A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Ghost Captain Barbossa whose review motivated me to hurry along my writing.
Special Thanks to my beta, Midnight's Violet Haze.
Perfect World
Chapter Eight: Say You Love Me
The Earth was scourged. Deep craters could be seen, even near the palace, but whatever damage had been caused would not be expanded upon, because the shields guarding the palace had been activated. King Endymion and Mercury had no problem passing through the barrier, expressions somber. Artemis greeted them as soon as they entered the palace.
"What happened?" Endymion asked as soon as he saw the other man.
He made a gesture for them to follow him, talking as he went, not waiting. "An attack was launched and we took some heavy damage before the shield went up. Jupiter and Venus have been heavily injured in battle, but we managed to capture two of the rogues that King Jasper mentioned." Artemis paused in speech, but not motion. "Where is Mars?"
"We had to leave her behind on Neptune," Mercury answered. "She was injured by one of the warriors, as well, and we were expecting a fight."
"Yes, well-"
"Artemis!" Luna's voice called, interrupting him.
Suspicion and alarm lit their faces, and they moved into a battle position, before Artemis moved in front of her. "Wait!" he said. "As I was about to say, her majesty has returned. Serenity-"
"Serenity is back!" Mercury said with relief.
Endymion's voice was hard as he asked, "Where has she been? How did she return? And what is she doing free?"
"Serenity used her crystal and healed her of The Phantom's influence. There wasn't time to ask what had happened. She arrived and upon seeing the attack, she had to see to the shields and order the troop's. Venus had gone to search her out, but when she returned, the attack was already underway-"
"Wait. Let's have this story in order." Endymion said.
"King Endymion," Luna interrupted. "Serenity would like you to meet with her alone. She instructed me to tell you to meet her in the com room. Artemis, she wants you and Mercury to guard the prisoners. They are in dire condition and she wants someone to question them when they wake."
"Alright," Mercury agreed slowly, but it was clear that she wanted to see Serenity. To confirm for herself that her queen -her princess, her friend- was safe.
"I'll tell you what I know on the way," Artemis said.
"And what are your orders?" Endymion questioned with narrowed eyes.
"Not to let you dally in meeting with her," Luna answered.
Displeased with that answer, with not knowing the full situation, with the current state of affairs and having too many questions unanswered, he went to find Serenity intent to get his answers.
Serenity was typing on one of the large screen computers that filled the room when he entered, staring intently at the screen. "Thank you, Luna. You are dismissed." Serenity said without turning to face the two.
Luna left without a word, not saying anything. Endymion's eyes were narrowed with suspicion, but Serenity was not looking at him to see. "How have you returned? We thought that you'd been taken by the Phantom."
"Attacked, but not taken," she told him. "Whatever else The Phantom is after, one of his goals is to gain access to the ginzuisho."
"So what happened?" he asked.
"I was wounded and trapped in a coma for a time. At least, that's what I'm told. It seemed only like a nightmare to me. Venus... is the reason that I was returned. She and Jupiter were wounded, they are being taken care of. I was able to snap Luna from whatever control the Phantom had of her. But Nephthys-"
"Turn to me," he said.
Serenity paused in her typing. "Why?"
"I need to see your face. To know if it's really you."
"It's me."
"Let me see your face!" he repeated angrily. He was too worried about his planet, about his people, about Mars, to keep his calm. She stopped whatever she was doing and turned to him, her eyes hard and determined. It wasn't a look he was used to on his queen, but it was a look he was familiar with, coming from the face of the moon senshi.
"Your turn to answer me," she said. "What has happened here?"
He told her about the events on Neptune, about Berthier, and about Mars. Her face didn't change as she took it all in.
Once he was finished, she spoke. "I'm going to need you to take care of things here."
"You are leaving?" he asked her.
"Not now," she told him. "But the Phantom has to be dealt with and I can fight him with the ginzuisho. I've contacted Queen Isis and Queen Hathor. I trust them and I've asked them to tell me a few things about the other planets..." She turned back toward the computer. "Saturn is prepared to help me whenever I choose to go after The Phantom. Hathor... I am convinced that neither she nor her people have any reason to attack us. The threat is not primarily based on Neptune or Nemesis. That leaves Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto. Neither Pluto nor Uranus would have been able to attack in the time it took you to reach Neptune. Not without giving themselves away. That being said, it had to have been one of the inner planets. I doubt that King Ra would see fit to strike us... Neither King Horus nor King Thoth were present when we all met on Mars, so I suspect one of them to be taken over by the enemy and the other to be in a more dangerous position with our enemy."
"You've been busy," he said.
