The 'little clown' had not returned, it seemed, in days. The Magician watched people come and go for over a week, but no one matched their description of the one who seemed to be in command.
"She's in charge because she talks to Chaos," the girl in green, JunJun, explained one day. She balanced herself on a large ball using only one hand. "He tells her what to do."
The Magician did not move from his place. He sat in darkness and watched. The circus was in full swing and many patrons filled the main tent.
They were not officially called 'The Dead Moon'. As explained, that would be putting a huge, neon sign on them begging for retaliation from the White Moon. They were 'The Amazon Circus'.
However, so long as the 'little clown' was not there, he was not officially a member of the circus. The most he was allowed to do at this time was take tickets, which he found demeaning.
"She'll be back soon." The blue one, PallaPalla, said as she smiled and made her little dolls dance around as she waited for her act to begin. "She had to do something down in the Amazon, where she found us. BOOM!"
The Magician glanced over to see her wrench the head off of one of her dolls. "No more headache!" He turned back to his own thoughts as the girl was called away to be adored by the crowd.
The light hurt his eyes, or so he claimed. As he sat in the darkness, tuning out the noises, he felt the canvas of the tent behind him flutter and still.
"W-we can't do that!" Muse chirped. She sat in the Moon Castle with the other children. Princess Serenity and Prince Alexei were both there as well, listening to Harmony's insane plan.
"Are you out of what is left of your mind?" Akiko demanded. She gripped the wooden table so hard that she left scorch marks.
Even Varij, the adopted son of Sailor Jupiter, was there, though he was too young to be brought with them. And too scared. That he was even away from his mother at all was amazing to them.
"Miyu is one of us! And she's our cousin!" Harmony insisted as she motioned between herself and her twin. "Someone took her from Lady Earth's castle and we need to find her!"
Akiko growled. She had a bad temper that she inherited from her mother. "You're crazy! Leave it to your father! He'll sort it all out!"
Varij, who was only six or seven – no one was sure of his age – shifted in his seat. "Um… b-but doesn't General Yukio not like… Miyu?"
"And it's still not my problem!"
Harmony obviously did not like that idea. "What if it were you?! Or your little sister?!"
"Then I'd wait for daddy to save me! Not some untrained Sailor Guardian-wannabe!"
Nethanael pulled his sister back as Varij backed away to allow Muse to make Akiko settle down. They glared at one another. Harmony couldn't stand the thought that someone wouldn't help her save her cousin.
"She gave you both HEART ATTACKS!" Akiko reminded. "Why do you want to help her anyway?"
Harmony pulled free of her brother and slammed her hand on the table. But she had nothing to say. She couldn't justify her want to help her cousin.
Nethanael spoke up. "Uncle Hiro. He… he lost a friend named Miyu. That's who he named our cousin after. Father said he values his daughter more than his wife or himself. And… he hurt aunt Hotaru because of it. He wants to make up for failing the first girl. That's what everyone says, at least."
Akiko frowned and grumbled.
As no one stood to offer help, Harmony became more and more despondent. "Please, please. Nethan and I can't do this on our own!"
"Nethanael!"
"Please!"
No one said anything. Varij just sunk lower in his seat at the yelling and the other two looked away. Finally, Serenity spoke up.
"Harmony, I understand your concerns, but this is the issue I have: your uncle is out there as well." Harmony opened her mouth to say something when Serenity held her hand up. "Until we can contain him, he will also be looking for Miyu. He is dangerous so long as we don't know where she is. We will not go out. This will be left to the Sailor Guardians."
She stood and left the room, the white spots in her black hair shifting and giving the illusion of shooting stars. Alexei followed her and soon the room emptied. Only the twins were left.
"She put her foot down. Come on, sister, let's just go home and wait until they capture uncle Hiro."
Nethanael went to tug Harmony's arm, but she refused to budge.
"I'll show them," she promised. "I can be just like mother… maybe I will never be as beautiful as she is, but I will be a better Sailor Guardian!"
Nethanael could only watch as she ran off on her own.
Yukio sat at his desk with the beginnings of a headache. Harmony was throwing a fit again, Miyu was kidnapped, and his brother was on a murderous rampage. This was not how he wanted to enjoy his life.
"Can we rebel again, love? I would think that would be less stressful."
He looked to his wife who was sitting in a chair near the door. "No."
"Then I will die from heart failure. Where in Hell is he?" Yukio turned to the holographic display of Earth before him. He had population density, economic ratings, pollution levels, temperatures, all displayed for him. He was hoping to catch a fluctuation in something, ANYTHING that could be attributed to his brother.
