A/N: Yeah, this time I've got nothing, except sorry. Life has been interesting lately. Oddly enough, this chapter has been half-written since January, and then I had no time to do more than work, eat, and sleep. I still haven't seen the new Fast and Furious movie, and believe me, that's proof that I have no time. Things have slowed way down at work, though, so I'm hoping to keep at this. Again. So if you're one of the early readers and you're still following this beast, a thousand thanks. And now we're back to Setsuna and Galaxia. I'll be impressed if anyone recognizes where the Kingdom of Cyllene is located.
Disclaimer: Still not mine.
As the light of teleportation disappeared, Sailor Pluto took an unwary step back, only to find that the gravity of Geshur was far more powerful than that of Cyllene. Her heel sank faster than she had expected and her eyes widened in alarm, one arm reaching out for support. She heard Galaxia's startled exclamation from beside her just as a large, decidedly masculine hand caught her at the small of her back. Gratefully regaining her footing, Setsuna nodded over her shoulder to Absalom.
"Good catch," she said on a laugh. "Arigatou."
"Ah, but the pleasure is all mine."
The unfamiliar male voice made her whip around sharply on her heel, her eyes widened in some surprise. "Oh! Ano…hello. Who are you?"
Dressed all in white except for the burgundy lacings at his wrist and chest, the man standing before Setsuna was striking, though she was not quite sure if she should call him handsome. His snowy garments made a beautiful background for skin the color of honey and hair almost as gold as Usagi's, a thought that brought a slight pang to Setsuna's chest. The color was not quite the same, though, with less brilliance in the strands worked into a braid that came just past his shoulders. His eyes dominated his face, large, round as opposed to the tilted eyes of Absalom, and so pale she could not tell if they were blue or gray, fringed with lashes as long as a girl's. His nose was so non-descript one almost did not see it, lost between those eyes and a sensual mouth that looked like he might have touched it up. Not knowing the make-up customs of Geshur, Setsuna could not be sure if that would be odd or not, so she tried to pull her eyes away and instead noticed his height. As tall as she was, he was still a head taller than her, and managed to look down on her with a slight smirk. He had a face that would be impossible to forget and a body that would have sent most women swooning, but between the almost mocking quality of his smile and the emptiness of his eyes Setsuna could not find him attractive.
"He's my Papa," a young voice piped up from somewhere behind him. Princess Tamar, clad in a dress of green with white lace ruffles, peeked around his legs to gaze up at Setsuna with eyes as round as the strange man's, and with the same thick lashes, that passed briefly over her and moved to Galaxia. "He's here to see me. And Lirita."
Following Tamar's pointing finger, Setsuna and Galaxia found the tutor standing silently against the wall in the room of the Tower where they had first met the Senshi and Absalom, her arms folded over her chest and a guarded look on her face. Setsuna assumed this was merely a result of finding herself in a room with two people who took "foreigner" to a new level and started to return her attention to the Princess. From the corner of her eyes she caught the lack of movement from Galaxia and glanced to her partner in some surprise. The other Senshi studied Lirita with thoughtful scarlet eyes for a long moment, at the end of which the poor girl had begun to squirm a bit. Then Galaxia turned slowly back to Tamar's father with the same strange, distant expression on her face. Setsuna shifted slightly in an attempt to catch Galaxia's eye, but for once it did not work.
"I, uh, I am Sailor Pluto," Setsuna finally said to Tamar's father. "I'm certain that Absalom has mentioned us."
"Strangely, he said nothing about it to me," the man told her, his empty smile hitching up another notch. "But Lirita and Tamar have told me about you, of course. I am King Sivan."
"King Sivan?" Galaxia responded uncertainly. "Geshur is ruled by a Queen and her Senshi. Without the Queen, how can you be King?"
"Galaxia!" Setsuna hissed under her breath, shocked. Her partner's deference to those she had wronged in the past seemed to have suddenly deserted her, leaving her with a decidedly suspicious look in her eyes.
Though he did not look pleased with Galaxia's question, Sivan inclined his head slightly in her direction. "You are correct, Sailor Galaxia. I suppose I should have introduced myself as the Dowager King Sivan. My title was lost when my wife, our blessed Queen Yovela, died so young, leaving my sweet Tamar to take her place. Now my only title of real importance is that of Father."
