Shadows at the Dawn - Part 38
Mikita stormed down the hall towards her room. She had just found the princess and Riann both missing, and she knew exactly where they were. Though a great deal of her anger was directed at the two of them having left yet again – and it had indeed been Riann's turn to keep an eye on Serenity – she had wanted to be the one to go to Earth. That was the other part of her self-directed wrath – the fact she had desperately been hoping to see him again. It was silly really, they were supposed to be keeping the princess from falling in love with the prince of Earth, and here they were falling for their guardian counterparts. Though she was not entirely sure about what the rest of the Senshi may have felt.
The door to her chamber swung open roughly when she reached it, and slammed again behind her before she threw herself on her bed. Mikita simply wished she could get these dallying thoughts out of her head, but they refused to leave her alone. A soft knock sounded behind her.
"Mikita? Are you alright?" Amiel called quietly.
With a sigh, Mikita got up to answer the door. "I'm fine...really."
"Not sure if your door would agree with you." Amiel smiled.
"No more than yours did last week," Mikita replied glibly.
"Oh ..."
Amiel ducked into the room, her face a bright shade of red. She had been trying to forget that moment.
"We shouldn't be thinking of them. Hell, we shouldn't even be going down to see them." Mikita grumbled.
"It is foolish, isn't it. I can't ... I can't stop thinking about him though, no matter what I try." Amiel agreed quietly.
The two girls curled up next to each other on Mikita's bed as they used to when they were younger and would comfort each other after a nightmare or other trying event. The only thing missing were their other three friends.
"You think the others feel the same way?" Amiel asked.
"Riann will never admit it, but yeah, I'm pretty sure we're all in the same sinking boat."
"It's not that bad is it?"
"Considering that we're not supposed to have any contact of any sort with anyone from Earth, yeah – it's that bad."
"Not fair for Sere though – she's never liked anyone from our little section of the galaxy."
"True, but being in love with the prince of Earth...it's going to be one big disaster...and none of us are much help."
"We could go to the Queen ..." Amiel started.
"That would get us nowhere but in more trouble than we already are. Sere isn't going to stop simply because her mother tells her not to do something. Not for very long anyway."
"True."
"You know the funny thing about all this? We really hardly know each other – I mean, we've only ever seen them a handful of times, and never alone."
"Until now, because Sere has started visiting more often. I think she only goes to that garden when she can't get away from us."
"What, you're saying she has visited other places?" Mikita sat up quickly.
"I believe so. I think she just picked that forgotten garden after we found out and refused to let her go off by herself again."
Mikita was silent, lost in her thoughts again. This could only end badly for all involved - and she found herself not caring about that part for some odd reason.
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Lienta entered the bedchamber after returning late from visiting his parents. Though he tried to make as little noise as possible, a tired Zeeda rolled over and cracked one eye open. She did not say anything, and there was only a ghost of a smile on her face. It was enough though, and he eased into the bed next to her. Moments like these were getting to be a rare event - them both being home and in the same bed at the same time. Wrapping his arms around her, he simply enjoyed the moment feeling her drift off to sleep again. He should have followed her. Darkness knew he was just as exhausted, but sleep was not willing to visit him yet.
His parents were in good health, though his mother still had not gotten over the loss of Toreenal - and they all worried constantly for her. The Clan Torpel stronghold was just as over flowing as Clan Centurious as they tried to assist their neighbors as best they could. The situation was grim, and there was no longer a bright spot on the horizon to give them hope. That was not to say any of them would ever give up, but there were times it felt a little pointless to keep going. Continued sightings of watchers were not helping the matter either. Lienta had seen the same one three times now, and he could not explain why it frightened him so much.
Physically, the man had not looked more than a few years older than himself, but Lienta had seen the depths of time in his eyes. The sight had chilled him, though he had not felt threatened by the brief visits. He just wished he could explain it away.
He had no explanations though. He also had absolutely no idea why the same watcher had appeared to him over the past few weeks. It had almost seemed like the watcher had wanted to speak with him on the last such meeting. Lienta tried to clear it from his mind, but the scene kept playing back over and over again. Holding his breath as Zeeda stirred in her sleep, he slowly let it out as she did not wake. Closing his eyes, he finally joined her in a dreamless slumber.
