DICTATOR by Sievert Dinar
Disclaimer - Sailormoon is owned by a lot of people, most of whom
are not me, so don't get all worked up about my using the characters
in ways they weren't meant. I'm just a common or garden fanfic
writer without a hope in this dark and cruel world. Maybe.
"Where is Small Lady?" Mercury asked Mars seconds after
entering the private quarters of the Princess. Mars, who had been
sitting in the large, comfortable sofa in the middle of the spacious
main chamber, reading an issue of an old magazine that the Princess
had taken to collecting with some fervor, recently, looked up at
Mercury and shrugged.
"She's taking a shower."
"She's taking a shower?" Mercury put her hands on her hips,
a questioning expression crossing her face.
"Don't ask me. I know it would be more befitting for her to
bathe within the Palace baths, but she was insistent. She wanted to
take a shower. And she has been doing so for the..." Mars turned
her head and looked back at the large grandfather clock that sat
some short distance from the entrance doors. "...For the last 45
minutes."
"45 minutes?" Mercury raised an eyebrow as Mars dropped the
magazine onto the sofa, standing and brushing down her skirt. "Are
you sure she is alright?"
"Yes. If you listen, you can hear her talking to herself in
there." Mars pointed to the door that lead to the Princess's inner
sanctum. After a few seconds of silence, they could hear her soft,
distinctive mumbling. Mercury swallowed.
"H... how long has she been doing this for?"
"About 45 minutes, as I said."
Mercury shook her head with annoyance. "No, not how long she
has been doing it now. How long has she been exhibiting this
behaviour?"
Mars put a finger to her lips, staring up at the ceiling as
she seemed to search for the answer. "Well, I asked Venus about it.
Venus has been taking care of the Princess over the last few weeks,
and she says the Princess was doing it when her time started." Mars
started to rub her chin. "As far as she was concerned, it wasn't
doing the Princess any harm. She wasn't doing anything odd or
strange outside, so she let it slide." She shrugged, dropping her
hands to her sides. "I guess she's just working through all of her
frustrations and problems. She is in her early teens, now, and
doesn't have many friends of her own age."
"That's not really the point." Mercury crossed her arms,
huffing. "Her mother and father want to know where she has been,
these last few months, when it has come time to bathe. They're not
happy that she'd rather take a shower in private."
"Let me ask you something." Mars smiled. "When you were
around the age of thirteen, going on fourteen, did you like to spend
your time naked in a public place?" Mercury opened her mouth to
speak, then closed it as her face went red. "I rest my case." Mars
sat back down in the sofa, gesturing to the space next to her.
"Care to wait?"
She had the power of life and death over everyone on the face
of the planet, and there was next to nothing they could do about it.
From within this dark, wet place, where many past rulers have
planned and plotted their various schemes, she treated people like
pawns, punishing them all for being chosen to be The One.
The Computer always chose the person who least wanted to rule,
almost as a safety net against the creation of a calcified power
structure. The Computer, created by ancient technologies nobody
could understand, and immune to tampering by threatening parties,
capable of defending itself by simply switching off the life of its
attackers like shutting down a program, never once thought about
whether the person it chose had the skills to be The One. Refusal
to take up the role met with the same fate as those who tried to
attack it. And she didn't want to die.
That meant being shut off in a secret place from where The
Computer gave her access to the lives and events of people across
the face of the planet. She saw all and knew all, and she hated it.
So she made the lives of people as miserable as possible. There was
nothing they could do to stop her, not until the day she died.
God Almighty, she was bored.
"This wall..." Mars stared up towards the ceiling as both she
and Mercury studied the wall of the Princess's private quarters from
up close.
"What about it?" Mercury ran a finger down the wall, feeling
the grain of the material from which it was made.
"Although it is very marbled in appearance, it's a lot more
subtle than the walls of my own chamber." Mars nodded. "Perhaps
fitting for someone such as Small Lady."
"The interior design for her quarters was realised by the
architect Kitano Manako." Mercury frowned as she tried to remember
everything she could about the architect. "He was the designer of
the Great Library and the Museum of Modern Art, I do believe."
"Oh, him." Mars chuckled. "I heard he wasn't that hot on the
interior design stuff. He much preferred a holistic approach to
design, putting together buildings from the ground up. He hated
having to work with the designs of another."
