Pawn

by cookirini

Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions - Niccolo Machiavelli

Pathetic.

Rubeus stood in front of the mirror, his figure unmoving, his arms folded tightly. His face was a mask of emotionless, which served to hide the abject anger he felt at what he was watching. That, and the sickness he felt at the needless saccharine that seemed to emanate throughout not just the chamber of mirrors, but the entire spacecraft.

So...this is what you've chosen.

Flickering within the glass was an image of two young women, one with long purple hair with two points sticking up like cat ears, the other with somewhat shorter white hair in a braid. Both were in clothing befitting the Tokyo fall, human clothing. Smiling, talking and laughing in front of an old Shinto temple, with young girls who they clearly considered friends; with them, of all people, was the little rabbit, yet there was no sign of animosity or anger.

It was good that he was watching it alone, lest he took it out on his remaining soldiers. They were of the same blood, after all. It wouldn't have been so difficult for a man with the amount of pride Rubeus had - and it wouldn't have been the first time.

Fools. His hands balled into fists, which shook slightly. They are fools to cross me...

Rubeus wanted them both gone. It was bad enough they had failed him, bad enough they had proven themselves incompetent to his uses. Now, instead of killing themselves as he had wanted them to (and what he made clear was expected of failures such as them) they were human and had the gall to enjoy life after leaving him.

To him, this was unacceptable. Once a pawn, always a pawn. And they were his pawns, and nothing more.

FOOLS!

A fist smashed into the mirror as the two girls began to laugh once more. Stop laughing! he wanted to shout at them. Enough! I forbid you to laugh!

He had trained the Ayakashi Sisters to be loyal to him, and only him. All four of them, they were supposed to follow him to the ends of the earth and beyond, undergo whatever tortures he conceived within his mind, to prove that they would do anything for him. Where had he gone wrong? What mistake did he make in his plans? When did they start feeling they actually mattered in the grand scheme of things?

They didn't. Rubeus knew they didn't and wouldn't once he succeeded; in the end only what he wanted mattered. Which made the fact that two of the pawns managed to get away from him - with the help of his enemies - even angrier.

"You..." He grit his teeth as the blood began to seep down the faultlines made by the impact of his fist. "traitors..."

"Rubeus."

Rubeus' heart froze at the voice as it suddenly echoed through the chamber. Eerie greys and greens and yellows began to fill the center of the room as it came to life, flashing on and off as purple began to seep up into the hologram. A figure emerging from the depths of darkness.

"Wiseman."

Rubeus quickly turned around, his hands in his pockets. If there was one person in the Clan that he feared most, it was this, the old sage who advised him, the one who could help him usurp Demando when the time came. The one who could just as easily crush him and leave him if the Crimson Warrior didn't play his cards right.

"I wasn't expecting you." He felt sweat forming on his brow, but he ignored it, keeping his face a blank mask. "What brings you here?"

"You." The black crystal ball appeared in the old man's yellowed, wizened hands. "I am all too aware of what is happening here. The prince is not pleased. Your agenda - both long- and short-term - are in danger."

"The prince." Rubeus felt his stomach drop. "So he is watching me then."

"The loss of two warriors under your watch is always a cause for concern to the prince." The old man didn't seem too concerned about it himself. Then again, the old man never claimed to care much for the Ayakashi sisters either. "However, there is a chance you can redeem yourself in his eyes and get back to your original goals."

"Is that so." Rubeus looked at the old man. "How?"

"It is quite simple, Crimson Warrior." The hooded head looked up at Rubeus, face unseen but words as clear as day. "You must destroy them."

"Destroy..."

"All of them."

"Wiseman..."

Rubeus stared at the sage, unsure of what he just heard. Was the old man asking him to do what he thought...not just the two traitors...

No, he was. He really was. And of course it made sense. Rubeus had always intended to get rid of the four girls, right from the very beginning. He had even told Wiseman of this when he first searched them out. They would do the work necessary to alter the crystal points so that the future could be changed in favor of the Black Moon in the future war. Then, once victory was certain, the Crimson Warrior would kill them and use the power he had gained from the crystal points to eliminate his enemies - the queen of Crystal Tokyo, the prince of the Black Moon. Safir, Esmeraude, King Endymion. The sailor senshi. All of them, wiped out.

Well, the sisters had outlived their usefulness by this point. Two had turned and the two that were left were hopelessly ineffectual, bickering constantly to the point of failure. Besides, it was not as if Rubeus couldn't find other women willing to lay their lives down for him. They always found a reason to follow him. Women were desperate creatures, needing attention and reassurance that what they were doing was right (much like his comrade Esmeraude); Rubeus was only too happy to provide them answers until it was no longer necessary to keep up the facade.

"...Of course." A satisfied smirk came onto Rubeus' face. "Just tell me what needs to be done, Wiseman..."

And so the deed was done. Rubeus was granted the black rod, which, Wiseman promised, would get rid of the four sisters. In the end, they would destroy themselves. Rubeus was delighted by the prospect, confident that this would happen and confident that once they were gone he would find replacement warriors - and his plans to win the war, and the Nemesian throne, would be rehabilitated.

Wiseman had assented to this, once more promising Rubeus his full support in the endeavor. As he returned to the future, and to his private grotto, however, the skeletal phantom let out a rasped howl of laughter.

Rubeus really fell for it. He truly thought accepting the rod would solve his problems. No, Wiseman knew better. The rod could - and would - be destroyed by the senshi. All four sisters would survive unscathed - and turned into humans by the senshi. They were lucky, as far as he was concerned. Rubeus, on the other hand...by morning the prince would know of his newest failed attack, and from there on in it was only a matter of time before his painful, destructive end.

It's a shame. he looked at his crystal ball, watching the blacks and greens and blues within swirl around and dance, echoing his amusement. The Crimson Warrior, desperate as he is, was quite useful in the past.

But, as with all pawns, there came a time when one's usefulness ran out.