Something was definitely lacking from his words, something perhaps undefinable to anyone who was not a parent. Setsuna could not give it a name, but she knew the tiny inflections in the voice, the slight change of tone that a parent used on such precious words as mother, father, or, most sacred of all, their child's name. She knew how her own voice caressed the word Hotaru even when her hands could not touch her child. Even when exasperated, that personal warmth had laced Absalom's voice as he spoke to his sister. The name Tamar had been swept away with the rest of Sivan's words, barely noticed, and spoken with none of the importance he gave the word "King".
Setsuna felt her suspicion shift to mirror Galaxia's even as she continued to smile at Sivan. "It's a pleasure to finally meet, you, sir, but I'm a little surprised to not find Absalom here as well."
"There was a meeting," Tamar said before her father could answer. "Absalom and the Senshi have to go to meetings but Papa doesn't anymore."
Sivan's dark eyes flickered to the child for a moment and his lips tightened briefly as his jaw clenched. This might have had an intimidating effect on Tamar, as Setsuna thought he meant it to, had she been paying an ounce of attention to him. Instead the Princess had turned to run back to the table spread with what looked like lessons with Lirita. She began to gather the materials, including papers, pens, and a large book, in a whirl of motion that reminded Setsuna forcibly of another little Princess.
"I can read this now," Tamar announced. "I don't need Lirita to help me. I'm going to my room now."
"Oh!" Lirita murmured in some surprise as she straightened from the wall. "But, Princess, your Papa came just to see you! Don't you want to stay with him?"
Tamar paused as she tried to sweep her papers into a pile, her face completely blank and her eyes averted from Lirita, then shook her head.
"No."
Surprised at how cold such a young child's voice could be, Setsuna blinked. She glanced awkwardly over her shoulder towards the door as she wondered how to extract Galaxia and herself from the situation. The possible ensuing confrontation between the tutor and the spoilt Princess was not something she wanted to be caught in. She took a second to muse over their arrival at this chamber instead of the balcony where they usually arrived, but decided that was a mystery for later. Her hand stretched just enough to brush Galaxia's and capture her attention. Her partner turned to her with one eyebrow slightly raised and Setsuna nodded meaningfully at the door.
Much to her surprise, Galaxia hesitated. Her eyes flashed back to Tamar and she opened her lips slightly as though she wanted to say something. The words did not seem to come to her, though, and she still stood uncertainly regarding Sivan, Tamar, and Lirita when a most welcome voice spoke up.
"Sailor Pluto, Sailor Galaxia," Absalom said pleasantly as he stepped through the door, "welcome back. Did you make any more new friends today?"
Setsuna allowed a smile, partly of welcome and partly of relief, as she turned to greet him. "A few new friends, hai. Tamar was also just introducing us to the Dowager King."
The grin that had begun to form in response to her smile slipped from his face as Absalom looked sharply past her to Sivan, who met smoldering gray eyes with frozen pale ones. He inclined his head slightly at Absalom, not quite the bow that the Prince Regent might be thought to deserve but more formal than a father's greeting to a son, and received only a sharp nod in return. Absalom craned his neck to find Tamar, who had finally managed to work her papers into a haphazard pile. She thumped her book on top of the heap, then slid the whole mess carefully off the table and into her arms until she could clasp it all firmly to her chest.
"Are you done with your studies?" Absalom asked her, startled.
Tamar nodded as well as she could with the sharp edges of several pages under her chin. Her big eyes softened as she looked up at her brother and told him, "I was going to take all this to my room and finish it, if that's alright."
"That's an excellent idea," Absalom said, his eyes sliding from his sister to Sivan yet again for a moment. "Our meeting ran late, after all. It's close to your bedtime."
Tamar frowned slightly as she glanced down at her book, then back up at him. "You don't want to check my work?"
"I'm sure Lirita knows what she's doing," Absalom said with a laugh.
Setsuna felt her heart warm towards him as he leaned down and opened his arms to her. With her arms full of papers Tamar could not hug him back, but she snuggled close against his chest and smiled when he enfolded her in his embrace. Absalom kissed her lightly on top of her head, then ruffled her curls as she gave an exasperated groan.
"Yes, I know, I'm a terrible brother," he sighed, shaking his head. "Have you thought of trading me in for another one?"
"All boys are silly," Tamar said with impressive hauteur. "That's why I like girls better."
"You're right," Absalom immediately agreed. "Boys are silly, and we are no fun, and you should definitely stick to girls. Go say goodnight."
He gave her a small push towards Sivan and waited until she was across the room before he added softly to the two Senshi, "That takes a load off my mind."