"Yes," she answered.
"So what are you planning to do?"
"I have to take the fight to them before they bring it once more to us."
"That's too dangerous," he told her. "You haven't fought in years. You can't even become a senshi."
"Then I will fight them as a queen," Serenity answered. "My mother was able to do so."
"Your mother gave her life," he reminded.
"And because of that, her people were able to have a second chance. I want to strike before the end comes for me." Her voice dropped to a whisper as she added, mostly to herself, "I've spent too long doing nothing already."
Many hours had passed by the time Mercury found Serenity, still cloistered in the comm room. Though she looked tired, Serenity was very alert. As soon as the senshi of Mercury entered the room, she began to speak. "Endymion told me what happened, and I was able to talk to Neptune. Mars is recovered and the warrior on Nemesis is imprisoned. It doesn't seem as if the Phantom yet knows what happened there."
"Serenity," Mercury said softly, moving closer to her queen. She was about to reach out to her, but Serenity spoke again and Mercury dropped her hand.
"Were you able to obtain any information from the two warriors here?" Serenity asked. "I was afraid to risk trying to heal them of the Phantom's power, in case it would disrupt whatever knowledge they had."
"I'm sorry, my queen, but I wasn't able to get much out of them," Mercury said. "They were... too damaged for heavy interrogation."
"Neptune suspects that the last warrior is on Uranus, which would explain why King Horus was missing from the event on Mars. Clearly, he wanted to bring down the other planets. From the inside and out. It'll be difficult to-"
"Serenity," Mercury interrupted. "Are you alright?"
"Pardon?"
"Before you disappeared, Mars told us... about she and Endymion. Why the two of you had that fight on Mars."
"And so?"
"And I want to know if you are alright," Mercury asked. "On top of that, what's happened with the Phantom, it must be stressful."
Serenity was silent a moment. "I wonder if Pluto can be persuaded into aiding our cause. I don't recall her being expressly forbidden to speak, so maybe-"
"Do not change the subject, Usagi!" Mercury exclaimed. "I can't stand to see you this way. To think that you were hurting all this time and didn't even tell us. Didn't even tell me." Serenity turned to face her at this point, seeing the sorrow and distress in the senshi's eyes. "Why?" she asked. "Why didn't you talk to me? Even if you didn't tell me what was wrong, you made us think that you were happy. That everything was fine. I thought that the distance was just because you had become used to being queen, but now- Is it something that I did? Is it my fault that you thought you couldn't tell me? Did I make you think that you couldn't trust me?" Mercury questioned desperately.
"It wasn't you," she told her. "It wasn't any of you. It was selfishness, disbelief, denial... I kept thinking that it could not be true, that maybe it was all some terrible dream that I kept having. I couldn't admit to it. I didn't want anyone to know. I didn't want... this..."
"What?" Mercury asked. "Our concern?"
"Your pity," she answered. "All along, I've endured your pity. Pity because I was the tragic princess of the moon. Pity because I had to fight. Pity when I struggled to lead, struggled in school, struggled to become a queen and let you all go. I wasn't willing to surrender to that again once I had finally gotten the hang of things. I wasn't willing to have another person tell me that it was my fault Endymion couldn't love me. Or that it wasn't. And I didn't want for any of you to see me as the same person I was before that needed to be coddled and protected. For my people and for my senshi, all my senshi, that so desire me to be happy, I kept silent. For myself, so that I could still believe in something, just a little."
Mercury wrapped her arms around Serenity, tears falling from the senshi's eyes and onto her queen's cheek. "Please... Usagi..." Mercury's arms went around her tighter. "Don't ever do that again. Don't ever... hide something like that. How am I suppose to forgive myself for not knowing you were in pain? What kind of friend am I, that I didn't know such a huge part of your life had..."
"Don't blame yourself Mercury. This isn't something that Usagi did. This was something done by Serenity. A queen must be good at keeping herself together, even at the expense of herself. Even if she must lie and set herself apart from her friends. Even if-" Serenity broke off as her words caught in her throat. "Even if she must admit that her world cannot be a perfect one. So don't blame yourself. You bare no blame."
The surface of Uranus was very windy and Calaveras did not particularly like it. The structures on the planet were all built to be open and accommodating to the near constant gust that swept the planet's surface, making it easy to keep an eye out, though the pressure could be suffocating at times. She was becoming... worried. Berthier was suppose to have met her by now, but she hadn't heard a word from her. Standing a top one of the tallest constructs, one of the palace towers, she looked around, hoping for some sign of her sister's arrival. Conflicts could arise when handling dangerous and hostile situations, delays happened. She just hoped that it would not turn out to be anything more serious.
