Rei pushed open the doors to the soldier's quarters, wincing at the loud racket her wet boots made on the hard marble floor. She pushed her sopping wet hair back out of her eyes and winced again when her shoulder reminded her it wasn't quite healed yet. She laughed in spite of herself, but it died away when she saw an anxious looking Jupiter leaning on the wall outside the door to her room. "What's up?" she asked quietly, trying to ignore the sinking, queasy feeling that settled in her stomach. Jupiter eyed her up and down curiously. "What happened to you?" "Got into an argument with some goldfish." "Oh. Who won?" the brunette asked, raising an eyebrow. "The goldfish. Now tell me, why are you waiting for me? You an Ami get into a squabble?" Surprisingly, Jupiter blushed at the mention of her blue haired lover. "No, nothing like that." she stammered. "But, there is something I think you should see." "Do I have time to change my clothes?" Mars asked with a grin. "I'd really hate to start rusting." "Trust me. You'll wanna see this now." --------------- Mars followed the soldier of thunder through the palace, and down the stairs to the lowest level. Her confusion really began to mount when Makoto paused before the door to the laundry cellar, resting her hand on the doorknob. "What's this all about? Am I gonna get ambushed?" Rei asked suspiciously. "No worries. No goldfish in here." Jupiter said with a nervous grin, pushing the door open. "What the hell?? Why is he tied up!?" Mars cried, eyeing the bound and gagged Endymion. Mercury was standing in front of the Earth Prince, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. She turned slightly when she heard Rei's voice, and looked her over strangely. "What happened to you?" "Long story." Mars grumbled. "Will somebody tell me what's going on?" "While on patrol, we found him acting suspiciously in the palace gardens." Jupiter said with a sigh. Endymion struggled against his ropes and tried to say something around the cloth stuffed in his mouth, but was silenced with a glare from the ice soldier. "He claimed he was just trying to see Serenity, but we didn't think that involved counting the number of guards and entrances posted in that general vicinity of the palace, especially with her room being way on the other side." Mercury added. Mars raised her eyebrows and turned to the prince. His eyes bugged out of his head and he began to struggle against his binds desperately. "That is highly suspicious." Rei agreed, kneeling in front of him. She took the prince's chin between her thumb and forefinger and stared him down. "You listen here. I'm going to remove the cloth, and you have exactly twenty seconds to tell me why I shouldn't flame broil you where you sit. You try to escape, or call for someone, and I will fry your sorry carcass. We clear?" He nodded slowly, blue eyes wide. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other." she said with a grin, roughly yanking the gag out of his mouth. "Are all of you crazy??" he cried out, eyes darting wildly from one soldier to the other. "That was a good waste of four seconds." Mars warned, holding up her hand. He gaped openly. "W...wait!" "Yes?" Rei asked, letting her energy pulse into her hand. Tiny orange and red flames danced across her fingers. "I'm not doing anything wrong! I wouldn't hurt her!" Mars turned slightly towards Jupiter. "Does that sound like something a spy would say?" Jupiter nodded solemnly. Endymion shook his head rapidly to the contrary. "Two against one. I think we win." the fire soldier said gravely. The flames in her hand grew a little higher. "Tell me why you'd want to scope out that particular end of the palace." "I...I was trying to find a way out." he cried weakly. "A way out?" He nodded. "When the fighting broke out, I was going to get her out of here. No offense, but you guys don't stand a chance." Rei's eye twitched visibly and both Jupiter and Mercury took a step back. "He's not very bright is he?' The thunder soldier whispered to Ami. Mercury shook her head slowly. Mars sprung forward, grasping the man by the front of his shirt. "And what would make you such an expert? Got something to tell me?" He paled. "Her army is massive. Unstoppable. I..I couldn't watch my people die..." "That's what I thought." She released a tired sigh. "Great. Just great." He swallowed hard, and looked Mars in the eye. "I had to. With her, it's join or die. My people don't deserve that." he paused, and licked his lips. "She promised that if I would help, no harm would come to the Princess, that she would be safe." "And you bought that?" Mars snapped. "What would you do?" he demanded. "I know you! You'd do the same thing! I do love her! It's the only thing I could think of!" Rei couldn't help herself anymore. Before anyone could stop her, she