Ok so yay! I'm back on a somewhat regular schedule. This has the added bonus of making both of us happy. New content galore! I hope you like this chapter, because I certainly had fun writing it. Yesterday was one of those look at the word count and realize you just added over 1,500 words in one sitting. It was a good day. Well enough of my rambling enjoy!

Chapter 11

Hindrances

It had taken weeks of careful searching. but Beryl had finally located the place where all of the magical artifacts had been hidden. Of course once she found it, it had taken yet another three days to locate the large antiquated key. Most likely the only reason she was able to steal the big key was because her brother was too preoccupied at being left behind on Earth. It also helped that Camali wasn't around to sniff out any trouble she might be getting up to. She had been planning on taking the big key to Esmeraude first, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She also felt like getting back at Esmeraude for being so smug. Before she took it to Esmeraude she was going to do some exploring for herself. No one else even knew any of the artifacts were down here. Of course, the King theoretically knew he had these things, but he more than likely didn't really know what he had in his possession. No one would really miss anything if she took something, and surely they would have no clue what half the things did anyway. She had never known anyone, except people on the Moon, who could use magical powers. Esmeraude was the first person she had ever heard of outside of that who could do anything like what the Moon people did, and Beryl was beginning to suspect that she may actually be from Earth. That would make her the first person for sure Beryl had ever heard of who could do such things from Earth. For a while Beryl had done a little historical snooping, but she was unable to discover anything about this magical war Esmeraude seemed so convinced of.

Beryl made her way down the dusty corridor. Once or twice she had to dodge a guard, but none of them were expecting to see anyone so they didn't. When she finally found the dusty iron door she slipped her hand into her pocket. Her fingers gently caressed the twisted contours of the big iron key. It dwarfed her hand. Slowly she let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. With sudden trepidation she slid the key into the lock and turned it with surprising ease. Beryl cringed when the door squeaked, but no one seemed close enough to notice. When she was positive no one was coming she slipped through the space between the door and the wall. She pushed the door shut slowly this time to avoid the squeak and stuck the key back in her pocket.

She allowed herself to wander into the room unchecked. All around her were treasures of all shapes and sizes. They were wrapped in cloth, on pedestals and mostly left forgotten in piles on the floor. She hardly knew where to begin because everything looked so interesting. Here and there were pieces of jewelry, baubles, stones, weapons of every kind but what her attention was drawn too was a large round lump swaddled in a cloth. Beryl's eyes became transfixed on the object. She moved across the room reaching her hands out to touch the soft cloth. As she picked it up it felt strangely right in her grasp. She smoothed the folds of the cloth away. Beneath the cloth the crystal underneath was set in a light colored metal she had never seen before. It seemed to wrap it with delicate curlicues that crawled all the way around the orb. It seemed almost warm underneath her touch. With a growing fondness she gazed down into it's clear surface. Her eyes widened as colors began to swirl to the surface of the bright orb. Lights danced around the edges of a growing swirling cloud. As the cloud grew Beryl pulled the glass closer and closer to her face to get a better look at the colors within. The harder she looked the more she was sure that she could see a pair of eyes staring back at her through the cloud. Sudden terror washed through her. She tried for a desperate second to drop the crystal but found that her hands would not comply. She found that she couldn't even look away. Androgynous laughter echoed in her head. The eyes launched themselves to the front of the crystal and Beryl stumbled backwards pushed by a thump to her chest that reminded her of standing to close to a cannon.

Beryl shook her head suddenly feeling as if in a haze. For a few moments she stared down at the crystal, but could not figure out for anything what she had just been doing. Nothing appeared amiss on the surface. The crystal merely winked in the light lifeless in her hands.

"Well that's just boring. I thought these things were supposed to be able to do interesting things," Beryl said grouchily to no one in particular. Without thinking about it her hands wrapped the crystal up and slipped it into her pocket. Beryl continued looking around the room, but didn't see anything else nearly as interesting. She reached her hand into her pocket to pull out the key, and ran into the orb again. It felt warm and reassuring against her skin. She caressed it gently then wrapped her fingers around the key. Carefully she let herself out the way she had come.

