Hirokazu was sitting outside the door leading to his parent's room on the Moon. Following the events in Elysion, he felt he needed to be away. He worried for his mother but being there just hurt. He would make himself sick sitting there and trying to find the culprit for the attacks.
Whoever it was, they could get past his mother. They could do real damage before she could even begin to comprehend that someone was in the room with her. How did you fight that?
"Hirokazu?"
He looked up to see Alexander walking up the corridor. He sharply turned away and stared at the floor, tugging on his short hair. He wanted the man to just walk on and ignore him, it would give him an easier time to dislike his father. To his dismay, Alexander sat on the ground with him.
"What is wrong?"
Hirokazu wanted to keep silent, but he felt it all bubble up inside him. "She may be killed next. And I can't stop it," he finally explained. "Hotaru may die, Safa may die, you and… and mother, too… I will lose everyone."
Alexander seemed to not be listening. He pulled himself back up with a grunt and moved inside the room, leaving his son to his thoughts. So, the man didn't really care after all. That made things all the easier.
He was about to get up himself and track Hotaru down when something dropped in to his lap. It was a very old toy and for just a moment, he felt like a small child again.
"Mister Stuffs!" he shouted. The old teddy bear had not changed.
"I am glad you remember him. You loved this bear more than anything." Alexander sat back down with him. "It was a gift upon your birth from my sister. One of our staff gave him his name and it simply stuck with you."
He watched Hirokazu stare at it. "When you slept, I would take him from you and hide him in the room. Your mother used to get so angry at me over it. You would run about, crying for him. You never stopped until you found him." Alexander laughed. "Why, you used to blame Yukio for it."
"Why do you laugh?"
"Ah… because I am simply a bastard who easily finds amusement in the distress of his small child," he admitted. "Regardless of that, Mister Stuffs represents all you have just told me. He would be lost to you, and you would stop at nothing to find him. You cannot tell me that this has changed."
Hirokazu shook his head and patted the teddy bear on the head, reliving those ancient memories of crying and searching for his favorite comfort item.
"We are reborn by the grace of the Silver Crystal. If they die, you will seek them until they are found. So, do not worry."
He didn't know what to say to that. He stood back up after a moment and looked to the door.
"I… would like to go sit with mother, now."
It made Alexander smile and he nodded. "Of course, of course! This way!" He led his son inside and allowed him in the room where Ninah slept. He watched the prince climb on the other side of the bed and fall asleep.
Mercury was sitting at the main computer with a mountain of books surrounding her. It was late and the only light was from the screen and the only sound was the clacking noise of the keys. She paused to flip through a book and went back to her work.
The Neo Queen had a handprint on her back, the same that was found on the enemy that Prince Hirokazu had killed. With the help of the Sailor Starlights, the Lore Keepers, she had a general idea of what was going on, and it troubled her.
'Chaos.'
Chaos was an ancient enemy that had been sealed away by the first Sailor Soldier. None knew how she had done it, or if she'd had help. It had ended his reign of terror across the cosmos, however. Every Sailor Soldier learned of this.
She had not made it out of the battle unscarred, though. She had a handprint around her throat from where he tried to stop her, and he had used that as an anchor to keep his influence spreading. Any with that mark on them had received it from his agents and would be compelled to act on his orders.
And now the Neo Queen was marked.
She kept typing, trying to find every known instance in the past two thousand years of that mark surfacing.
'Sporadic. It's not centralized, and seems to be random…wait! This is a clear path to our solar system!'
Though the dots were spread out by time and distance, they could plot a clear path. The first known arrival came a thousand years ago. There was something about the date that made Mercury uneasy, but she couldn't figure out its significance.
'A thousand years ago, someone reported that mark and it was logged by mother… but the queen did nothing about it. Laughed it off. Of course, by then it was the imposter.'
Was this planned? Could the imposter have been working with Chaos?
Mercury transferred the information over to the station Sailor Star Maker had been using before putting a password on her own.
'Can't run the risk,' she told herself.
She got up to turn and leave but spat blood instead due the silver knife now sticking out of the stomach.
"You…"
Her attacker smiled and pulled the blade out, only to swipe it in the air. Mercury's throat was cut open and she fell to the ground, dead.
The alarms woke Hirokazu from a dead sleep and he was on his feet at once. After a thousand years of war, he was conditioned to move as soon as an alarm blared. Almost always, it meant go in to hiding. Now, he was looking for the cause.
He stopped outside the computer room to see guards waving any remaining personnel away. Sailor Jupiter saw him being told to leave and stepped out of the room.
"Let Prince Hirokazu pass," she ordered. The guard nodded and stepped aside. Hirokazu slipped under the rope and walked in.
"What's happening?"
Jupiter stopped and so did he. Right above the corpse of Sailor Mercury. His eyes went wide as he saw it. He remembered the first time he saw her, he'd thought she couldn't possibly have been a Sailor Guardian. She was too weak, too much of a scholar. But she'd proven herself on the battlefield and deserved her title.
How could someone have killed a person who was so smart? Had she not seen it coming?
"No…"
"We found her just now. We don't know who did this."
Hirokazu shut his eyes and choked back vomit. 'It's not the same as Miyu… I didn't kill her. Not my fault. Not my fault.'