A flashing began in the crystal of her earring and she took it off and held it on her palm until the image came into view. The Phantom's holographic picture looked out at her. "Update me on your status, Calaveras."
"Nothing has changed here," she reported. "I'm still waiting for Berthier to arrive."
"Something has delayed her?"
"I don't know," she answered. "I haven't received any word."
"She may have lost control of the situation," the Phantom said. "I want you to go and rescue Berthier. Bring her back, Understand."
Calaveras nodded. "I'll have her back in no time."
It was quiet when Venus began to come to. Her body felt sore, memories of the fire -or had it been a bomb? - filled her mind. Her head was pounding and she was thankful for the silence. "Finally waking up?" She heard Mercury's voice. The water senshi was leaning over her, making adjustments on devices she hadn't realized that she was connected to. "You've been out for hours since I've arrived. Probably longer."
"Jupiter?" Venus wondered aloud.
"She's in another room. She hasn't come to, yet." Mercury explained. "She was injured worse than you were."
"What happened?" Venus asked her. "Those two..."
"We've got them in their room. The queen wants them to be interrogated, but they aren't fully healed," Mercury told her. Once she was done with whatever she was doing, she sat down beside Venus' bed. "The attacks seems to be staved off so far. Whoever orchestrated the attack pulled back once there was resistance." Venus sat up, or tried to. She was still wounded and her body hitched with pain before she could raise herself up all the way. "Careful," Mercury said.
"Serenity," Venus said. "She... she's back?"
"Yes. She was here when Endymion and I returned," Mercury told her. "But... there's something off about her. Even before, she didn't act so coldly. I wish I knew what was wrong."
Venus felt a pang in her gut that was mostly guilt. It was her fault that her queen was in pain and she knew it. What had she done? She had likely killed the Prince of Nemesis and if that wasn't bad enough, it sounded like she'd killed her queen's heart along with him. How could she have let something so important slip by her notice? She was supposed to know these things. She knew about Mars and Endymion, so how had she not known about her queen and the prince of Nemesis? The more she thought about it, the more upset she was with herself. There had been signs, but they were so subtle, how could she have known to pay attention to them? All her focus was on what was happening between her queen and Endymion. But thinking about it now, it was the lack of signs that should have tipped her off. She was almost never with the Prince of Nemesis when anyone else was around, but Serenity had always been friendly. The fact that she seemed never to be around the prince should have tipped her off. But they all thought that Nemesis was on the verge of going rogue, so... How was she to know?
"What's wrong, Venus? Are you in pain?" Mercury was leaning over her now, slightly panicked.
Venus hadn't realized that tears had risen to her eyes. Did Serenity hate her for what she had done? She was supposed to be her friend and yet...
"Has she... has she said anything?" Venus asked. "Serenity?"
"About what?"
"About... where she was. How she got back."
"Not to me, though she met with Endymion alone first, so maybe she told him," Mercury answered.
'No,' Venus thought. 'She wouldn't have told Endymion about what happened.'
"Venus," Mercury pulled her from her thoughts once more. "Something is bothering you. What is it?"
Venus just shook her head. What could she say? That she had attacked, maybe killed, the person that her queen... That her queen... what? Loved? Did Serenity love him? She didn't even really know. Should she tell Mercury about what she had done to the Prince of Nemesis? How could she? "I... I think I just need more rest, Mercury," Venus told her. That wasn't a lie. She did feel weak. Weak in more than one way. "I think I'd like to be alone."
Mercury's face was creased with worry, but she nodded. "Okay. Try to get some rest. We need you at your best for what may come."
Venus couldn't say anything in return. She wasn't sure if she could be at her best. Not after what she had done.
Pluto stood in the misty space between realms in which she guarded the door that led through time and space, watching it open as she allowed someone to pass through to this place. It was not something she did often, but the senshi of time did not have many confidants, and so at times like these, there really was only one person that she could speak to. Well, there were two, but she could not speak to the senshi of Saturn that was in the same timeline as herself, and if she were going to bend rules at this time, she felt better speaking to this person.
She was not allowed to leave her post, but there were various points in time where she was visited. All she had to was allow them to come to her. Stepping through the door was the one person in which she had always confided, as much as she could. The one person that had always seemed to know as much, if not more, than she did. Pluto went down on one knee to greet her, head bowed. "Queen Selenity. I am honored by your visit."
"Stand, Persephone. You know that is not the greeting I wish from you," Queen Selenity said, gliding forward elegantly. She seemed to glow like moonlight as she smiled, then she laughed a little. "I should say Pluto, shouldn't I? You are not Persephone any longer, I suspect."