"What good is it doing me being awake if I'm not even allowed to leave this room?" raged Kima. The nurse firmly stood her ground at the door wagging a finger bent with practice.

"You won't question me so when you finally get sick because of all this romping around," shouted the nurse just to be heard.

"Honestly if she leaves the room then I won't be able to ask her anything," said a reasonable voice from out in the hall. Both the nurse and Kima turned to look at the smiling woman with long dark curling hair. The nurse was the first to regain her composure. She smoothed her skirt and stepped aside curtsying smartly.

"Forgive me Lady Luna. I did not realize that you were out in the hallway. I certainly would have had things in better order if I'd realized that you would be coming so soon," the nurse replied with only the slightest hint of annoyance. Kima scowled and made the best of her nightgown. Luna smiled and nodded at the nurse in an obvious dismissal. Gladly the nurse exited without a second look back at her young charge.

"She is a bit strict isn't she?" asked Luna in commiseration. Kima smirked and watched as Luna made her way into the room taking a stand next to the open window. Luna motioned for Kima to sit on her bed. Kima looked ready to argue but thought better of it. She sat awkwardly and looked up at the older woman.

"Well...ask away I suppose. You know better what you want to know than I do. I have to warn you that sometimes it gets difficult when I try to remember things," said Kima bluntly. Luna considered her for a moment silently watching her through sparkling blue eyes.

"What is the last thing that you remember before you were brought here?"

"I remember pain. I remember being stabbed. I remember both of our hands wrapped around the blade."

"Where were your hands when that happened?"'

"They were under his. I remember feeling the hilt of the blade in my hands. I remember it sliding into..." Kima stopped abruptly rubbing her hands into her temples, "I'm sorry talking about this is giving me a headache for some reason. Whenever the nurse tries to ask me questions about any of this it's always the same. My head just aches whenever I get to something important." Luna listened quietly and seemed to be weighing some options in her head.

"Well why don't we try a different tactic. When did Esmeraude get taken on by your mother?"

"It was about a month ago I want to say give or take a few weeks. I don't really know why though. My mother really wasn't in need of any personal servants. If I remember quickly she actually fired one in order to take Esmeraude on. It was all very strange the woman she fired had been working for the family for generations. I think she may actually have been related to Ana'ye...sorry for your loss," Kima stopped looking flustered for a moment obviously feeling as though she might have said something wrong.

"Yes that's good keep going. Don't worry about me just keep talking through things. After that was there anything else amiss?"

"Well not at first no. At first she just seemed to be a woman who was highly knowledgeable in fashionable matters. She was really good at helping my mother order clothes and things like that. Mother often worries about our planet's reputation so she would go to great pains to make sure she stayed ahead of many of the other noble women. After a while though it seemed like my mother just stopped asking. It was almost as if she suddenly knew how to pick things herself, but she hadn't asked Esmeraude at all. All the same the woman seemed to approve. Then about three weeks ago my mother got this strange idea that we should visit Earth. She had never suggested anything like it before. Obviously everyone knows that Prince Endymion is one of the most eligible bachelors, but she'd never shown any real interest in me pursuing him before. Doing something like that is distinctly un-Jupitarian. We don't pursue men we whack them over the head with something hard and let it be known that we want to marry them. We don't play games to trick them into marrying us. It was all so strange." Kima stared at Luna knowing that what she'd said probably sounded strange.

"Yes well I think most women would benefit from some of those methods. Most men don't really know what they want to begin with. It probably helps to have a firm reminder that someone else besides them is interested in their future." Kima smiled reassured that she hadn't somehow made a mistake of some kind, "Alright so your mother decided to take you to Earth to meet Prince Endymion. Did anything else strange happen after that or did it stay about the same?"

