A/N: Kunzite doesn't want to socialize.

Helios' Dream

A man sat in a chair, his hand resting casually on a pedestal in front of him, his thumb almost brushing the crystal orb embedded in the steel surface. The orb was dark like the space between the stars, but the man knew that one touch of his hand would make it glow like the Moon.

The same Moon that hung in front of the star ship's nose, a pearl glowing against the cosmic void. In the silver light the man's uniform looked almost as white as his long hair. The light illuminated the whole room - the man sitting in one of the five chairs, darkened screens, keyboards and panels. Only the screen in front of the chair to his right was glowing, indicating that a few minutes ago someone had been using it.

The man allowed a small smile to curl the corners of his lips upwards at the memory of Prince Endymion sitting in his usual place, double checking the coordinates and how long it'd take Helios' Dream to get to the Moon and the Silver Kingdom. The Prince's eyes had been shining with barely controlled impatience and longing as he'd looked up to the Moon. It had been clear to the man sitting silently in the empty room, that the Prince was smitten, both with the neighboring kingdom and with its Princess.

This trip was yet another step on the way of tightening the ties connecting the Earth and the Silver Kingdom. They had never been much bigger than formal audiences here and there, old treaties of peace and some trade. Fate had had it that during one of such audiences, a certain Princess had joined the embassy and had met a certain Prince.

And now they both tried to make their kingdoms become allies. The man smiled a bit wider, thinking that the pair was on a good way. Maybe, one day, they could be joined in a union, with them at the helm. If anyone could join the two countries, it was them.

And he was rooting for them.

His hand moved to touch the orb, causing it to start glowing softly.

"Helios, shades."

"Aye, general Kunzite," replied the computer in Helios' voice. The room darkened, the image of the celestial object in front of the ship turning gray. Shadows lengthened and darkened, blanketing the bridge.

The man sighed.

He could be rooting for his Prince and his vision of unity and peace, but he still wasn't happy he had to leave the Earth, alongside the rest of the generals. Sure, they had been escorting the Prince to the Moon in the past, but usually in pairs.

This visit was going to be different than the past ones, the Prince had been invited to attend the Princess' birthday and had ordered all eight of the generals to come with him. It was going to be a sign of good will and respect to the Silver Kingdom, but also a chance for the generals to meet in person the famous Sailor Scouts, including the legendary Outer Scouts. Kunzite had been to the Moon twice already and had never met any of the female warriors.

Still, he didn't like that he had to leave the globe to see them. It was in part because they all were going to be gone for at least a week. And, in part, it was because he didn't really feel like spending time around most of his fellow generals.

It was not his fault that they were so obnoxious, loud, weird or simply annoying. It was not his fault he didn't like Nephrite getting drunk with Alexandrite and singing country songs. It wasn't his fault he couldn't stand Jadeite bragging about how his youmas were prettier than anyone else. It wasn't his fault he had no patience for Vivianite's terrible dad jokes. They were usually manageable if there were less than three in one place, but all of them together... Kunzite shivered at the thought.

He didn't spend much time with them on Earth, being stuck with them on the ship and later in the Silver Palace... It was going to be a real trial of patience. He grimaced, remembering Prince Endymion joking that it was going to be a great opportunity for him to form closer bonds with his fellow generals before Olivin stepped down as the head general.

In his own opinion, Kunzite had a very good bonds with his fellow generals. He could message them any time he wanted, it was not his fault some of them never typed back, but insisted on calling or visiting him to work out details of their missions. Besides, they seemed to be perfectly fine wrecking up the common chamber of Helios' Dream without his help.

He could almost hear Obsidian singing one of the terrible songs he wrote and insisted on performing publicly. It was Zoisite, Vivianite and Jadeite's fault, since they were always asking him about his newest 'hot hits'. His latest 'masterpiece' was titled 'The Marsian Maiden and Many Mushrooms' and was going to cause a diplomatic incident. Kunzite was sure of it. So far it had caused him a migraine when he'd heard it the last month.

That was what he had been doing when Kunzite had fled the chamber. He'd come to the bridge and had relieved the navigator officer watching over the course. Helios' Dream could easily travel between the Earth and the Moon, but sitting in the shadowy, quiet room was better than the loud place with too many people.

A soft hiss of the door sliding open behind him caused him to turn his head and look at the intruder.

An angel stood in the bright square of light coming from the corridor lights. The halo of warm light encircled their head and for a moment Kunzite could just stare, feeling as if he'd been dreaming this entity invading his darkness with their light.

"Kunzite?" the intruder said hesitantly and Kunzite blinked. It was just Zoisite. It almost made him chuckle at his foolishness, no sane person would mistake the General of Europe for an angel. He was too loud and energetic for a heavenly spirit. No angel was so reckless, feisty and unintentionally destructive. "Are you in here?"

"Yes. Helios, shades off," he ordered, his hand touching the orb for a moment. The shadows receded fluidly when the full light of the Moon filled the room while the computer murmured its response.

"Aargh!" Zoisite shielded his eyes with a hand. "Thanks for the warning!"

"Now you can see that I'm here and not a disembodied recording playing on loop," Kunzite said, a tad sourly.

"It wasn't my idea," Zoisite muttered and entered the chamber, allowing the door to slid close. Not a month ago, when the generals of Europe and both Americas had joined for a mission in a submerged city in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, the two mischievous idiots had pranked Nephrite while investigating a labyrinth of corridors and chambers. The purr General of North America had spend an hour exorcising the structure and then a whole quarter of an hour trying to convince him, Kunzite, that ghosts were existing down there and wanted him to go down there and build a snowmen they could posses and interact with the material world. "It was Viv's revenge on Neph."

Kunzite shook his head. "Just tell me, what do you want."

"Ah, yes, sure," the shorter man grinned. "Our Prince sent me here to relieve you from the duty of overseeing the course, so you can join the rest and have some fun."

"I refuse," Kunzite didn't hesitate and looked at the other man, frowning at that annoyingly innocent smile of his.

"What? I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable of piloting a star ship," huffed the strawberry blonde man. Kunzite almost smirked at the adorable irked face he made. He couldn't look threatening even if he wanted to.

"I don't doubt your abilities," Kunzite turned to face the screens again. "I just refuse to leave this room. There is nothing standing in your way of staying here."

A second passed before he heard the other man move. Zoisite walked to the chair on his right and sat there. Kunzite cast a side glance his way to see him pout as he tapped the keyboard, waking up the screen and checking the coordinates.

He wasn't bothered by that, it was only right to check them and the radars. The route to the Moon wasn't terribly long, but there was no such thing as trusting your luck when you flew through the cosmic void. A stray space rock could endanger the whole ship and since all the generals and the crown prince were on deck, Helios' Dream could be a very tempting, very easy target for anyone planning an invasion on Earth. The Solar System was peaceful for the most part, but that didn't mean they could be lazy.

All the generals had went through a piloting training, even if they rarely left the globe. Kunzite was fairly decent at it, but Zoisite was a real talent. He observed his screen with interest shining in his eyes.

Kunzite watched the other man playing with a strand of his hair that had fallen out of his ponytail, before he leaned in and touched the small orb positioned to his right, a miniature of the one in front of Kunzite.

"Helios, prepare the ion cannon," Kunzite blinked at the command.

"Aye, general Zoisite. Ion cannon at ready in five seconds."

"What...?" Kunzite asked. At the same time Zoisite targeted something on the screen and gave the order to fire. He could see a thin streak of light flash across the big screen in front of them, followed by something dark exploding at the impact. The destroyed object had been far away from the ship. Zoisite glanced at his companion and shrugged.

"A piece of rock. It had to go," he said. Kunzite raised an eyebrow..

"It wasn't on the collision course with us."

"It was possible it'd hit the Earth or be pulled back by the Moon," Zoisite leaned back against his chair and crossed his legs, obviously pleased with himself. That explanation was valid enough, so when a second later Kunzite saw the Prince's face in his orb, he offered a small smile to the concerned man.

"What's going on there?" Prince Endymion asked. "I was alerted you started firing at something."

"The General of Europe eliminated a potential meteor," Kunzite explained.

"Ah, alright. Why are you still there?"

"I think I'll stick around to make sure he won't go trigger happy," Kunzite smirked when he heard a snort from the side. The Prince sighed, but nodded.

"Alright," he said. Before he disconnected, Kunzite could hear the atrocious sounds of Obsidian's favorite song played on a a flute.

He almost felt sorry for poor Endymion. But, come to think about it, the Prince seemed to enjoy the rowdy company.

"You really don't want to join them?" Zoisite asked. "I mean they have fun and there's little to do here, since there's nothing to shoot at in the reasonable distance."

"I knew it, you just wanted to fire the ion cannon."

Zoisite laughed softly at his accusation and Kunzite couldn't help, but chuckle himself.