endymion will join us shortly.”
The taller woman nearly dwarfing her, Beryl put an arm around Serenity’s shoulders and began turning her down a hallway as the two shitennou stepped closer to Mars. The crimson warrior narrowed her eyes. The Princess caught her worried glance and offered a subtle wink and a discreet, if upside down “v” in her direction. Mars was unconvinced, and her amethyst eyes followed Minako until she was out of sight.
“Shall we proceed, Lady Mars?”
The Martian examined Kunzite’s cold smile as he gestured to the meeting room they’d occupied the day before. Reluctantly, she entered through the threshold.
Endymion’s actions belied his words. He pulled Princess Serenity closer, burying his nose in her hair. Affecting a standard human’s appearance, Serenity’s golden locks were loose and parted to the side to hide the golden crescent mark at her forehead. Her disguise, when accompanied with a commoner’s outfit was very effective.
She chose not to reply to Endymion’s concern. Her attention wandered to the three-quarters full orb glowing dimly in the blue afternoon sky. “You can see the Moon even during the day here?”
“Only sometimes.” Endymion said, following her gaze. “The Moon is so much a part of human life on Earth. Whether or not my people realize it.”
“Hmm?” Serenity asked lazily as she rested her head on Endymion’s chest. The rose garden they lounged in had a calming effect.
“Without the Moon, what would the Earth be? So much of this planet is dependant on the Moon. Our tides and our weather patterns rotate around it. Our animals depend on the Moon’s influence, and even humans do.”
The Princess lifted her head to look up at her Prince. “And you as well, Endymion?”
His dark eyes were warm and a soft smile touched Endymion’s lips. “It is more than the Moon itself that affects my emotions, Serenity.”
The Princess smiled as the Prince of the Earth captured her lips in a gentle kiss.
“This is a briefing on the details of a skirmish led by Zoicite’s European forces against Jadeite’s Eastern forces before our planet became unified. It shows excellent skill in capture and evasion. In fact, if you turn to page fifty six,” He paused when the Martian glanced at her chronometer. He smiled slowly. She may be some great elemental warrior, but as far as he was concerned, she was just another woman in the end.
“My apologies, Lady Mars. I do not mean to bore you.”
The Martian frowned. The shitennou was boring, but it wasn’t just their outdated tactics and technologically antiquated weaponry that caused her to lose her attention. It was her senses, or more importantly, the lack thereof, that continuously threw her off.
Something was wrong, but as it had been with most of her stay on Earth, her spiritual senses were far too clouded to pinpoint the source of her unease.
Kicking his feet off the table’s top with a flourish, she saw Kunzite rise languidly from the corner of her eye. Nephrite seemed to take this as a cue and his words dwindled. He fidgeted. Kunzite smiled darkly.
It set Rei on edge, for their body language was as telling as her senses should have been.
Kunzite slowly walked around the table. A few chairs down from Mars, he leaned casually against the table’s edge and crossed one ankle over the other. Metal against metal was a silken scream as he slowly unsheathed his sword and made a show of examining his reflection in it.
Much to his displeasure, Mars remained unmoved.
“They say you’re an excellent warrior,” he said with no small amount of amusement in his voice, “but then, I don’t put much stock in anything I hear or anyone I see from the Moon Kingdom. So why don’t you be a good little girl now, and instead of getting in over your head, just surrender to us?”
Kunzite sneered. “You’ll make an excellent bargaining chip against the Moon Kingdom.”
Mars looked up at him with flat, amethyst eyes. “Are you quite done yet?” The elder shitennou’s eyes widened. Mars checked her chronometer again casually. “You know, I could have fried you on the spot when you unsheathed your sword, but it was much more enjoyable to listen to you make the total fool out of yourself.”
“You…” Kunzite snarled. The affront was too much to his wounded ego. He lunged forward, swinging his blade wildly.
His sword was deflected by a burning mandala adapted on the spot as a shield, sparing the Martian time enough to launch herself from her seat and affect a defensive position from a safer distance from both men.
“Fire.” Kunzite spat, patting at the singed front of his general’s jacket.
Mars backed up slowly, keeping both men squarely in her vision. Kunzite was clearly the more aggressive and seasoned warrior of the two, but she kept Nephrite in her sights as well, weighing her options of attacking one at the risk of opening herself to the other.