"Well, it is a bit like having to decorate a cake someone else
has baked. Most of the set up work has already been done. You can
only add the icing to what is presented before you."
Mars turned around and stared at the doors to the inner
sanctum. "She's never let me through those doors to see what it
looks like, you know that?"
"That's not really surprising." Mercury followed her gaze.
"She hasn't let anyone in there, other than her mother and father.
I don't know what she is so frightened of, allowing people to see
what she has made of it."
"Probably because she never cleans it up." Mars chuckled.
Mercury sighed, trying to keep the subject serious.
"She has the autocleaners to do that for her. You know she's
the spotless sort. Really quite pedantic about cleanliness."
"Probably why she takes such long showers." Mars shrugged.
"But you know what they say about perfectionists... Only one screw
tight away from weaving the baskets."
They were out there, searching for her. She knew they were
talking about her, plotting her downfall. As the liquid warmth
cascades over her small, naked frame, she allowed herself to sink
into the large basin at the base of the shower.
Everyone searched for The One. The Computer had made sure
that there was only one place for The One to rule from. It had
been designed by the ancients for this purpose. With a mystery
ruler ruling from a mystery place, the chain of succession was
assured. Oh, how she hated that. She wished that somebody would
break into this place and end her now worthless existence.
No... She wanted to live. She had to fight and destroy
those who would do the same to her. She slid across the shower
basin and pressed herself hard against the tiled wall. It was
hard to see anything in the twilight of the bathroom, but she could
clearly see the nine plain white tiles which she used to command the
Computer to do her bidding.
She reached up and pressed one of the tiles. There! How
would they like THAT, eh?
"Hmm... I don't know if I could live in a place that had such
subtle decorations." Mars looked around the room, taking it all in.
"I like much bolder, harder colours and imagery."
"That's why your chamber is decorated in nothing but red and
black, hmm?" Mercury raised an eyebrow, causing Mars to huff her
response.
"What is wrong with red and black?"
"Oh nothing, nothing. It just lacks a tasteful subtlety,
that's all." Ignoring her fuming colleague, Mercury went on. "Now
MY chamber, that IS style. Those walls of blue, fluid crystal. So
calming and mesmerising."
"You call THAT tasteful? I can't stand the way you can see
the crystals moving around within the skin of the wall, making that
icy ringing noise. It sets my teeth on edge."
"I wanted the design of my chambers to use the latest in
modern design materials. The liquid crystal wall is all the rage,
now. I was the very first to make use of it in a working capacity.
It was a triumph of architecture, I tell you."
"It'd probably all melt given a long, hot summer." Mars
smirked, wickedly. "At least I don't live in fear of my walls
collapsing without warning one day. It'll be the end of you, I say,
those things flooding your room and drowning you."
"Oh, and I'd bet you'd like to see that happen, too." Mercury
sniffed, sticking her nose in the air. Mars rolled her eyes,
wondering why her old friend always took her so seriously.
"I'm joking, silly. Lighten up a little."
"Still better than your plain old cement walls." Mercury
replied sulkily. Mars shook her head, giving up on the argument,
and turned back to the doors of the inner sanctum. She listened in
silence for a few moments.
"She's stopped talking." Mars said flatly. "The shower is
still running, but she has stopped talking."
"I was wondering when you'd notice." Mercury turned to Mars,
smiling. "It has been like that for the last few minutes. The tone
of the water is flat, too. There is nobody in the shower."
"Or nobody moving in the shower." Mars stepped towards the
doors, getting a click of the tongue from Mercury.
"Now now. Don't you be charging in and disturbing her."
"But she could be..." Before she could finish what she was
going to say, there was a clunking noise from the inner sanctum...
The sound of a plastic chair being carried into the bathroom. At
least, that was what they thought it sounded like. They looked at
each other, bemused.
"What the hell is she doing in there?" Mars scratched her
head, for want of some better expression of confusion.
She plonked her rear into the curved seat of the plastic
chair, shivering as air, churned up by the exhaust fan set in the
ceiling, cascaded over her wet, naked frame. She glanced to her
right, where the shower was still running. A few miserable clouds
of steam rising from behind the curtain stood out in the half-light
that glinted through a crack between the window curtain and the
sill. So dark in here, yet so full of noise and action. People
just don't understand. She is a prisoner in this place. They hate
her for what she is, but don't ask themselves the question of WHO
she is. It wasn't her fault she was placed here. They all deserved
to suffer for hating her so.