Pluto didn't answer that as she stood. No, she was the same girl that Queen Selenity had placed in charge of the door, but the queen wasn't to know that. She wasn't to know how much time had passed for her. Though as always, she seemed to have a sixth sense about these things.
"Well you seem to have something to say, don't you?" the queen said. "Talk to me, then. You know that I visit so that you will speak with me."
"Yes," Pluto answered. "I am... worried," she said carefully. "Nothing is set in stone, but things are progressing in a way that I did not expect."
"Oh Persephone," The Queen sighed, coming up to wrap her arms around Pluto in an embrace. She almost always addressed Pluto by name. Not always the same, name. There were times, different timelines, where she did not have the same name, and the queen seemed to realized this, but she addressed her by name nonetheless. It was a kindness that Pluto was always grateful for. She never doubted where the princess had gotten such a kind heart from. "Time is meant to be fluid, ever changing. I was supposed to have taught you this in the beginning, but I thought that experience would be a better teacher; that all things would come as they were meant to, but perhaps too much time has passed."
"My queen?" Pluto responded in curious confusion. It was amazing how the queen of The Silver Millennium could surprise Pluto so much. Hadn't she had all these interactions before? Hadn't Pluto lived these moments again and again? And yet, they were not a repetitive in any way. Was it something Pluto did, or didn't do, that changed these small interactions that should have been history?
Queen Serenity stepped away to look at her. "Why do you think that I assigned you to guard this place? You know that it was not a punishment, don't you?"
"I have never thought that it was," Pluto told her. "You place me here to protect the door."
"Think of the things that I have forbidden you. You are not to leave. You are not to allow anyone to pass. You are not to stop time. And yet, only one of these offenses is at the cost of your life. Do you know why?" When she was met with silence, Queen Selenity continued. "It is because these mandates are, like time, meant to be changed if need be. I could easily have sealed this door so that it was not possible to travel through, I could have kept this rod so that time could not be stopped." The queen placed her hand on the orb of the garnet rod that the senshi held tightly. "Time is not meant to be stopped, it is meant to change. There are no constants, but such a power cannot be used freely. No one should be allowed access to the gate freely and you should not be able to tamper with it without consequence, but that does not mean that things cannot, or should not, be changed."
At this, Pluto looked surprised. "You think that I should change things?"
"Do not misunderstand me," Queen Selenity said. "Perhaps there are times when I am not a queen, where The Silver Millennium does not flourish, that is as it is. You are a warrior, Pluto, with a rare window into possibility. You will know when a threat is too great to be over looked. I know that no one person can be perfect in judgement, that is why if there is something that you find yourself incorrect over, you have the ability to change it." Her hand went to the numerous keys that hung around Pluto's waste. "Every opportunity for change is in your hands. Do not be afraid to use it."
Pluto's face became contemplative as she touched the keys that hung around her waste. "How am I to know when to intervene?" she whispered.
"You already know." The Queen said. "You must have seen yourself, watching it all. Times when you acted for the better, times when you acted for the worse. I placed you here when you were young so that you would not be biased by my kingdom. The rise and fall of my reign is not the center of the universe, even if it is the center of The Silver Millennium." Pluto opened her mouth to speak, perhaps to make an objection, but the queen did not let her. "You and the other outer senshi are to protect this solar system from those that wish to destroy it. The inner senshi are meant to protect the kingdom. Ideally, you play your part when those two purposes meet, but I leave you the choice to do as much or as little as you see fit."
Queen Selenity turned to head back toward the door and Pluto took an alarmed step toward her. "You are going?"
"Aren't I?" the queen responded. "Isn't that how these meetings are supposed to go?"
Pluto's eyes widened with shock and Queen Selenity laughed. "I do so enjoy surprising you, Persephone. You are easier to read than the last time that I saw you," she smiled. "Have you missed me?" Pluto blushed at her queen's teasing. The woman could take her off guard with her playfulness. "If you miss me so, then do not wait so long before you speak with me, Setsuna."
At that, Pluto's mouth fell open and she stared at Queen Serenity in unrestrained surprise. "Wha- why did you-"
The queen gave a coy laugh. "You have lost your poker face, Setsuna. I asked you once what names you may take in the future and you told me of the possibilities. I have simply guessed well."
"You tease me too much, majesty." Pluto said once she could recover herself.
"You are still a child to me sometimes. I must tease you or you would lose what keeps you alive, Setsuna." She gave a sad and wistful smile to the senshi. "It was one of my favorites, you know. I will forever think of you as Persephone, I fear." The door opened and Queen Serenity stepped through it back to her own time, back to the moon kingdom, and Pluto was sad to see her go.