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Zeeda woke late the next morning, or at least she assumed it was later than when she normally woke. Feeling Lienta next to her in the bed made her glad it had not just been a dream. It had been weeks since the last time they had shared the same bed, and it felt wonderful. For the first time in a very long time, she had no desire to get up and attend to her duties. She wanted nothing more than to stay where she was and attempt to forget about everything else going on around them. Gently shifting positions, she curled up closer to his side. Half asleep still, he wrapped an arm around her and held on loosely.
"Don't go," he mumbled.
"I wasn't planning on it just yet," Zeeda murmured in reply.
"Good."
The moment did not last as long as either of them would have liked before a soft knock at the door interrupted them. Groaning, Zeeda removed herself from the warmth of the bed and shuffled towards the door pulling her robe on. On the other side of the door, one of the maids was waiting, fidgeting nervously.
"I'm really sorry ma'am, I held them off as long as I could - but Lord Afont and the others are asking for you both. Masy and I told them you needed rest, but somethings happened. They're rather insistent on seeing you."
"It's okay, I was awake already. Tell them I'll be there shortly."
"They're in the map room ma'am. Masy has a bit of breakfast waiting for you first."
"Thank you."
As soon as the door closed, a muffled groan came from the bed behind her as Lienta tried to bury himself under the pillows.
"They're insane if they expect me to get out of this bed and look at their ugly faces when I've only had about four hours of sleep. And they damn well better not expect me to be happy for interrupting a nice quiet morning cuddling with my wife. Something I haven't gotten to do in ... oh ... forever."
"I'm sorry love, but it's not going to get any better until one side or the other gives up." Zeeda tossed a change of clothes onto the bed.
"Fine," Lienta growled as he got up. "I give up! I'm done fighting, I'm done with it all. I just want to become a crotchety old man thinking lecherous thoughts about his still beautiful wife."
"I do believe you have the crotchety part down already. And I'm very glad you're still planning on me being old and beautiful."
"You'll always be beautiful."
"Oh blech ..." Zeeda made a face. "We're not going to be one of those super sappy couples when we're old are we? I don't know if I could handle that for very long."
"There you go, dashing all my hopes down like a broken mug of ale."
"Broken cup of tea, ale is too good to waste."
"True that."
Laughing softly, they made their way towards the map room where Lord Afont was waiting for them. Though the maid had mentioned others, he was the only one in the room when they arrived. He no longer looked like the tall, proud, powerful warrior of the past. Too much had happened in the last few years, and it had taken a toll on all of them.
"I'm sorry to disturb you two, I really am," Lord Afont said with a sigh. "But we've just received some terrible news. All the remaining outlying strongholds have been wiped off the map. We don't know if there were any survivors ... but I would venture to say there aren't. That just leaves the center of the line here - we're all that's left."
"I knew I should have stayed in bed." Lienta grumbled under his breath.
"But what happened? And when?" Zeeda asked.
"More of those dark energy bombs were released a few hours ago. Everything ... everyone ... it's all just gone."
"That dwindles fragment numbers as well though ..."
"Not this time." Lord Afont sank wearily into a chair. "They seem to have learned their lesson."
"Suicide bombers? You've got to be kidding me." Lienta growled. "We can't fight this. There is no way to counter such attacks."
"Our only chance now is to simply hold on long enough for..."
"For me to do whatever it is I'm supposed to do." Zeeda supplied, her head bowed and eyes closed.
The two men shared worried looks from across the room.
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Serenity was once again in the garden on Earth she had taken to visiting on a regular basis. This time it was Amiel watching over her. Or, she would have been had Serenity not given Endymion enough hints as to which of his four guardians to bring with him. The Princess of Mercury was currently engaged in a debate with Lord Zoisite, and they both appeared to be enjoying themselves a great deal. Serenity was not so sure anymore about the prince with the dark hair and teasing blue eyes, but if Amiel and the others were happy being around the other Lords of Earth, she would continue to make her visits.
Endymion looked down at the girl sitting next to him, wondering what was wrong with her today. Normally confident and "bubbly", Serenity seemed dull and out of sorts. He could not explain why it made him feel down, but it did. He did not much care for the feeling. Or the fact that it meant he was growing more attached to the young princess from the moon. Forbidden fruit was still forbidden - no matter how good it looked.