The two shitennou shared a knowing glance. Mars anticipated their actions. The men rushed forward, both with swords raised. Mars shot a ball of fire at Nephrite, throwing him to the side, and met Kunzite’s sword head on. The two locked blades and they engaged in a battle of wills.
“We should have expected as much from Venus’ pet.” The leader of the shitennou spat. Mars narrowed dangerous eyes. The comment could have been double-edged. Did he know about Venus’s disguise?
“Venus?” Kunzite repeated. “She’s your weakness, isn’t she?”
He laughed, cutting off a scathing remark attempted by the Martian. “Then tell me, what would you do if the darkness tainted your light?”
Mars pushed against Kunzite’s sword and skirted back several steps. A burning mandala surrounded her, as much a shield to protect her as a physical manifestation of her anger. “You son of a-“
“Now now, don’t be upset with me. It’s Beryl who’s attempting to do that to her right now, not-“
She’d heard enough. Her flame bow, gripped tightly in her gloved hand, burned its image into her retina. It was a second’s time before she let loose a flame sniper, screaming through the air in a rippling heat wave. She lamented the fact that it hit the wrong side of Kunzite’s chest to kill him outright, but was still vindicated as he crumpled to the ground in pain to extinguish the fire.
But by the time she felt the intrusion into her shield behind her, it was too late.
Mars suppressed a scream and turned to Nephrite, his hand ablaze from where it had penetrated her burning mandala. She released the attack’s remainder on the second shitennou. The ethereal flames ghosted over his body and with a panicked scream, he dropped to the ground to roll the fire out of existence.
She had to hurry. The shitennou were injured, but Mars knew all too well that the strength of her attacks, markedly diminished for having used two powerful attacks at once, wouldn’t be enough to completely stop them.
Reaching behind her, Mars grunted. With a tortured yank, she pulled the dagger out of her lower back.
“It is Endymion’s favorite place.” Beryl’s previous sneer slowly morphed into a soft smile at the mention of the Prince. “He is not due to meet us for another hour, but I thought we might catch him here… early.”
It wasn’t just the tender smile that faded back into an ugly frown, but Beryl’s emotions themselves. The feeling was so poignant that it made Minako queasy, but not so badly as the turn her stomach took at what she saw next.
“Serenity…” The name of her Princess was a fleeting breath. There was no use clinging to their disguises –any longer. The Princess may have done an excellent job disguising herself as an Earthling, but it was her lip lock with Prince Endymion that gave her true identity away immediately.
The Prince of the Earth and the Princess of the Moon froze, experiencing that same stomach wrenching moment of cold understanding. Endymion grabbed Serenity’s shoulders and shoved the small woman behind him, before standing tall before her.
Several times, Beryl looked from the woman disguised as Serenity to Serenity disguised as a human woman, and only then did she see the others, two women at opposite ends of the courtyard. ‘Guards?’ A brunette with long, loose hair and a blunette with short hair tied into a low ponytail began rushing towards the Princess and Endymion. Green and blue glows surrounded them respectively, and two senshi stood guard on either side of Serenity.
“Jupiter, Mercury?” Minako’s voice was a ghost of its normal self. Surprise then turned to sheer anger as all the pieces clicked into place.
Minako stole a glance at Beryl. Betrayal. It rolled off the tactician in painful waves. Denial was there, too. The woman suspected that she’d never really stood a chance with Endymion, but to have it thrown in her face like this…
Minako didn’t have Rei’s extra-sensory powers, but she would have sworn she’d felt the stirrings of dark energy. She looked back to her two senshi, waiting for her command.
“What are you waiting for!?” Minako suddenly snapped. She was confused at the turn of events, she was mad at her warriors, but for the moment, all she could do was lead all those players until her Princess was safe. “Run, now!”
Jupiter and Mercury took to their heels, sandwiching the Princess between their bodies and protectively ushering her away. Endymion skirted sideways on his feet, staying close to the women while affording backwards glances towards Beryl and Minako.
The tactician grabbed Minako by an arm with a strength that shouldn’t have been possible for her size. Cerulean eyes wavered in the intensity of dark orbs that kept threatening to look back towards Endymion’s fleeing form. It was obvious that Beryl wanted to pursue Endymion, but something was keeping her fulfilling her desire.