"I will miss you, my queen," Pluto said softly.
"Do not think that you will not see me, again." The queen's voice floated through. "You are one of my dearest friends... Atropos..."
The name was spoken so softly that Pluto could only barely make it out. Queen Serenity always surprised her. She wondered if she would ever learn all of her queen's secrets or if, even with a portal into time and space and a long life with which to use it, she would never know. Then again, if Atropos was one of her names -she had no recollection of ever looking into her own possible futures, as she assumed that she would always remain in the same place -perhaps it was she who was playing a trick on herself, confusing as some would find the concept.
"You've got them?" Serenity's eyes were on the computer, where an image of Saphir was on the screen. He looked stern. Then again, she was certain that she did, too. She could barely make out the forms of Emerald and Rubeus in the background.
"Only two of them," Serenity answered. "I thought that you might have an interest in hearing what they have to say. Or in helping to interrogate them."
"Meaning you can't do it yourself," Emerald snapped in the background.
"Emerald," Saphir snapped. "Watch what you say."
Serenity didn't respond to the woman. "My crystal can cleanse them of whatever influence the Phantom may have over them, if he has anything over them, but I fear in doing that before I question them. I do not know if doing so will corrupt their knowledge of his plans."
"I want to talk to them first then," Rubeus spoke up. His expression was angry, but it didn't seem to be directed at her. "I trained them. I know them. I can get them to talk and I want to hear for myself why they've betrayed us."
Saphir looked at Rubeus before turning his attention to Serenity again. "It seems we'll take you up on that offer."
"Then feel free to arrive at any time," Serenity told him.
"One more thing," Saphir asked. "My father..."
"He and King Endymion visited Neptune before I returned and he stayed behind to deal with another of your warriors."
"Then there is only one Ayakashi sister left," Saphir said. "And he's on Neptune, you said."
"Yes. Perfectly unharmed, as far as I know. I am certain that you could speak to him if you contact them. Queen Nephthys is still here, so you do not have to worry about that."
"Thank you for the information, Neo Queen Serenity."
Serenity nodded. "I'll be expecting you, Rubeus," she said, then the feed cut off.
When Koan awakened, Rubeus was the first face that she saw and her expression became one of delight. "Rubeus, what are you doing here?" she asked, still shaking off the darkness of unconsciousness. She sat up quickly when she realized what had last happened. "Where-"
Rubeus pushed her back down, hovering over and blocking her view of the room. His face was stern, even angry, but that wasn't unusual for him. "I have some questions, Koan," he said to her. "Why did you betray Nemesis?"
Her expression became angry as she hissed, "I would never."
"Then why did you leave?" he asked her. "Why are following the Phantom?"
"To protect Nemesis, of course," she told him. "He said that the king had been fooled, but I didn't think that you..."
"Fooled about what?" Rubeus demanded.
Koan's eyes narrowed with anger and a glow seemed to come over them. "That Neptunian Queen that was trying to worm her way into the king's heart," she nearly spat. "That harlot of a woman was trying to use our king. She was trying to involve our king in a rebellion. Worse, she was involved with the other kings. She's been lying to him! All this time-"
"What proof do you have?" he asked her. "I know it! I saw... I know that she was. I have to protect our king. I have to protect him."
"It is the same as the others." It was only now that Koan realized that she was not alone with Rubeus. She turned her head sharply to te voice, finding Neo Queen Serenity in the corner. "The Phantom must have convinced her that she saw something that she did not."
Koan made a fast movement to get out of the bed, but Rubeus pinned her down. "You think that you can banish this?"
"Yes," Serenity answered. "But I do not know what effect it will have. What was done to my people was not so bad and Queen Nephthys was so influenced by the Phantom's other methods that even being cleansed did not free her of him. The results-"
"Just do it," Rubeus said. "If they can't be saved, better to know now that they have to be taken out."
Koan's eyes widened. "Rubeus, you can't mean that," she whispered hoarsely. His face was stern and serious and she did not find an inch of compassion. "Please say you don't mean that. You would never want to... to hurt me..."
Serenity approached, holding the ginzuisho in her hand. "Step back. I don't want to risk hurting you."
Rubeus stepped away from her and Koan panicked. "I only wanted to do what was best for Nemesis! To protect our king! I only wanted... I only wanted for you to love me!" she yelled. "If you're going to kill me, at least say that you love me first! Please." She was met with silence and tears flowed from her eyes as she was enveloped by the energy of the ginzuisho.