"Princess? Is anything the matter?" he asked gently.
"Oh, it's nothing to concern yourself with." Serenity spoke hastily, and turned to hide the blush rising from her current thoughts.
"Nothing to concern myself with? You're quite different from all the other times we've met here lately. So something had to of happened." He smiled. "You can tell me."
She gave him a guarded look, trying to judge how he would respond if she truly told him what was on her mind. For the past few weeks, she had begun to doubt the signals she had first received from him. Why would a handsome prince like him be interested in some silly sixteen year old princess from the moon? She did not know much about his lands, his people - and he knew just as much about her and her home. Somehow those topics had never come up during their brief conversations in the past. Sighing, her head drooped back down and one golden ponytail fell forward to hide her face.
"Serenity?" Endymion asked, slowly reaching out to pull her hair back.
"Why?" Her voice was so soft he barely heard her ask the simple question.
"Why what?"
"Why would someone like you be interested in someone like me? I'm a silly sixten year old girl breaking the rules and attempting to live in some fantasy land that doesn't exist."
"Why wouldn't I be interested in you? Three years isn't a great deal of difference. Though, there was that very first time you ran into me - "
"Would you be mad if I told you I did that on purpose?" she said, a faint blush highlighting her cheeks.
"You ran into me on purpose?" Endymion chuckled.
"I had wanted to meet you for so long. And I knew there would be much of a chance for anything at the party that evening ... so I kinda sorta decided to take a detour while racing with Riann."
"At the time, I was rather put out. I didn't think a princess would act ... well ... as anything less than a princess. And then when we were introduced at the party your eyes were laughing at me in some secret joke. I wasn't quite sure what to make of you then."
"And now?"
"I don't care how many rules we break. I enjoy being around you."
"Truly?" There was faint sparkle in her eyes as she looked up at him.
"As true as the stars in the sky."
Serenity's eyes dropped to the ground shyly, the blush returning to her face as Endymion traced a gentle finger along her cheek.
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Maids hurried to get out of the way of the strange man rushing down the hall. Wensel was not known for being an overly excited individual, so it was a rather strange sight to see him running down the palace halls with a wild look in his eyes. Deep shadows lurking under those eyes spoke of many sleepless nights recently, and they only added to his startling appearance. Queen Serenity looked up as he burst into her study, reprimand dying on her lips when she saw the state he was in.
"Highness, I am deeply sorry to burst in on you like this. The void ... an attack ... there are only ten strongholds remaining now."
"I've heard nothing yet," she replied calmly.
"The maps update about every two hours. One minute everything looked relatively normal and the next there was simply nothing but a giant area of dark red. It's possible that they're still figuring everything out and haven't thought of sending word yet."
"All those people?" The Queen slumped back into her chair.
"I believe, though I wish it otherwise, that they were all lost."
"But how?"
"I can only make a guess at this point, highness. Those explosions the Legatus talked about ... it had to have been many all set off within moments of each other for something like this to have happened."
"If they can't stop whatever it is, how long before it reaches us?"
"I cannot say. It could be years, months..." Wensel shrugged.
"Or mere days. What is happening around us? Unrest grows between the houses - they all call out for the blood of Saturn's Child. And Earth ..."
"Ah yes, .the other matter. That occasional red flash around our nearest neighbor has made itself permanent." Wensel clenched his hands behind his back.
"What?"
"I don't know what's going on ... but the map generally doesn't lie to us." Wensel cleared his throat and shifted about on his feet. "And highness? There was something else the map showed. A bright pinpoint of light on the planet. One of two that we only ever see on the moon."
Feeling calm was the last thing on the Queen's mind right then. It would not do her much good to take her anger out on the man standing before her. To finally have solid proof that her daughter was visiting Earth, a forbidden place in every way possible, chilled her to the core. Serenity doubted that her daughter simply went to look at the scenery any longer. Such a thought was one she did not enjoy having.
"Thank you for informing me. If anything new develops, I expect to be notified immediately."
"Yes, your majesty." Wensel replied with a bow before turning and leaving the room.
Serenity stood from behind her desk and made her way over to one of the large windows behind her. She knew a certain princess that would find out the hard way that even she was not above the rules.