rammed her flaming fist into his jaw. He winced, but refused to cry out. "Listen to me." she whispered dangerously. "The only reason I let you live now is because she likes you, and killing you would make her cry. I hate seeing her cry." She threw him back down and sighed in disgust. "The whole time." she growled angrily. "I knew we couldn't trust him." "What should we do with him?" Jupiter asked quietly. "I say we turn him over to the queen. He may be able to provide us with more information regarding the enemy. He's bound to have seen her armies in action down on Earth." suggested Mercury. Jupiter nodded in agreement. "Any help we can get would be a great asset at this point, even if it comes from a dog." Endymion looked away. "Well, shall we escort him to the holding cell?" she asked cheerily, cracking her knuckles. "Let's." Mars said with a dark grin. "Before I get really angry." Jupiter and Mars hoisted Endymion to his feet, and he gazed at Mercury sadly. "I hope you all find a way. She's a monster. I did what I thought would save the most lives." "Yeah. Like yours." Jupiter muttered, cramming the gag back in his mouth. Rei peered over the top of the prince's head. "Makoto, did I ever tell you that you are my hero?" "I get that a lot." she replied with a cheeky smile, 'accidentally' elbowing the prince in the ribs. "You are incorrigible." Mercury sighed. "Yeah, but that's why you love me." Makoto said with a smirk. ------------------ Rei sighed wearily and threw herself down on top of her bed. It had been a long day, and she had exactly one hour to get some sleep before taking her post. 'Tomorrow never comes until it's too late.' The crawling feeling returned. By now the uncomfortable sensation had made it's way into her neck, stretching up into her skull like cold fingers. Mars made a mental note to get it checked out after her shift, and tried desperately to think of something else until it passed. She gazed up at the ceiling blankly, Endymion's words echoing in her head. "I wouldn't do the same thing. I'd find a way." she whispered aloud. "I see. Now you're a hypocritical bloodthirsty savage." came a mocking reply. Mars flung herself bolt upright, only to find herself back in the damned darkness. "You." she spat out. "What do you want now?" "I told you Rei. I enjoy talking with you." "Yeah, well screw off. I'm not talkative today." "Ah, but you were so full of self righteous convictions earlier. What happened?" "Burn in hell. I don't play mind games." Mars growled. "No? Maybe you should tell that to the pretty little blonde..." Rei's face curled into a snarl. "You leave her out of this!!" "Oh, no vehement declarations to the contrary? I must not be wrong." "Shut the hell up!" Mars thundered. "Or what?" Mars didn't answer. She just held out her hands, fully intent on torching whoever her 'guest' was. Nothing happened. She dropped her hands down to her sides, defeated. "Figures." the fire soldier spat. "You're in my domain now Mars. I control everything." "You wanna talk? Talk. But let me warn you. I'll get to the bottom of all of this, and when I do, you're gonna talk to my fists." "I look forward to that day, I really do. But in the meantime, tell me something. Why beat up on Prince Charming? All he did was carry out the suggestion you put forward yourself. You wanted to surrender, but yet you pound on him for doing the exact same thing." A horrendous knot formed in Rei's stomach. "How do you know all of this?" Her visitor laughed. "The killer in me is the killer in you." "Argh! I have no idea what you're talking about!!" Mars cried angrily. "You only need to understand one thing Mars. To get what you want, you'll have to work with me." "I don't want anything from you!" Rei threw back defiantly. "But you want those you treasure to survive, right? That means you want something from me." "Who the hell are you?" "All in good time little soldier. For now, think about what I've said. You're so quick to pass judgment on others, but refuse to place judgment on yourself. Nobody's right if everybody's wrong." Mars had no reply. "We'll meet again." Rei's head swam hazily. When she could focus her eyes again, she found herself back in her room, exhausted and confused. 'That's it. It's official. I've lost my mind.' A quick glance to the crystal on her end table confirmed what she had already guessed. It was time for her shift. 'You've got to be kidding me. I was off in la-la land for an entire hour? It felt like minutes. Looks like I'm running on no sleep today. This has really got to stop. I'm not even sure if I should dare mention it to the others. They may very well have me committed.' She rubbed swollen, tired eyes roughly with her hands and pushed herself off of the bed, stumbling sleepily to her closet. 