Book 1 Chapter 11: Secrets

(aka Day 3 of The Secret Mission)

Sometimes things don't always go as planned. Things that happen behind the scenes. Things….like secrets. Secrets are like signing someone's name in blood on a contract, and depending on how truly loyal both parties are, it could be the greatest bond between two people, or it could produce the most deadliest of enemies. I have to admit…at the end of this day of the mission…I didn't know what was coming.

So I woke up, and like always, I put on something that made me out to be a Princess (even though I'm far from it). I then met Mars and Venus again at the rendesvous point and we discussed the plan of action today. I said "Ok…so Mars was, once again, right, and Beryl is a concern. Before you two go and wonder off, I need to know, is Beryl showing any signs of strangeness or oddity?" Venus said "Well, like I said, I don't notice anything odd." Mars said "Look, Mercury, I understand that you need solid evidence, but sometimes evidence isn't so solid. She comes off as a normal girl, and believe me, at face value she seems very normal, and yes I personally haven't observed anything off, but I'm telling you, my gut feeling says that girl is bad news!" Once again, I'm thoroughly not convinced. That's like saying to someone "I can see your whole life in the constellations" but it doesn't work like that. Although, on the flipside, Selene has her suspicions as well, and although my gut feeling is to completely trash her theories, at this point, we still technically can't rule anything out. And plus, Serenity said she did her research, which that I can applaud. I then said "Ok Mars, you're the one doing the most investigating, so I believe you. Alright…now, what's the attack plan today?" Mars said "Well, I think today might be the last time we see the Earth Palace, but I need a bit more information. It seems like the closer I get to that Beryl woman, there's like this cloud around her." I said "What do you mean?" Mars said "Well…I can't put my hand on it, but I have a feeling in the future, there's going to be major players in this, but I want to try to disperse this air of mystery around her. What I'm really saying is, this Earth Palace is extremely fishy. I have a feeling the royals know exactly what's going on, while keeping us in the dark. Mercury…I'm gonna need your help in this investigation." I then said "But I don't have a disguise." Mars said "You don't need one…you're going to try to pry information out from the Queen herself. Ask her about how she met Prime Minister Zone, and their history together." I said "What does Prime Minister Zone have to do with all of this?" Mars said "I have my suspicions…but today's the day that'll hopefully answer a lot of questions I've been having." Venus said "Welp, let's get to work." Venus got out her compact and said "Crescent Moon Power, Transform! Make me into a maid that Kunzite fantasizes about!" As she transformed into, what seemed like to me anyways, kind of a skimpy looking maid outfit, I kind of whispered to Mars "Who's Kunzite?" Mars whispered back "A general in Earth's Army. She's been flirting with him ever since we started this mission. I never bothered saying anything, because honestly, it's information that doesn't pertain to our mission, and honestly her role is more or less a referee, even though you and I have been getting along." Venus then said "Oh he'll love me in this!" Mars rolled her eyes and said "Come on Venus, give me the compact." Venus handed it over to Mars and Mars said "Crescent Moon Power, Transform! Transform me into an newly hired assistant of Beryl's." Mars transformed and wore a flowy white dress, with a small red rose in her hair. Mars said "Wow…nice touch."

I took off my earring and gave it to Venus. I then said "Alright Mars, I know what I must do. Let's try to kind of wrap up a little early today, the Queen hates my guts." As we all went into the Palace, we quickly disbanded. I went towards the Dining Hall doors when suddenly I spotted Zoisite. I then looked around, and saw a book lieing on the floor near the Dining Hall, I quickly picked the book up and covered my face with it. Zoisite just went down the hallway, and passed me. I then set the book down, and opened the Dining Hall's doors slowly. The Queen then turned around and said "Ugh, not this again…"

I then said "Just wait…wait…look, look, I'm extremely sorry. Please don't call on your guards. You…you were right. I was poking my nose where it didn't really belong…I'm, I'm sorry. I came here today because I wanted to make amends and just have a normal conversation with you. Is that ok?" The Queen then sighed and said "I suppose I've been a bit harsh on you lately. Come…have a seat."

I wanted to kind of ease myself into the conversation. Here's the thing about royalty I've learned, and that is, people are very quick to judge. I find royals to be the worst too. They tend to separate people very quickly into a bunch of different categories. What I had to do was basically strip me down to where I was an equal to the Queen, because if I was to show a sign of weakness, they can spot that like a talent scout can with a future star. I had to be on good terms with her first…then, the conversation can pretty much go anywhere, within certain limits.