"Really?" Galaxia muttered. "You should visit Setsuna's house some time."
The mentioned woman applied her elbow firmly to her partner's ribs even as she choked down a giggle. She caught Absalom's quizzical look from the corner of her eye but refused to look his way, afraid she would begin to laugh and be called upon for an explanation that she did not want to give in front of Lirita and Sivan. As she fought a wistful smile at the thought of Haruka and Michiru she watched Tamar stand on tiptoe to kiss her father's cheek. Sivan bent to receive the kiss and returned it with one of his own, but while a flicker of warmth shone in his eyes for a moment he stood quickly and nodded his dismissal. Tamar's little smile faltered, then her chin went up and her regal expression returned. She turned quickly away and marched straight for the door. As she passed she glanced fleetingly up at Setsuna and Galaxia, her dark eyes almost beseeching, yet she did not speak or slow down, and a moment later she was gone.
"I suppose I should say my goodnights as well," Sivan said into the heavy silence that followed Tamar's departure. "It is always a pleasure to meet lovely young women, especially Sailor Senshi from another system."
Setsuna took the hand offered her and allowed him to brush a kiss across her knuckles. Galaxia received a similar salute, much to her apparent surprise, and Absalom was given another nod that he answered with a slight, tight smile. Sivan slipped out the door in a swirl of snowy silk and turned in the opposite direction of his daughter. The last glimpse Setsuna caught of him showed his hands curled into tight fists at his sides and his eyes narrowed.
"So…hello," Absalom began again, offering her another smile. "Did you come in here looking for me?"
"Actually, we didn't mean to end up here at all," Setsuna confessed. "I can't imagine why we did. We were aiming for the balcony, or at least, I was."
"Don't look at me," Galaxia shot back with a shrug. "I'm not particularly fond of this room. The last time we were here, Anyuta wanted to slit my throat. Remember?"
"She wanted to slit mine, too, now that I think about it," Setsuna said. "And you compared me to one of the Animamates. That really wasn't much fun at all. Let's go someplace else."
"Gladly," Absalom said as he ushered them out the door. "I was also slapped in that meeting, you know. You have a powerful arm. Lirita, were you on your way to your rooms as well?"
Setsuna jumped, then looked guiltily over her shoulder at the quiet tutor who was still where she had stood before Absalom entered the room. Lirita smiled slightly and followed them out of the room, but the moment he looked away longing lanced through her blue eyes in a way that Setsuna was all too familiar with. One look told her that Absalom, like Endymion, was completely oblivious to the young woman who silently loved him. Her heart was heavy for Lirita, and a few more pounds were added when she received another warm look from the Prince, because she enjoyed that smile directed at her.
"As I said, our meeting ran late, so I have not had dinner yet," Absalom told them all. "I don't suppose anyone else is hungry."
"Famished!" Setsuna immediately replied. "We were offered food on Cyllene but it was, um, strange."
"Strange?" Galaxia asked, blinking at her. "People in Japan eat things that still move!"
Setsuna took her turn to give the other woman a startled look. "You were on Earth for a very short time before we started for Kinmoku, and the most you got while you were there was pizza. How do you know that?"
"I believe she came to Earth one other time," Absalom reminded her softly.
"Well, she certainly wasn't going to restaurants that time," Setsuna shot back. "How do you know about our more, uh, exotic fare?"
"Um…" Galaxia paused, her eyes flickering uncertainly back and forth amongst the other three as she searched for words. "Well, you pick things up even if you don't go out much into the world, especially strange touches like that, it's almost like osmosis, only a cultural osmosis, and…okay, Aluminum Siren said something about it to Lead Crow once and I overheard it. I didn't think much about it at the time, other than to tell them to get back to work, which I regret now, but when Michiru was so set on feeding us before we left I just suddenly remembered and I hoped whatever she gave me didn't try and get away."
A long moment of silence followed as everyone tried to come up with something to either add to the conversation, or, hopefully, to drag it away from the uncomfortable waters where Galaxia's confession had stranded them. The casual way she had spoken of the two Animamates was strange, intimate, in a way that Setsuna did not like to think of her new partner. When she thought of that Galaxia she saw only a shadowed silhouette, a creature of Chaos who just happened to be wearing her friend's uniform. She glanced automatically at Galaxia's wrists, always reassured to see them now bare of bracelets. But the awkward moment remained until Galaxia herself broke it.
"I think, if it's alright with Prince Absalom, I will take something to eat to my room. I'm afraid the change in gravity from Cyllene to Geshur is giving me a bit of a headache."
