Title: "His Mercury"
Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
Prompt: 1205 (Every time)
Character/Pairing: King Endymion, Zoisite; Zoisite x Ami
Rating: T / PG-13 / Teen
Word Count: 1264
Summary: While Tuxedo Kamen rescues Sailor Moon from Dimande, King Endymion is confronted by one of the few people left awake in the Crystal Palace.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Authors Notes: Crystal Tokyo/R era.
"His Mercury"
"You did not tell them of us."
Endymion turned his head, hiding his surprise well at the man's silent approach. Zoisite stood in the doorway to the crystal chamber, an unreadable expression on his face. Endymion could sense his confusion, hesitation through their psychic link, but the general was doing well to shield the true extent of his emotions. He sighed and looked back to the four women forming a ring around the crystal, their hands and powers linked as they gave everything they had to the barrier around the palace. They had not moved since…
Zoisite's guard dropped the slightest bit as he approached, but it was enough for Endymion to catch a glimpse at the true extent of the turmoil wracking the youngest of his Shitennou. Truly, it was the same turmoil that plagued him every time he looked at his crystal-encased queen and the same turmoil that haunted the other three every time they thought of this room and the women within. Pain. Loss. Hope. The desire to do anything to take the burden from the shoulders of the Inner soldiers, and the helplessness that came with knowing the best they could do was monitor them. Guard them. Exactly what they were doing, and exactly what they each felt was not enough in the slightest.
Zoisite stopped before Sailor Mercury, his expression cracking just the slightest as his hand slowly rose to her face. He hesitated just short of touching her, his hand trembling before fisting and returning to his side. His only comfort could be in seeing her; to touch her would risk her concentration, and the slightest waver in the barrier…
"Soon, Zoisite," Endymion said. He reached out and clasped a hand on his shoulder, and Zoisite drew a heavy breath. "This will all end soon."
"How can you be so certain?" he asked, and Endymion chuckled slightly. Zoisite shot him a perturbed stare, and the king shrugged helplessly.
"I have already lived one side of this war," he said as if it were obvious. "I remember Serenity defeating the Wise Man. While I have not seen the aftermath from our side, I cannot believe it will be for worse. I remember Small Lady returning to us shortly after to complete her Senshi training, and the future she spoke of – what little she could tell us – was never bleak."
"Yet you still did not tell the Senshi of the past about us," Zoisite said, tone accusing. He looked back to his wife, his beautiful Mercury, and his guard cracked yet again. Gods, he missed her…no amount of knowing this was the right way, the only way, could make that any less true.
"You were spying," Endymion said, an equal accusation in his voice, but Zoisite was unrepentant.
"It was my shift at the guard station," he said. "I was the one who informed you of the breach in our security. Of course I was spying."
"You know, with the others, I don't think I'd have to make this order explicit, but with you…" Endymion looked over to him, an eyebrow raised. "You are not to interact with the Senshi of the past, Zoisite."
"You say it like I was planning on running up to the past Sailor Mercury and snogging her senseless on the spot," Zoisite quipped, and Endymion turned to fully level his incredulous look on him.
"And you weren't?" he asked. Zoisite had the decency to flush.
"It hadn't entirely escaped my mind," he mumbled. "She is my a stór, after all."
"Not that Mercury, Zoisite," the king said, eyes narrowed. "Not at that time, not for a few years."
"Can you honestly say you believe that, Endymion?" Zoisite asked, giving him a level stare of his own. "When you saw Sailor Moon, the younger version of your queen, can you honestly tell me there wasn't some part of you that reached out to her? Some part that saw who she was and recognized her as who she will one day be? As a part of the queen you're waiting so earnestly for?"
"That Mercury has no good memory of you, Zoisite," Endymion said. "That Mercury only knows you as a traitor who tried to kill her and her friends. She would not trust you. If I were to tell her she eventually marries you…"
"I understand that, I do," Zoisite said. "They're too close to the events of the Dark Kingdom, and their memories have not been restored to them. But all the same…she is my Brigid as much as she is Ami. There is some part of her that is the same, that will always be the same, and that is the part I can appreciate as my love. It was the same princess I fell in love with in the Silver Millennium, the same girl I awoke to in that pub before the restoration, and the same woman I gladly married now in the Crystal Millennium. She is my Brigid every time, much as I am her Zoisite every time."
As much as the king wanted to be annoyed with his old friend, he found he could not. He sighed and smiled, shaking his head as he clasped a hand on his shoulder.
"You're such a goofball most of the time," he said. "It can be easy to forget how deep you actually are."
"I feel I should be insulted," Zoisite quipped with a smirk. He looked back to Mercury then, his expression softening as he observed his wife. "I won't approach them, my king. I know better. The surprise will be good for them, and if we clued them in now they would only be distracted from their objective."
"But?" Endymion asked, seeing that look in his eyes and knowing there was more he had left unsaid.
"The second they're able to come out of this spell, I'm taking her back to Mercury and we're not returning for a month," Zoisite said, giving him a grin. "Actually, I probably won't even let her leave our room for a week."
Endymion blinked for a moment before he choked on a laugh, and the next thing Zoisite knew his king was doubled over in body-shaking laughs. He grinned, looking back to Mercury and sighing. He leaned closer and said, "Oh dear, mo chara. I think I broke him."
"Get back to your post, Zoi," Endymion said, shoving his shoulder slightly. He grinned and nodded, winking before he teleported over to the console in the corner of the room. Endymion lifted an eyebrow at him as he leaned back in the chair, propping his feet up on the desk and resting his head on the arms tucked behind his head. Zoisite just grinned.
"You said get back to my post," he said. "Jadeite had just relieved me at Security to send me down here when I showed up."
Endymion gave him a look, and he shrugged.
"Just doing my job," he said. Endymion rolled his eyes before a voice echoed through the room.
"Tuxedo Kamen has returned with Sailor Moon from Dimande's fortress," Jadeite's voice said. "They are awaiting you with the other Senshi, sire."
"Thank you, Jadeite," Endymion said, knowing the Shitennou would hear him. He turned back to Zoisite, ready to say something else, but the Northern King just waved him off.
"Go, already," he said. "I've got this covered here. And the sooner you get them home and out of here, the sooner our girls come back. So get going already."
Endymion shook his head, smiling slightly as he left the crystal chamber.