"No she seemed to get more insistent at that point. I couldn't stand it. I didn't want anything to do with any of this nonsense, but she wasn't having any of it. It was so unlike her. She didn't raise me to just marry someone for station or money. I mean, we have our own royalty and palace and all that, so it's not like I would suddenly have been elevated to princess. I already am one. Then it seemed that it wasn't just mother who was annoyed. Esmeraude started voicing her opinions on the mattered which is completely uncalled for and not of the station of a servant. What was really strange was that my mother seemed to hang on her every word without question. That was when I knew something was really going on. After my...little scene with Endymion."

"Little scene?" Luna interrupted with interest.

"Yes well the day we were supposed to formally meet he went missing, and no one was able to locate him. I found him later on in the stables. I followed his generals down there figuring correctly that they would be where he was, and we had an...encounter...I told him, very firmly, that I was very displeased with his disappearance. I was rather..uh...forceful with him. My mother did not approve at all, but she wasn't the one to tell me so. Esmeraude was the one to find me and bring me back to my mother who then told me that I was to go and make a formal apology to him as well as accept his. It was all very strange, but then when I talked to Esmeraude..." she paused rubbing her temples again, "I'm sorry my head is hurting again."

"Hmm it seems to do that every time to get close to something, like you said, important, and also having to do with Esmeraude. This confirms what I had first thought. Esmeraude is behind this, but I can't know this for sure unless you allow me to check for any compulsions placed upon you. Will you allow me to touch you? It may allow your memories to return," Luna made no move to come forward until Kima allowed it. For a moment Kima looked worriedly at the older woman while still rubbing her temples.

"Well I've never been one to shy away from the truth. Let's have this over with so I can know exactly what's going on inside of my head," she said determinedly. Luna nodded and pushed away from the window sill. Gently she sat next to the girl reaching her hands out slowly towards the girls head. She rested her hands to either side of her forehead letting her fingers splay around the sides of her face. Her eyes slid closed in concentration. Kima began to feel pressure release inside of her head. She sat in anticipation of something, though she didn't know what, then something inside of her seemed to pop open and everything came crashing back in on her. Suddenly she could remember everything. She could feel the knife slide out of her sleeve and the sensation of her own hands plunging the knife into her own belly.

"It was Esmeraude. She compelled me to do all of these things...then she put a compulsion on me that wouldn't allow me to talk about any of it. No wonder I've been having all of these headaches like this. I'll kill her...I'll kill her for doing this to me. Endymion didn't do this...she made me do it to myself," Kima said with quiet rage. Luna's eyes widened in astonishment.

"This explains so much about your mother's reaction to my telling her that I thought you might be a guardian. We had always had such strong relations with Jupiter that I thought it strange she would refuse me so. Oh Kima I'm so sorry that these things happened to you. I wish that I would have acted on my instincts. I felt that something was wrong, but I didn't feel it was my place to say anything or to meddle in the affairs of those above me in station."

"Don't blame yourself for this Luna," Kima blurted vehemently, "We will capture this woman and make her pay for what she has done."

"I have been looking for her Kima. No one on Earth can find her. It's like she just vanished into thin air," Luna said quietly, "I just don't understand what she hoped to gain by having you marry Endymion. I understand that having you under her control meant that she could do as she pleased, but I wish I knew what it was that she was trying to do." Luna looked at her long delicate hands lost for countless moments in her own thoughts. Kima sighed not knowing the answers any better than Luna did.

"Well, well we are the mother hen aren't we?" asked an all to gratingly familiar voice. Maino turned already knowing she would find Camali behind her.

"Do you always make a habit of sneaking up on people, or spying on them?" Maino quirked her eyebrow over her shoulder. The taller man shrugged, but the hint of a smirk was tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I find it suits my...eccentric sense of humor," he replied with a chuckle, but realized that she wasn't nearly as amused as he'd hoped, "Actually it's a habit acquired from keeping track of three young men who often find themselves getting into trouble. It's especially prevalent, because Endymion has always needed someone to be one step ahead of him." Maino considered him for a moment, and seemed, for a moment, as though she was going to say something only to think better of it.