Absalom nodded eagerly in agreement, perhaps as grateful as any of them for the change in conversation. "I'll send someone with something that isn't alive."
Galaxia gave him a half-smile that Setsuna could not help but feel was forced. "Thank you, Highness." She began to turn away, towards the rooms they had been allotted, but stopped and reached out with one hand to brush her fingers across Setsuna's wrist. "Talk to me before you go to bed?"
"Of course," Setsuna assured her in some surprise. Throughout their travels there had not been a night when Galaxia's had not been the last face she saw before she fell asleep…or the first when she woke up. She liked it that way. It was comforting, somehow, to always know that her partner was near.
With a last smile and nod to Absalom, Galaxia moved away down the hall. He watched her with an uncertainty that made Setsuna slightly nervous, though she was relieved that much of the hostility had faded since the day they arrived on Geshur. When she had disappeared around a corner Absalom looked back at the other two women and smiled at his sister's tutor.
"You are officially freed from your duties for the night, Lirita," he told her. "Go and relax, do something you want to do without worrying about that exhausting child for once."
Men are such fools, Setsuna mused sadly as Absalom put his back to Lirita, clearly thinking he had done her some service. Her sweet face was stricken for a moment at his easy dismissal, but just as Setsuna considered insisting that Lirita join them for dinner blue eyes flew to hers with a look that almost hit her like a physical blow. It was not merely dislike, but something closer to hate, and Lirita made no effort to hide it as the two women locked gazes. Setsuna's compassion gave way to shock, followed by an answering anger. Absalom had ignored Lirita long before she arrived, and it was no fault of hers that he continued to do so.
So Setsuna held her ground and raised her chin to meet the glare thrown her way with cool indifference. Lirita, understanding herself to be bested, at least at this moment, turned sharply on her heel and retreated down a side corridor. With only a slight twinge to her conscious, Setsuna moved to follow Absalom, who had not even noticed the short but heated exchange behind him.
They turned down a hall that she had never traveled before, had in fact barely noticed, and continued the short journey to the single door at the end. Absalom gallantly held it for her, nodding for her to precede him. She threw a tiny smile back at him and stepped through the door. Her eyes flashed curiously about her to take in a simple room, decorated in soft browns, with a table and two chairs, a long, low couch, and an impressive set of overstocked bookshelves.
"Is this…your room?" she asked uncertainly.
He laughed as he followed her in, closing the door behind him. "One of them. I do get an entire suite of apartments, being the Regent and all. I thought it would be a comfortable place for a meal. Is that alright?"
Setsuna nodded, but when he turned away and headed across the room she remained standing uncertainly by the door. She was alone in a room with a very handsome man and all of a sudden she would have given anything to speak to Minako for five minutes. Clearly, she needed a little advice from the Senshi of Love, as she had not a clue what she should be doing.
She had wanted only one man in her very long life, and always she knew he was not for her. Ever since the Abyss had taken her for that one terrible night she had wondered if it was not her love of Endymion that the darkness had preyed on, but her envy for something she could not have. Did she love him, or did she yearn for what she saw when he and Serenity were close to each other? Both, probably. Between the Senshi and the Shitennou there had been questions and doubt, and Metalia had used those just as the Abyss did. But Serenity and Endymion…if someone were to read every love poem and every fairytale and listen to every romantic song in all of Creation, then perhaps that lonely person would understand a fraction of what passed between those two when they looked at each other.
Then again, she had seen the same thing flicker, no, burn between Fubuki and Kakyuu, a certainty that was strong enough to build a palace on.
Have I ever been so certain of anything? she mused as she watched Absalom open a panel in the wall and begin to press buttons. My duty, I suppose, and my love for my family perhaps…though there have been times when I questioned both. Not my love, but my trust.
Living on the furthest edge of the Silver Millennium, with a sacred duty almost too heavy to bear, Sailor Pluto had not been raised or trained to depend on anyone, not even her sister Senshi. She had never thought much about this, as it was necessary that one of them always kept a cool, rational mind, but suddenly it hit her with a dull ache. Ami, Minako, Rei, and Makoto had complete faith in their bond. Haruka and Michiru had each other. Hotaru even had Chibiusa who she could trust unconditionally, and Setsuna herself. But never had there been one person that Setsuna could call…
Mine.
"Setsuna?"
Absalom was standing far closer to her than she could have thought possible. How had she not heard him? His dark gray eyes studied her face, brushing over her every feature with a concern she could almost feel, like gentle fingers over her skin. He was handsome, and strong, and kind, and his love for Tamar seemed to make him twice as beautiful. Would it be so very bad for her to just lean a little closer, to let her shoulder rest against his, to close her eyes and tip up her face?
Would you be mine?
She smiled instead and straightened up, breaking the mood. "I'm sorry, I was thinking of home. I miss the others. Did you say something?"
The disappointment in his eyes was almost crushing, but it lasted for merely a heartbeat, and then he answered with an equally forced grin. "I said that someone will be bringing up the food in a moment. The kitchen staff knows all your favorites by now. Why don't we sit down while we wait? Tell me about…Cyllene, was it?"
"That's right," Setsuna said, gratefully accepting the change of topic. "Strangest place I've ever been, and that includes being chased through Kinmoku Palace by three of the least dressed Sailor Senshi in the galaxy."
"Perhaps we should discuss Kinmoku before Cyllene," Absalom interrupted in a voice that sounded far more natural, and enough like Jadeite to make Setsuna consider slapping him in the back of the head. "You know, it is important for us to know our allies as well as our enemies. Just to start with, how little were these Senshi wearing? And what precisely do they look like?"
"Keep this up and I'm calling in Sailor Aram," she threatened, though she, too, began to relax into her smile. "She let me slap you once before, she might be willing to do it for me this time."
"Sippora? She's more likely to hang a man out the window by his heels," he said with a certain amount of pride. "I've seen her do it before."
"You're making that up!"
"Not at all. Though, in all fairness, he was much smaller than me, and Csilla had the other foot."
"What did he do to deserve that treatment?" she had to ask.
Absalom shrugged. "Don't know. All I know is Miri was standing by him, and then a few minutes later she was talking to Sippora, and the next thing I know I have two Senshi sitting on the window sill, each holding a leg, with Anyuta leaning out the window and reading him some kind of lecture. I don't know what that was about, either, because from the looks on their faces I felt safer on the other side of the room."
"Actually," Setsuna admitted, "that sounds exactly right. I would guess that Miri overheard the man say something inappropriate about one of the others."
"Why's that?"
"Because that is exactly what would happen at home. Only I could see Makoto and Rei doing the hanging while Minako chewed him out and Ami provided backup."
"Your fellow Senshi?" he guessed.
"The younger girls, hai."
The homesickness came again, causing her to swallow back her grief. Luckily there came a knock on the door and Absalom went to answer it. By the time he returned with two plates Setsuna had once again regained her composure and her smile. She followed him to the table and allowed him politely pull out her chair for her. It came naturally to him, this charming grace, probably from living his whole life surrounded by women. As she thought this she realized for that watching him speak to Sivan was the first time she had seen him interact with another man at all.
"So," Absalom said as they each prepared to attack the plate full of food, "Cyllene. What did you think?"
"Beautiful," Setsuna said instantly. "Cold."
His eyebrows rose a bit in surprise. "How so?"
She leaned back in her chair to consider her answer. "Everything looked like it was made from ice, or glass. But…maybe cold isn't the right word. The Queen and her six Senshi were warm and welcoming. Of course there was the Galaxia hurdle to overcome but that wasn't too bad. It's just so quiet there, so tranquil, and so…"
"Cold," he supplied gently.
With a sigh, she speared some form of vegetable (it looked like a vegetable, at least, and tasted somewhat like asparagus) and tried to consider how best to describe Cyllene Castle, it's Queen, and her six Senshi.
"Alien," she countered. "I guess that's what it was. Kinmoku is not that different from Earth, really, and neither is Geshur, though that whole sun rising in the west thing is a bit confusing."
"I'm sure Miri is feeling the same way on Earth," he reminded her with a smile.
"But Coronis, Mau, Chu…They were different. Not just because of their architecture or their food, but the way they talk on Coronis, full of whistles and clicks, and the fact that they have feathers in their hair! Not as decoration, either, the feathers are actually part of their hair," Setsuna continued. She set her fork down, her most-likely-vegetable uneaten, forgotten. "And on Cyllene I realized just how vast the galaxy is, and how far we've traveled. They're beautiful, Absalom, so beautiful you think they can't be real. But their skin is translucent, literally see-through translucent, and a pale blue, and underneath is a brilliant white light. It fluctuates with their mood, too. It darkened when Queen Maia saw Galaxia, then grew brighter when she realized that Galaxia is not an enemy and that I was also a visiting Senshi, and when she heard about the Abyss it almost went out entirely. It's in their eyes, too. They're eyes glow."
Absalom had also abandoned his food, staring at her with something like wonder. He blinked, then shook his head and grabbed his glass to take a long drink. Setsuna had not yet figured out what the soft golden liquid was, only that it was not alcoholic and that it tasted like nothing on Earth.
"I wish I could go with you," he whispered suddenly, his voice vibrant with a longing she knew all too well. "To see something so amazing, so different from everything I know…sometimes I think I'd do anything just to leave this damn Tower. Just for a few days away from the eyes, the judgment, the doubt."
"Whose doubt?" she asked, her voice gentle and her heart touched as she leaned a little closer to him. "The Kingdom's? Or yours?"
His lips twitched into something that had the right shape, but somehow looked nothing like a smile. "Both. Sometimes I'm not sure where one begins and the other ends, like I am feeding of their disappointment and they off my fears."
"Why? What do you fear?"
"Tamar."
That caused Setsuna's eyebrows the rise swiftly. "I don't understand. She's just a little girl."
"She won't be a little girl forever," Absalom said, "and someday she is going to be a Queen. She has no mother to show her how to be a Queen, and how can I be sure I am teaching her what's right? Blessed Sheiramoth, what happens if I lead her down the wrong path? Will she abuse the power of the Geshur Crystal? Will Geshur reject her altogether? What happens then? To Geshur, to our whole system, to her?"
No longer thinking of his beauty or his likeness to Endymion, only seeing his pain, Setsuna reached across the table and took his hand. It was large and strong, but it shook beneath her fingers like a tiny leaf on a tree. Those gray eyes were almost wild with fear and she remembered a moment glimpsed from Crystal Tokyo, when Neo-Queen Serenity had stood over the basinet of her newborn baby girl and sobbed with the same fear. Then Endymion had rushed into the room and put his arms around her, but there was no one else to comfort this frightened Prince, so she closed her hand tightly around his and lowered her head slightly until she knew she had caught his eye.
"You are a good man," she told him in a steely voice. "You have given Tamar a guide for being a great Queen just by being with her. She will make mistakes, true, but you will be there to help her. I know you will not abandon her."
This time the smile reached his eyes, though it still held too much sadness as he said, "I wish I had your certainty."
Considering her thoughts only minutes before, Setsuna had to laugh a little, but she was glad to see some of the darkness recede from his face, even if just for a moment.
"Come on," she teased him, "there must be some things in this universe you are certain of!"
"I suppose. I am certain that you are right, and no matter what I will never abandon Tamar. I am certain of my Senshi. And I am certain that you are beautiful."
Two emotions hit her in one heartbeat: pleasure and alarm. Her heart leapt as she heard him call her beautiful and delight danced in her veins. But her brain stumbled over the sentence that came just before. Something was not right about it. Before she could untangle the two feelings Absalom had risen from his chair and come quickly to her side. She rose from her chair more out of surprise than anticipation to face him. Carefully, gently, he touched the side of her face, his eyes searching her own for a second, and then he bent his face to hers.
Only once had she been kissed by a man, soft and sweet, but that had been a kiss goodbye. This kiss was entirely different, a greeting, an offering, and a glimpse of possibilities. Soft lips pressed to hers and coaxed a sigh from her mouth, and she allowed her hands to raise and cling to his shoulders. Strong muscles moved under her fingers as his arms went about her waist and pulled her closer. Enveloped in him, she could feel his heart racing against hers, and it felt wonderful.
Setsuna could feel his reluctance when he pulled away, though he kept his arms around her. For the first time she realized she had closed her eyes and she forced them open to gaze up at him. He stared back, frightened and hopeful all at once. Still in uncharted waters, Setsuna struggled to find the words for this moment, or perhaps any words at all. Her mind blanked as uncertainty came back and the words that came out almost seemed like they belonged to someone else.
"Your Senshi?"
Absalom blinked, his eyes moving to her lips almost as though he could read the words that had passed through a moment before to be sure he had heard her right.
"I beg your pardon?"
Setsuna shook her head, wondering where that had come from. Her mind managed to push away the clouds of delight his kiss had wrapped her in, and she heard again what he had said moments before. He had listed the things he was certain of, including her beauty, his love for his sister, and…
"You called them your Senshi," she reminded him, letting her hands slide down, not completely retracting her touch but giving herself a little more room.
"Um, yes, I did," he agreed slowly. "I don't understand how that exactly factors in to the position we find ourselves in right now."
"I know, and I apologize, it's just that…they are not your Senshi, Absalom."
"Now I definitely don't understand what we're talking about," he admitted, and to her great disappointment his arms slid away. "What precisely are you trying to say?"
"You are the Regent," Setsuna said, "and so the Senshi protect you…for now. But their duty is to Tamar. They are her Senshi, Absalom, not yours. Don't you understand that?"
Gray eyes that had shone just a heartbeat before seemed to freeze in an instant. Even as he held his ground she felt him pull further away from her, and she cursed her mouth. She had not meant to say that, at least not as an accusation, but she had never been a diplomat and everything was coming out wrong.
"I believe I understand what is happening in Geshur far more than you, Sailor Pluto," he told her with terrible civility. "I know the pitfalls that I, and my sister, face. Do you think I want to remain Regent? That I want to take power from my sister?"
"Of course not!" she gasped. "I know, by Chronos I know, how much you want to throw off all this power and duty! That's not what I was trying to say."
The laugh was harsh, almost cruel, and drove Setsuna a step further back.
"You know?" he threw back at her. "You, a stranger, know what it is like to be paraded in front of several worlds' worth of people, all of them knowing you are the very proof of the weakness within their last Queen, and possibly their Princess as well? You understand that?"
"Weakness?" Setsuna echoed. "She died. That's…that's terrible and tragic, not weakness! Even Senshi, even Queens can die, and believe me, I know what that is like!"
"Death was not her weakness," Absalom stated flatly. "It was her escape."
For a moment she stared in silence, searching his eyes for the telltale darkness that warned of the Abyss's influence. There was none to be found. Whatever this was, this anger, came from somewhere else deep within Absalom. She floundered, uncertain which direction to take. She knew so little about people, surrounding herself with Senshi and Shitennou, guardians, those like her, and she wanted to run from this darkness within him. The Abyss, though, would not run but instead feast on something this deep and old. It was a terrible risk to Geshur, and, perhaps worse, to Absalom's soul.
Think, she ordered herself as she stared at him, desperately trying to unwind whatever chains had twisted around his heart. The Senshi of this system held him in the same affection as her own family held Mamoru, Tamar adored him, Lirita was in love with him. Having never left the Tower since that first night, Setsuna had no idea what the general opinion of the Kingdom was of the Prince, except what he had told her himself.
He said the Council would not listen to him until the Senshi backed him.
He said he had only five people he trusted completely, the Senshi and Tamar.
And then there was the thing he never said, a word he avoided, and the coldness in his eyes and voice when face to face with the sixth person he should have been able to trust unconditionally…
"He's not you father," Setsuna whispered.
The gray ice in his gaze cracked, but did not completely break. The sneer remained and even widened into a terrible smirk, and underneath it was pain, and shame. It went deep, perhaps all the way back to his childhood, and possibly fed by Queen Yovela's own humiliation. She felt inexcusably foolish that it had never occurred to her that a Queen could have such a very ordinary frailty. For a moment she wondered who the man had been, then thrust it away to help the man before her now.
"Why would that reflect on you?" she asked in that same soothing voice. She wanted to melt the ice from his eyes and bring back that warm, smiling man from mere minutes before.
"She was married and took another lover," Absalom said, almost insultingly slowly, as to a very young child, but Setsuna brushed it away as the defense it was. "I am not the son of the King, whom she had been married to some years earlier. I am a bastard. Where exactly does your confusion lie?"
"She made this mistake," Setsuna threw back at him. "Not you. It has nothing to do with you."
"I don't know what marriage is like on Earth, but believe me, here it is the most sacred of vows. When a girl becomes a Senshi she is wedded to her planet. To be a bastard is to carry the sin of the mother forever."
"Well, then, the people of Geshur are stupid," she said simply. This surprised a blink out of him and caused the smirk to fade slightly. "I stand by my original assessment. You are good, you are kind, and you are stronger than you think. Even with Yovela's blood, carrying a Crystal not your own must be hellish. Geshur did not reject you, so why should its people?"
He softened just a little more and she allowed a tiny flicker of relief.
"People are not as forgiving as planets, I guess," he said in a voice much closer to the one she was used to.
"Has it occurred to you there is nothing to forgive?" Setsuna asked. "How old was your mother when she became Queen?"
"Um," he muttered, closing his eyes to think, "about…nineteen, maybe?"
They go through Queens fast around here, she mused, curious about the loss of another Queen with a daughter so young.
Instead of going into that, she nodded thoughtfully. "How soon after that did she marry Sivan?"
"Very soon," Absalom admitted. "The Council believed, as young as she was, that she needed an older spouse to help her."
"So she did not love him," Setsuna stated. It was not even a guess. "And the Council picked him and told her to wed this man she did not love. Then she fell in love with another man. This seems far more the fault of the Council than your mother."
She did not add that she had no doubt Sivan had jumped at the chance. His empty eyes still haunted her, only brightening when he spoke of himself as King, and flaring with anger at Galaxia when she refuted this claim. It was no wonder, then, that Absalom kept Tamar in this wing of the Tower, far from her father's influence.
His shoulders suddenly slumped, and Absalom finally looked his age, just twenty-two and so very tired. He shook his head and sank back down into his chair, then dropped his head into his hands, his elbows braced against his knees. Slowly, he took several deep breaths.
"I'm sorry," he whispered through his fingers. "You did not deserve that, Setsuna, and I am sorry."
"There is nothing to be sorry for," she told him as she gently touched his shoulder. "I wish I had not spoken where I had no business, but in a way, I'm glad. Our weakness, our anger, is what the Abyss feeds on. You have to face it, or it will make you face it when you are not ready."
He looked up, all animosity gone and replaced by curiosity. "What did you have to face, Setsuna?"
"My envy," she told him honestly. "And my loneliness."
"Loneliness," he repeated slowly. "You don't seem lonely to me."
She paused, surprised at this assessment. Now that she thought about it, it had been some time since she had felt the heart wrenching pain that coursed through her whenever she watched the easy ways between the other Senshi. The memories of those feelings were there, but the sharp regret had receded since the day they had summoned the goddess. It seemed strange, so far from home, that she felt like she…belonged. Traveling, seeing the rest of the Senshi, so different and so similar, but never alone.
Galaxia's dazzling eyes suddenly came to her, brimming with laughter and warmth, and something terribly like guilt hit her hard. It had felt good, yes, when Absalom had wrapped her in his arms, yet now she wondered if it would have wounded her partner to walk in on that. They had grown so close in such a short time, almost like they had known each other much longer, perhaps even forever, and the thought of Galaxia drawing away from her frightened her far more than the loss of Absalom's arms.
"Are you alright?" Absalom asked softly. When she looked his way again she saw something like defeat in his face, and more guilt came.
"Of course," she assured him quickly. "Come on. The food's probably cold but we might as well eat it. I think I'll explain why the food from Cyllene seemed strange after we eat, though."
He smiled at her again and reached for his fork. Halfway there he froze, his eyes widening in sudden alarm as his hand flew to his chest.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her hand still on the back of her chair.
"I don't know," Absalom gasped. "It's burning!"
"What's…?"
She did not need to finish the question as the green light began to flash from beneath his fingers. He jerked his hand away, seized the chain around his neck, and ripped it off to throw the Geshur Crystal on the table. Immediately it began to tremble, then shake so hard the table shook with it, all the while glowing brighter and brighter. Setsuna gave a shout of alarm and jumped back as it spun wildly, the gold chain whipping out behind it. Then, with one blinding flash, it disappeared, leaving the chain to fall to the table with a heavy thud.
They stood staring at the table for one silent moment, then looked to each other.
"What in all burning Creation was that?" he whispered. "And where the hell did it go?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "I've never seen a Crystal act like that. Unless…sweet Saturn's bloody rings, Tamar!"
That was all that was needed to throw Absalom straight at the door. Setsuna followed hard on his heels as he raced through the corridors. They both slid to a stop when they heard the screams, coming from the other direction, back the way they had come.
"Our rooms," Setsuna breathed. "What would she be doing at our rooms?"
He did not stop to answer her, nor did she expect him to. Instead they flew back, took a different corner, and found Tamar staggering backwards through a doorway. Even from that distance they could see the blood staining the white lace of her dress and spattered on her face. She screamed again and Setsuna heard more feet running their way, no doubt the Senshi coming to her aid. Absalom reached her first and pulled her around so that she stared up at him blankly with big dark eyes.
"Tamar!" he shouted, giving her a little shake. "Tamar, what happened? Who did this?"
Gasping for breath, it took Tamar several tries before she could push out one word.
"Galaxia!"
A/N again: Because if I didn't end it like that, I feel like I would just be disappointing you.