“You… you knew all along that I wasn’t Serenity, didn’t you?” Minako asked flatly.
“You people of Moon… so simple.” Beryl chuckled.
“What is this?” Minako asked. “This darkness.” Looking into Beryl’s dark, clouded eyes, she tried for demanding, but sounded frightened.
“You can feel her, can’t you?”
“Her?”
“Metallia.”
“Metallia?” Minako asked. “Is she the one controlling you?”
Beryl laughed lightly. “I see you’ve learned much during your stay here despite our attempts to hinder your progress. I should have expected as much from you, Venus.”
Minako frowned and tugged her arm out of Beryl’s icy grasp. “Then our presumptions were correct.”
“Close, little girl, close. Metallia doesn’t control me. She helps me. And she can help you, too.”
“I’m not so foolish as to think this Metallia wouldn’t reap more than she plans to sow. What did she promise you that leads you to believe such rubbish?”
“Endymion.” Her gaze lingered on the empty rose garden.
“Endymion?”
Beryl only sneered. “Anything you want, Venus, name it and it’s yours.”
Minako’s hands balled into fists. “I’ve already got everything I could possibly want.”
“You mean Mars?” Beryl asked languidly, the name sliding off her tongue. “Oh, no, little girl. You see, I have Mars.”
Cerulean eyes hardened. Minako’s entire body flinched as the tactician stepped towards her.
“Kunzite and Nephrite are in possession of her right now, in fact.” Beryl smiled. “As we speak, she could be being turned to our causes by those men.”
A golden glow enveloped Minako’s body. Her chain was alive in her gloved palm even before she was fully Venus, but a certain other senshi beat her to the chase.
“Rei!”
One arm around the tactician’s shoulders, Mars smirked and pressed a bloody dagger to the soft skin of Beryl’s neck. “Sorry I’m late.” She said causally.
“Mars.” Beryl spat. “How-“
The Martian applied the slightest amount of pressure, and the razor sharp blade drew a thin line of blood across Beryl’s white neck. Mars was nearly surprised to find it was red in color.
“I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m rather short on time.” Rei growled through clenched teeth.
She’d have loved to kill the tactician right then and there. In fact, her Martian instincts demanded she do so on several different levels. However, despite having a weapon to her enemy’s throat, she had the distinct sensation that somehow, she had the lower hand. A brief glance to Venus’ hesitant eyes reminded her of the political implications. Her rationale won this struggle, the repercussions outweighing her savage desires.
With a snarl, Mars pulled the blade back, cocked her arm, and slammed the butt of its hilt into the back of Beryl’s head. The human woman crumpled to the grassy ground bonelessly. She’d have one hell of a headache in a few hours, but she’d be alive.
“Rei!” Venus ran to her lover, but felt herself being pushed away, held at an arm’s length.
“It was hard enough for me to find your aura. It’ll be even harder for me to find where the others have run off to.”
Venus nodded sharply and lowered her hands so as not to siphon the Martian’s energy by touching her.
“We have to get out of here.” Mars said hurriedly. “I’m being followed. You lead, I’ll direct you.”
“Rei?”
“Just stay in front of me and go!”
The crimson warrior directed the Venusian through the myriad of palace corridors, quickly finding that though the auras of her comrades were faint in this dark place, the one she could consistently trace was the Prince’s. She focused on that bright, white light like a beacon to a ship lost at sea. Shouting directions at her partner, increasing her volume when the booted heels of the shitennou behind them echoed menacingly in her ears as the men began to catch up to them, she spurred the golden warrior forward.
“There’s Endymion.” Venus breathed in relief.
Mars fought a wave of exhaustion but felt a surge of relief as they neared the Prince of Earth, who stood before a palace exit in a rigid, waiting position.
“The shitennou are right behind us, Kunzite and Nephrite.” Venus warned.
Endymion’s dark eyes narrowed and he pointed to the Martian. “Mars, your blee-”
“Zoicite and Jadeite are right behind the others, too.” Mars said firmly, avoiding Minako’s glare that said, ‘You’re keeping me in the dark, here.’