"That sounds like it must be an awful lot of work." She watched him for a moment longer then turned back to observing the practice grounds. Her attention was already back on her charge working through her routines. Maino had carefully taught Rina to find the motions which suited the flow of her powers best. Now it was just a matter of perfecting them so that even under the most stressing of circumstances she could remember them and replicate them perfectly without thinking. Sometimes in her frustration a small blast of flame could be seen dying in the dust at her feet. Maino often worried about Rina's quick temper but never for too long. Rina was a very determined worker when she put her mind to something. The only problem Maino could find was that the girl had yet to really open up to the people around her. Maino certainly couldn't blame her for not really being able to reach out. None of them really knew all that much about what had happened the night before she had come to the moon.

"You know you really ought to have someone to help shoulder those burdens that make you look so somber all the time," Camali mused softly. Somehow while she had been thinking he had managed to get himself right up next to her. For a moment she was to startled to do more than stand and stare up into his normally mischievous grey eyes. At the moment they seemed to hold a great amount of understanding. Maino had to overcome the sudden urge to tell him everything that was bothering her.

"Wouldn't you just like it if that were you," she scoffed finding her balance again.

"Well it would certainly help keep track of certain things..." Camali shot her a knowing look and took a few steps backward.

"What certain things?" Maino demanded. Camali shrugged, and the smirk was right back where it had been before.

"Oh certain developing situations. You hadn't already noticed? That's a shame usually you girls talk about these sorts of things." Color rose quickly to Maino's face and she took a menacing step forward.

"Don't make me ask you again. I have enough things to worry about without you dangling something else real or imagined in front of my face." Maino bunched her fists at her sides and dared him to say something else flippant. For a short moment he simply stood there smiling infuriatingly and examining her.

"You know you're very attractive when you're feeling self righteous? I don't think I will tell you after all. I think I'd like an excuse for you to come and pester me. Oh and don't worry you'll be able to find me when you do decide that you didn't like my tone of voice and you decide to tell me so," Camali said with a smile. He turned before she had time to respond and disappeared into the stables. Maino glared after him about a thousand things she wished she had said tumbling around in her head.

"How perfectly infuriating," she growled to herself. She stalked down into the practice ring and watched as Rina completed a fourth imperfect routine in a row. Rina yelled and threw a fireball at the ground. Dirt sprayed all around her chunks pelting the ground moments later as the fell.

"Take a break Rina," Maino suggested soothingly. Rina looked up at her obviously not even having noticed she was there in the first place. Her violet eyes flashed with anger, where it was directed, Maino wasn't exactly sure.

"When you do it incorrectly that many times in a row it's because you're starting to get mentally fatigued. It isn't because you aren't capable of doing it better. Your head is just starting to get in the way of what you already know, so take a break for now," Maino finished reasonably. Rina nodded seeming to have gotten control over her temper.

"I know I just want it to be perfect now and not later."

"I understand, but there is only so far you can push yourself before your brain starts pushing back." Maino retrieved a towel from the rack and handed it to her. Rina received it gratefully and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"You know I think you're starting to like him," Rina said bluntly out of the blue.

"Like who?" Maino asked harshly. Rina merely smirked in response. It was rare that she answered in a such a way. It was only when she was feeling particularly amused that the serious mask she so often wore broke.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about Maino," she continued persistently.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied and turned storming off in a huff.

"Fine don't admit it," Rina replied quietly to her quickly disappearing back. Lately Rina seemed to have that effect over people. She wasn't exactly sure when she had become so blunt, but after her departure from her home she felt that she needed to protect these women. They especially needed protecting from themselves. Maino was to wrapped up in trying to lead them all to bother paying attention to the way she felt. Serenity was too busy trying not to be controlled by everyone around her to see that she was making a large mistake in her choice of men, and her mother was no better. Who knows what other problems this new guardian would present. All of these women would be perfectly infuriating to try and protect, but protect them she would. She hadn't been able to protect her mother, but she would be damned if she didn't protect the people it was her job to protect.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement. It was something white. When she turned she realized that a towel was hanging in an outstretched hand. She turned fully to face whoever it was only to realize that it was attached to a man of middling height with sandy blonde hair.

"I thought you might need a fresh one. You'd been working quite hard and sometimes one towel just isn't enough," he said with a soft smile and no hint of mockery.

"Thank you...I think," she replied suspiciously taking the towel from his hand. For an awkward moment she scrubbed her brow getting the last of any perspiration. He stood quietly and watched her without a word.

"You know I think you all kind of deserve each other, and maybe with some luck you'll actually do each other some good in the end," he mused softly.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Rina asked warning clear in her voice.

"Nothing just an observation." Without another word he turned and walked out the same way Maino had gone. Rina stared after him unable to find the words she wanted to throw at him. At the same time she wanted to chase him and make him explain himself; she also wanted to throttle him.

"Men," she growled to herself.

Such a bitter word, failure. He never failed. Failure was an experience he had not known, and that bitch had ruined everything for him. He knew what he needed to do but he couldn't get the taste out of his mouth. The King had been too busy with other current problems of state to berate him, but he would eventually make the time. Diamond just could not let that happen. He couldn't let the King think less of him, because that meant he could take Serenity from him. Serenity wasn't the Kings to take anymore. He had made his mark on her and no matter what the man said he was going to have her. She was his, and his alone. No man could take her from him. If they tried then he would whisk her away right under their noses. He had felt a distance in her the last time they had met, and it angered him greatly. Those around her had been poisoning her heart to him. He would show her just how much he loved her. He would make all these women go away so that he could protect her himself, and then she would see just how much work he had done for her. She would understand the lengths he had gone to prove his love for her.

As his thoughts raged he gently stroked her hair. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. Often times when his head wouldn't clear he would come here and watch her sleep. Her face always calmed him. He never told her because it was better this way. If she knew she would wait up for him. He didn't want to talk to her. He just wanted to watch her. She was his most beautiful princess, and soon she wouldn't have to worry about any of the things around her. She would be so grateful for the elimination of all the little annoyances in her life. Soon it would be time to get rid of one more annoyance. Hopefully this time the elimination of one wouldn't include the addition of another. His last brother should have the proper compulsion to complete his job adequately.

Slowly he pushed himself off of the bed standing next to her. He couldn't bring himself to leave her at first. She looked to perfect laying in the warm lunar night. Gently he pressed his lips to hers as he had done a thousand times before. She stirred turning towards him slightly. A smile slowly grew its way across her face and she mumbled something nearly incoherent. Diamond brushed stray blonde hairs out of her face.

"Yes dearest I am here for you," he purred soothingly.

"Of course you are," she mumbled quietly, "You couldn't hurt me even if you tried Endymion." The smile grew. She brought her hands to her face and curled her knees into her chest. Diamond's face froze, the faint smile morphing into a cruel sneer. How could such a man have weaseled his way into the dreams of his princess. Any man who could think to take his princess from him would surely be made to regret it. He now had a new name to add to his list, and once he took care of the other he could surely make time in his busy schedule to rid himself of a much hated rival.

Author's notes: Ahhh! completely new chapter. No revision needed here just brand new writing, so refreshing. No I won't be resolving this little cliffhanger for at least of a chapter or so. If you are sitting there wondering "Where the heck is Mercury?" you have little time left to wonder. She will be make an appearance very shortly. I'm excited to introduce my version of her to you. If any of you have been with me from the very beginning this chapter did not exist which is fine. Hopefully I'm allowing the story to progress in a little more logical fashion than before.