He knelt down and pushed his hands against his eyes, trying to blot out the visions in his head.
Jupiter put a hand on his shoulder. "We need to move your parents. I know your mother isn't stable, but it's no longer safe here."
For once, Hirokazu didn't argue that Lady Ninah wasn't his mother. He just nodded in agreement. "Of course."
As he walked out the door he paused just out of sight to hear Sailors Mars and Jupiter talk to one another.
"Is it him?" Mars wondered.
"Can't be. His reaction was too violent to be an act." Jupiter sighed. "I guess his father was right that he'd been asleep when it happened. What about that boy?"
"In questioning now. Who is doing this? It isn't Chaos, it simply can't be. He was sealed away."
He heard movement. "The handprint. Those who wear it are under his command and pass the trait on."
With a heavy sigh, Hirokazu walked on. He aimlessly bumped in to staff and never bothered to apologize. As he walked, he could recall the memories his father had told him about. Trying to find Mr. Stuffs all the time, never knowing his own father had hidden the bear to amuse himself.
Every time he had the bear in his arms, all was right with the world and he would vow to never let the bear be lost again. Was this what he was to do now?
He opened the door to the room to see his brother and Lady Venus. "Oh. Why are you here?" he asked.
"We are moving mother," Yukio explained. Ninah was awake and moving with help from Alexander. "It… is not the best idea, but I am using a portal rather than official transport. It is faster that way."
Hirokazu absently reached up and snagged Mr. Stuffs out of the air as Alexander tossed it to him.
"Safa has already arrived at our castle and is with the Neo Queen. The remaining personnel will be moved by nightfall, England time."
Hirokazu nodded. "Of course." He turned to get a good look at Earth from the window in the corridor. The shadow of night was nearing England as they spoke. "I hope it isn't too late already."
Yukio finished setting his parents up in the castle, in one of the spare rooms. Lady Earth had yet to wake and that left his brother in charge.
At the moment, Prince Hirokazu was laying on the walkway above the door to the throne room and was staring at the mural on the arched ceiling.
"Do you plan to actually do anything?" Yukio demanded. "You have yet to move since our return."
As if to piss him off, Hirokazu stood up and turned around to lie down in the opposite direction.
"That was not cute when you were seven and it is not cute now."
He ran a hand down his face when his brother flipped him off in response. Yukio marched up the staircase and grabbed his brother by the front of the shirt and hauled him to his feet.
"You are a prince, and you will act like one!"
Yukio cursed when Hirokazu punched him across the face and staggered back from the shock. Ripping energy from the very air around them, the prince hurled it at him and it sent him over the ledge. Guards began to pour in at the sound of a fight but the general held a hand up.
Hirokazu choked as he felt the air leave from around him. He was like that for several long moments until Lady Venus came in to see what was going on.
"What is happening?" she demanded. With Yukio's concentration gone, Hirokazu sucked in air and coughed.
"Nothing," Yukio insisted. He turned away to see Safa. "Hirokazu forgets himself." He pat his sister on the shoulder and went to walk away. He had no sense that anything was wrong until the Neo Queen, who had followed Sailor Venus, screamed.
He turned around and grabbed Safa without thinking. Hissing in pain, he felt her slice his arm with one of her knives. "What is wrong with you?" he demanded.
From under the sleeve of her uniform, he saw the handprint, where he had touched her just seconds before. 'How is it possible?!'
Safa threw the blade at Hirokazu who only swat it aside. She ran and kicked him in the chest before throwing another blade at one of the soldiers who tried to come and stop her.
"Don't let her touch you!" Hirokazu ordered. "She'll mark you!"
'But how did I mark her?!' Yukio screamed at himself. He recalled hugging the Neo Queen and then seeing the mark on her back. Was it more than an unhealed injury?
Yukio grabbed Safa's wrist and tried to break it to stop her. She used momentum to flip her body with his hand and ran her nails down his face, missing his eye by less than a centimeter. Blood ran in to his mouth and he retched at the taste.
Venus came to assist him and with her chain, she managed to lasso Safa and wrench her off as the others arrived.
"Heh… you and I make a good team," Yukio admitted. Reluctant to touch her now, he backed off with caution.
Venus pointed to her. "Be careful! Transport Sailor Ara to the dungeons!"
Yukio went to say something else when his instinct kicked in. Grabbing Venus by the wrists, he pulled her as close to him as he could before coughing. Blood splattered on the wall and he heard the sound of Safa being restrained further.
"BROTHER!" Hirokazu fought against Sailor Star Maker who held him back when the blade was forced in to his brother's spine.
Yukio collapsed on Venus and they fell to the floor with blood pouring out. Venus felt it stain her uniform and even her long hair, but she tried to shake the general back to consciousness.
"Yukio! General Yukio!"
"I guess… she told the truth." His words were weak as he spoke. "She would kill me."
"Call for medical help!" Venus shouted. "General Yukio, do not fall asleep! Stay awake, stay with me! You're supposed to help fight the enemy!"
His eyes wandered to the Neo Queen. "But… the enemy is already here."
Venus shook her head and shook him again. "No. No, don't…"
"I always wanted to tell you how pretty you look. I guess… I'm still just a stupid child."
Sailor Venus was still choking back her tears as General Yukio died.