“Go. I’ll slow them down.” The Prince said coolly. “Serenity and the others are waiting for you in the shuttle right outside.”
Venus nodded and swung the doors open. The small shuttle that hovered several feet off the ground was the first thing to make her smile in what felt like far too long. She pulled Mars out the door with her and took several of the steps in a single stride.
“Venus!”
The golden warrior paused and looked back up towards the Prince.
“Don’t wait for me, alright?”
Venus’ brow furrowed. “Endymion-“
“Just go!”
Venus found Mars nearly pushing her down the steps, and she had to scramble to keep her feet underneath her as they took the stairs nearly four at a time. Reaching the launch pad, Venus vaulted her body into the shuttle’s open door gracefully while Mars threw herself inside messily.
Three sets of eyes looked to their two warriors.
“Warp speed now, Mercury.” Venus barked, her fingers commanding the shuttle door to slide shut with a firm suction.
Serenity reached forward towards the leader of her senshi. “But Endy-“
“Now!”
Mercury spun at the helm. Her fingers flew over the keypad controls rapidly and the shuttle’s engines roared to life. The gravity system in the small craft minimized the g-force on their bodies as they were launched into the blue sky and through the stratosphere beyond.
In the darkness of space, the warp engines disengaged and the impulse engines took over in a jerky forward jolt. In the sudden silence, Serenity’s sobs became nearly unbearable. Mercury and Jupiter spun from the pilot and copilot seats, trying to console their Princess.
“Serenity,” Venus nearly spat. The watery blue eyes of her Princess turned in her direction and a sob stuck in the Princess’ throat. The Venusian refused to be swayed by the desperate, unspoken plea she found there. “I demand that you pull yourself together right now, and tell me exactly what brought you down to the surface.”
Derailing her efforts, Venus felt a head resting on her shoulder. Feeling the steady pressure relying more and more and on her strength to stay upright, Venus turned to the slumping body in the small seat beside her.
It was Mars. Only, she was deathly quiet, and turning very pale.
The Venusian found her interest in Serenity’s story wane in comparison.
“Rei?”
“You can scold me later, Mina.” Mars’ voice was a pained whisper. A weak, crimson light surrounded her body and Rei completely pitched forward into confused, but waiting arms.
The contact made Venus aware of two things simultaneously. Firstly, through all her times siphoning the Martian’s senses, she had never felt Rei so terribly frightened and confused, and secondly, her hands, where they rested on Mars’ back, were covered in blood.
Preview, Chapter 12: Antithesis to the Light
The Prince’s dark eyes narrowed. No longer with blades held to his prone body, he drew himself to his full height. “I will not apologize for my actions.” He insisted. “You have held sway over my court far too long, Beryl.”
“And you think you can change that now?”
Endymion found he couldn’t meet Beryl’s gaze. The woman began to pace a lazy circle around him.
“Too long have you had your head in the clouds, dreaming of the Princess of the Moon while your people have sat sequestered in this foolish treaty, stagnating here while the planets of the rest of the solar system advance and reap the benefits of their alliance with the Moon.”
“And how did you come to that conclusion?” Endymion asked bitterly. “When you came into my service three years ago, what made you come to hate the Moon Kingdom with such intensity?”
Beryl chuckled softly. She paused, her fingers touching her temple as though massaging a distant pain. “I hate their light.”
“Their… light?”
“All that is perfect and beautiful and pure. A mockery of the emotions humans feel. Metallia made me see, she made me see what they really are.”
“Metallia?”
“She is the antithesis to the light of the Moon, though her planet burns brighter than that tiny satellite ever could.”
“Then this power is controlling you.”
Beryl snorted. “Spoken like a true Moonie, Endymion. She does not control me, but opens my eyes to the reality of the corruptness of the Moon peoples.”
The Prince stamped his booted foot on the floor. “The shittenou may believe all this rubbish that you’ve been feeding them, but I won’t. The dissent on this planet is born from you. All of this is about you.”
That cocky sneer faded. Beryl found herself looking at her hands. Her voice became a whisper. “It was supposed to be about you, Endymion.”
The Prince had sensed the fundamental shift in the tactician. She was no longer the cold, unfeeling woman she’d become. Instead, she was vulnerable, hopeful, so much the way she was years ago. “Beryl?”
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