'Ugh. A bath would be wonderful, but I'm out of time. Time, time, time. It's always time. Running out of time, killing time, there's not even enough time in a day anymore. I have half a mind to punch Pluto. It's gotta be her fault somehow.' She yanked a fresh uniform off of a shelf, identical to the half dozen below it. 'What I wouldn't give to take a vacation. But who has the time?' she mused darkly as she quickly changed clothes. After donning her armor, and taking five minutes to at least wash up a bit in her water basin, she headed out the door. 'Plus side to all of this? I get to see Venus for at least a minute or so. Funny. Since when did that become the highlight of my day?' Mars recalled the evenings events and frowned slightly. 'I wonder what her response to the prince's situation will be? Even worse, what will Serenity say?' The thought of her Princess brought conflicting emotions. She recalled her conversation with Artemis that seemed like an eternity ago. She had sworn up and down that she didn't want to lie to Venus by promising things she couldn't give her. On the other hand, with what seemed to be the world's end breathing down their necks, it didn't seem like it mattered anymore. Mars couldn't help but wonder just how much of it was a lie anymore anyway. In just a few short days, Venus had completely wormed her way into the fire soldier's heart, and she still wasn't sure how she did it. 'I'll have to remember to talk to Jupiter. She and Mercury seem to be doing just fine. I wonder where Venus and I are even going with this. But again, it raises the question, with time running out, does it even matter?' She thought back to the words her Queen had said, and the amount of confidence she had placed in the soldiers. 'Maybe it does matter. Maybe by some act of God, we'll win...' But Mars just couldn't shake the feeling of doubt that crept into her heart, and the words of her horrid guest haunted her as she made her way to Princess' quarters. 'Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.' Was the queen wrong? 'Ok. No more thinking. Thinking is bad.' Thankfully, a pair of hands slid over her eyes from behind, pulling her out of her dark thoughts. "Guess who?" teased the golden voice Rei was beginning to feel lost without. "Hm. Must be Satan again. I keep telling you boss, I'll have those orphan souls to you by week's end..." "Ugh! Mars, you're really messed up! What exactly did your parents do to you?" Venus cried in mock horror, removing her hands so Rei could face her. "I'm not sure. I was shipped here when I was five, so I'd say the people I grew up around are to blame." Mars brought a finger to the side of her face, as though deep in thought. "Hey! Wait a minute! Didn't I grow up with you?" Venus stuck out her tongue in reply and shoved the warrior playfully. "Don't blame all your childhood traumas on me!" "Why not? Seems every time I was in trouble, you were always standing right next to me." Minako let out a musical laugh. "I told you Martians were dumb. If you wanted to stand there and take the fall for me, that is no fault of mine." "Oh really?" Rei questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I seem to recall you were very good at persuading people to do your evil bidding." "Only dumb Martians." Venus replied with a grin. "Whatever." Mars growled, pulling the blonde in for a kiss. "Well, this is new." Serenity exclaimed from the doorway of her bedroom. Minako and Rei sprang apart, blushing profusely. Serenity laughed and waved her hand. "Oh come on guys, it doesn't bother me. It makes me happy to see that you've both found someone to care about, especially you, Rei. I was worried for the longest time..." Mars muttered something incomprehensible and stared at the floor. "Well, some things never change." the Princess giggled. Rei shook her head. "We can all laugh at me later, but I kinda have something important to tell the two of you." "What, you're getting married?" Serenity teased. 'Why me?' Mars questioned for about the 4,268th time in her life. If any more blood went to her face, the rest of her body would cease to function. Minako looked as though she were no better off than Rei. "Ok, ok. Serious now." The princess promised, once her laughter died away. Rei took a deep breath and steeled herself. "Uh, it's actually about Endymion..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Note - Yeah, don't ask me where this chapter came from. I like Mamoru. I really do. I guess it was just the culmination of a really frustrating work day. I came home, sat at my desk, and my little cute Tuxedo Mask plushie was smiling all cute like at me. I guess somewhere in my warped little brain, deep down, I decided my horrid day was all his fault.
Back to Wishful Thinking Index - Back to Sailor Moon Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction