CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

BLOOD ON THE DUNGEON FLOOR

In the days that followed, it was decided that both kingdoms could no longer afford to maintain the age-old silence that has kept both their worlds isolated from one another. King Endymion and Queen Serenity secretly met underground deep below the Triode castle. It was a secret meeting unknown to everyone including the King's immediate advisors. Everyone, that is, except for the crown prince himself, four of his elite guards, and the four sailor warriors.

The King and Queen agreed that the matter must be resolved quickly. The King was concerned that the citizens of his kingdom were beginning to feel uneasy about his order to seal off the borders. He did not like creating a threatening environment, but he wanted to show his people that the safety of the Kingdom and his people was his topmost priority.

So, first they needed to determine which kingdom was being threatened, or whether it was both. But first, the Queen wanted to earn the King's trust, therefore she has taken it upon herself to tell the King the truth about his son's death.

"You see, your majesty, it was one of my own people that had killed your son. I was not aware our children were meeting in secret. Although we hold pacifist ideals, we will defend our kingdom if must be. Our sole duty is guard the Earth against dark forces, but we do not seek out these forces on our own. I did not order anyone to take the life of your son, nor would I order the death of any earth citizen, it is not our way. Until today, the laws that forbid earth citizens and moon citizens to communicate may have caused this person to fear for the safety of my daughter and your son.

" I will accept their actions on their behalf but do not punish our children or their future. I know there are no words to express to you how sorry I am except to assure you that the Moon Kingdom will cooperate with yours to bring this matter to a speedy resolution."

"Who is this person that killed my son?" the King politely demanded.

The Queen lowered her head as she softly replied. "They fled before their punishment could be served. They served… the princess." She lifted her head again and looked at the King. " We were able to confiscate one item from him before he disappeared, an arrow. We are unsure whose rightful owner it was, whether it belonged to the killer, or the one who was killed. However, our people were able to discover some interesting things about it." The Queen carefully replied.

"May I see this arrow?" the King asked.

"Of course. Venus!" The Queen ordered.

"Caution, your highness. It is coated with a lethal poison. Hold it with this cloth." Venus replied as she handed him the cloth cradling the weapon

"Yes" the King replied as he examined the arrow inside the cloth Sailor Venus had placed in his hands. It was then that he recognized the small initials at the base of it, "this was his, Prince Micah's. He insisted on making his own arrows. I never understood why, until now." The King paused and lowered his head as he placed the arrow on his lap. Then he spoke up softly as if in shock, "My son was trying to kill Endymion?"

The prince lowered his head as his face turned white all of a sudden. His realization turned to remorse at his recent actions against Winter. She might be this fugitive who may have tried to protect him and his princess from near death. Yet at the same time, his feelings were clouded with anger upon the fact if it was she, she may have killed his youngest brother. It was a simple deduction really, she was there that night. Why didn't he think of it sooner? But, if she did kill Micah, she may have tried to kill him and Serena out of sheer jealousy, instead.

The prince felt ill at the confusion in his mind and almost passed out if it wasn't for Kunzite who had placed his hand on his shoulder and nodded in concern. Endymion looked over to his side at Kunzite and nodded down to confirm he was alright. Surely there could have been a better way, the prince reasoned.

Not too far behind him, Kunzite looked to the prince and gave him a silent reassurance of strength that he would personally see to it these killers would suffer as his brother did. Kunzite kept his expression firm upon the conversation the Queen and the King shared, but his mind raced of fury, "There is a spy among my men. I'm sure of it," He thought. "How else could this Queen have been able to obtain that arrow? I personally held Micah's cold dead flesh in my arms. I picked up all of his arrows and his bow off of the grass and sealed them, myself! How could it have ended up with them?"

"Or he was trying to kill my daughter, or both." The Queen answered the King's question. " This union would unite our kingdoms. Perhaps there are more people than we realize who know of our children and feel uneasy about the results their union might bring? He may not have acted on his own. If there are people who want to assassinate our children, they will try again."

The King still felt uneasy about the whole situation and this person who came from the Moon and killed his son. " The only way another assassination attempt was to happen upon your daughter or my son is if both were present at a gala function to announce their engagement as a symbol of peace throughout our worlds. Perhaps it is time to abolish the old ways. Anyone who would want to kill our children will try then to prevent our two kingdoms from joining.

"Perhaps we can bring these killers to us, and catch your fugitive as well. Since neither one of us truly knows whether it was my son or your assassin attempting to kill our children, then you won't mind if we serve their execution as well. That is how you will serve your punishment and they will serve their punishment for the murder of my son. Although it goes against my own personal beliefs, I would rather give them a lifelong imprisonment then a swift execution. However, the King and his children belong to the people therefore it should be my people to serve their judgement. That is what they will decide. I assure you.

"If our soldiers were to catch the rebels attempting to assassinate our children, I would regain the confidence of my people and you would gain confidence in yours, as well as mine. Furthermore, if we were to execute these killers before everyone, the feelings towards the execution would unite their hearts and our two kingdoms. It would also set our people at ease about any apprehensions they may have about this union of your son and my daughter. It would also set an example for anyone else in the future trying to bring down our two kingdoms ever again."

The Queen looked upon the King with sadness as she replied to his suggestion, "It isn't our way to serve punishment in this manner. We are people of peace and forgiveness. I love my daughter, King Endymion, I would love for nothing more than her happiness, and the happiness of that of my people." The Queen apprehensively replied.

But the Queen also knew that the day of darkness was soon at hand. Deep below the castle she could smell a faint aura of blood in the air emanating from the dungeons. She knew that the dark ones would soon come to judge all of them for breaking the sacred laws. A great battle was on the horizon and the Queen knew this union might yet give them the hope they need. To not just defend their kingdom against the Negaverse, but win against the ones that would soon come to judge all of them with their demons and destroy their world once again like they did so many centuries ago. "But perhaps, together we will be stronger." The Queen said out loud in confidence.

With that, the Queen and the King agreed and shook each other's hands. The Queen looked away at Venus beckoning her approval. At that Venus bowed and knelt before the Queen, "It shall be done, King Endymion, Queen Serenity. Our Kingdoms will bring peace to the people of our world once again." And with that, the sailor soldiers knelt before her as did the crown prince and his four soldiers.