Finally, I went in for the kill. I said "So…I hear Earth has such a rich history." The Queen then said "Yes…we're definitely blessed to have such a rich, rich history." I said "Yes…on my planet we're thinking about donating a history museum targeted towards Earth in particular." The Queen said "Oh? Why that's awfully kind of you." And I said "I've done most of the research myself, but there is an exhibit that is missing most of its information. The name of the exhibit is Government Relations. And, I wanted to start out with how you came to know Prime Minister Zone."

There was kind of an awkward pause. I had hoped I didn't hit a weak area…but we needed this information badly. The Queen said "I dunno if I want to go into that." I then said "Oh…my bad…I just thought, well with the war being over, and seeing as though I had to go over there, I thought that maybe it would be kind of a welcome addition to the museum." The Queen said "Well…I'll give you the information you'll need for the museum, but some of the details are rather silly. The day I met Prime Minister Zone for the first time, at the time, there was a cosmic event that was happening. It's nothing important…it's like how we have shooting stars happen, nothing really important. And…I dunno, the first day is really not a good subject…" I said "You know what…it's ok. I'll do the research myself. And, oh my goodness…look at the time. I gotta go. So sorry." The Queen said "It's fine dear, but don't let that piece of information bother you. It's the past right? Time to move on…" I said "Right…" I then left, and went to the rendesvous spot. I pushed my earring and said "Venus, how's Mar's holding up?" Venus said "Gimme a second." I waited…and Venus responded again "Mars is getting Beryl ready to go meet Endymion. I think she's been questioning her. We're almost done though, Mars said it wasn't gonna take much longer."

I waited and both came towards me. I said "So, anything?" Mars said "I know I don't get a bad reading every time I talk to Beryl, but I know she's up to no good. I can't help but wonder if she's onto us. I mean, my gut says she isn't onto us, but she seems so normal on the surface. I dunno, but today I started to even question my own gut feeling for once in my life. She is our enemy, but she seems so innocent." I then thought…wow…makes me wonder if Queen Selene's research was for naught. Still, I didn't have enough proof to rule it out just yet. Mars then asked "So…I'm interested as to what the Queen told you." I said "I didn't get a whole lot out of her. All I got was some sort of cosmic event happened during her first meetup with Prime Minister Zone." Mars gave me an odd look and said "I wonder if my suspicions really are true…well, that's ok. All I can say is, be ready for tomorrow guys. Tomorrow we're going to a different location."

As soon as we were getting ready to teleport out of Earth, Mars said "Wait!" Mars then looked back at the Earth Palace and she said "I'm all of a sudden getting a huge sense of urgency within the Earth Palace. Something's not right…I have to go investigate!" Mars started running towards the Palace I said "Wait…Mars! You have to use Venus's compact!" Mars turned around and said "I'm not going to! Something's happening, and I have to go now!" Venus and I then said "Well wait for us!" Mars said "No! You guys teleport out of here NOW! This is something only I can do!" I then said "But Mars, we're supposed to work as a team." Mars turned around, with a look of urgency and said "YOU AND VENUS NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW! I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING ON, BUT SOMETHING URGENT IS HAPPENING INSIDE OF THE PALACE! IF THEY SPOT WHO YOU TRULY ARE, WE COULD BE IN FOR IT! TELEPORT OUT OF HERE, AND I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I FIND! GO NOW!"

I swear, that girl is so stubborn. Venus almost ran, but I caught her hand and I said "Venus…just do what she says. Let's get out of here." We quickly got out of there.

Time went by, and we all met up at the Moon Palace for our training. Jupiter then left, and we closed the doors and brought Selene up to speed. When Mars told Selene what she found out, she didn't say anything new at all. She was omitting something, I could feel it. Normally Mars is good at gut feelings, but sometimes I have pretty good gut feelings too, and something was telling me Mars wasn't saying something on purpose. I then told Selene what it is I found out. Selene said "Well, I don't have much to say…interesting thing to note Mercury. Continue the investigation, but something tells me we're getting hotter."

As we all prepared to leave the room, Mars said "Oh…and, one more thing, Venus." Venus then turned around and said "Yes?" Mars said "I need to speak with you in private." Venus then said "Wait…why can't you share it with Mercury?" Mars said "Because, it doesn't pertain to the mission." Venus said "Ok…?"

As a woman of principle, I respected their privacy and decided to just go home, but that was odd. I couldn't help but wonder if the thing that happened in the Palace had to do with Venus. This wasn't right…if we're supposed to work as a team, we all need to know what's going on. This was something to bring up tomorrow.