But no. Aside from a plunge in the Americas as what looked to be a financial downturn hit, nothing said 'Hirokazu'.
He even had Safa look for their brother. She had tracked him successfully once before, perhaps she could do it again.
He worried he would go grey from it.
"I have more soldiers than I know what to do with, and I can't send them anywhere until I know where that little bastard is."
Lady Venus looked up. "Couldn't you just deploy them to keep the population safe?"
"No." He sighed and pulled his hair free to re-tie it. "We want to keep this under wraps. No one can know that Hirokazu has gone crazy."
The beeping indicated that someone wished to enter and he allowed it. Safa walked in and was replacing a throwing knife on the belt around her leg.
"Please tell me you have good news."
The look on her face told him that wasn't the case. He dropped his hands and sunk back in his chair. "Then why bother coming?"
Safa stood over the chair opposite him and dug her blood red nails into it. "We haven't found any trace of Hirokazu, but I've found something more interesting, and I think you'll want to know about it."
She pulled a stack of photographs from a messenger bag that was slung over her shoulder and they hit the desk with a soft 'thump'. Yukio began to sift through them.
"There's a new attraction gaining some notoriety. I've not been to see it myself, but it's surely interesting. Look."
Yukio stared at a photograph at some of the acrobats. These were pictures taken by a tourist. "How did you get these if you didn't go yourself?"
"Not important. Look at them." She put her finger on the face of the one crossing the tightrope on her hands. Yukio shifted to another picture of one on a trapeze and another to two of them juggling live torches between them.
"What about them? They are skilled, yes, but what-" he halted as he came to another picture of a girl in the background, getting ready to come out a moment later. "Not possible."
"The Amazon Circus looks to be where we need to focus our attention on, big brother."
The girl in the photograph was the girl who took Miyu. The Agent of Chaos.
The Magician stood in the dark shadows of the ticket booth. He refused any light to come to him and took the tickets wordlessly. It was still demeaning, but the little clown would not speak with him yet. A young woman with a small child on her hip handed the tickets over and was obviously a little wary of the darkened figure. He simply produced a small bouncing ball with a flourish of his hand for the little boy who shrieked happily and took it.
Then a new figure caught his eye. He pulled the hood of his cloak down further when a girl with long, beautiful hair came up.
Princess Harmony of Venus, followed closely by her twin brother, Prince Nethanael.
"Tickets?" he asked and held his hand out. Harmony seemed just as wary as the woman before had been. Nethanael held them out for him and he took them. "What are children of the Moon doing here on their own?"
Harmony stood straight. "We want to see the circus! M-mummy and daddy said we could come!"
The Magician chuckled at the obvious lie but he said nothing about it. "Then, please enjoy yourselves. You… honor us with your presence."
Another flourish of his hand produced a white rose that he handed the head strong princess. She took it with hesitation and looked to her brother.
"Let's go in, Nethan."
"Nethanael!"
They bickered slightly as they entered the tent and the Magician smiled. It would be so easy now.
Harmony sat on the seat uncomfortably. It was filthy! Did people not CLEAN? Nethan sat himself with no problem and looked around. It smelled horribly in the tent but neither commented. Harmony was glad she'd not worn one of her better dresses to the event.
"We should leave," Nethan reminded. "If father finds out we've done this do you understand how much trouble we will be in?"
"Not without what we came for!"
They bickered for several moments as the event began. Harmony stopped in favor of watching one of the acrobats perform some trick and was amazed at it. Nethanael was, as well, but he didn't let it show. The show continued on and seemed to be winding down, much to the disappointment of the princess.
"It's… just a normal show."
She deflated in her seat and went to stand up and leave. Nethanael was with her and allowed her to go before him. He ignored the 'Oh, how sweet' comments and nearly ran in to Harmony. She was trying to find the flap that led out and he could feel her panic well up inside of him.
"Harmony, what's wrong?"
She dropped to her knees and gave the tent a hard, upwards tug. It didn't move.
He knew without her having to say it and he began to pull on it as well.
"Why isn't it moving, Nethan?"
"I don't know!"
The continued to pull and had moved under the bleachers, trying to find a loose spot. They'd been out of view for several minutes when the screaming began. Harmony turned around, though Nethanael held her hand to keep her from moving. Something was happening, but they couldn't see what. Not well, at least.
A strong perfumed scent was overpowering the two of them. Harmony fell first and Nethanael struggled to remain conscious to see what was happening. The people began to glow, everyone the members of the circus could see began to… to glow.
The last thing he saw before he succumbed to unconsciousness as well were hundreds of mirrors being pulled from the people.