She leaned back and rested her head against the wall. The
sounds and the twilight had a drowsy effect upon her. The moments
when she could be alone were so few and far between. Everyone
seemed to think that having a full life meant imposing themselves
on other people. She didn't think that way. At least, not today,
anyway. Sure, she liked the company of others, but there were those
moments where she just liked to be alone with her own imagination,
retaining an element of her childlike desire to play and make
believe. She often played The One. There was an amazingly
claustrophobic sense of oneness in the game. There was also the
game of the Prisoner. Trapped deep within a cryogenic cell, where
she is kept alive in suspended animation during the term of her
punishment, rather than be fed, clothed and kept entertained. Yet
something wasn't quite right with her cubicle, and she was able to
wake up and wander round the cell block, looking at the other
prisoners like displays at an art gallery, and dodging the rounds of
the security guards.
People would think she was mad if she let on about this. Not
quite right in the head. Here she was, at the age of thirteen, and
she was playing paranoid little games in her shower, like twisted
versions of the games children play. So what? Honestly, it was
nothing more than an extension of the kind of play she used to get
up to when she was younger. Just updated for her expanding
intellect. One day they might make for interesting stories, if she
ever found the time to write them down. Although people might think
her strange for having such stories rattling around in her head in
the first place. They'd probably blame it all on the friendship she
shared with Saturn and Pluto. They normally did, not knowing the
two dark Senshi on a personal level. At least they didn't demand
to be a part of her life, day in day out, and they were always happy
to share their time with her when she requested it, just as long as
they could have their own moments of solitude and introspection. It
was only recently that she began to understand why.
"Princess..." She could hear the voice, coming from outside
the inner sanctum of her quarters. She inwardly groaned as she
recognised Mercury's voice. What did that busybody want now?
"Princess, are you alright in there?"
"Yes, I'm alright." She shouted back, a little more tersely
than she'd intended. "What do you want?"
"We're just checking to see if you're alright." That was
Mars. She let out a breath. Did they have a committee outside, or
something?
"Well, as you can hear, I'm not in distress or anything. I'm
perfectly alright, so you don't have to worry about me."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you properly?" Mars's voice
sounded a bit muffled. She was probably pressing up against the
inner doors, trying to hear what she had to say over the sound of
the shower.
"I said I'm not in distress or anything. I am perfectly
alright. You do not have to worry about me." She said each word
slowly and spaced apart, hoping that Mars and Mercury understood.
"Okay, Princess. Sorry to disturb you. We were just
wondering, that was all. You have been in the shower for quite a
long time." Mercury droned, as if expecting a response. She
clenched her teeth and clutched the edge of the chair. Why did they
have to meddle in her little games like this?
"I'm allowed to take as long a shower as I like, aren't I?"
"What was that?" Mercury asked, genuinely. It still made her
seethe, though.
"I said I am allowed to take as long a shower as I like. I am
the Princess, am I not?"
There was no response to that. She could hear voices, but it
was more Mars and Mercury talking to each other. Probably planning
some excuse for breaking in to her private world, meddling in her
affairs. She wished she could press one of the tiles, like a button
to the Computer, and make them go away. It would be so simple to
do. Just reach forward and press against the tile. And they'd be
gone forever, or at the very least as long as she wished them to be.
How why couldn't she ever have that kind of power?
"Well, I think we can be safe in assuming that she is,
physically, alright." Mars raised her eyebrows. "Physically,
anyway."
"What on Earth is she doing in there?" Mercury puzzled. "Her
responses were quite curt. Terse, even. That's not like the
Princess I know."
"People change during their lives. She's just going through
an odd phase, that's all." Mars didn't seem so sure about the truth
of what she had said.
"Odd phases tend to be symptomatic of something deeper."
Mercury pressed her ear up against the inner doors, trying to
listen. "She's gone dead quiet, now."
"I bet she's sulking."
Mercury turned to Mars. "What makes you think that?"
"Well, if I wanted a bit of peace and quiet whilst I was in
the shower, I'd be a bit annoyed at a couple of busybodies hanging
around outside, wanting to know if I was alright."
"Yes, but this isn't you we're talking about, here." Mercury
pressed her ear back up against the door. "I think she's whispering
to herself, now."
"Hey guys. What are you up to?" They both turned as Jupiter
entered the room, stopping as she saw how close they were to the
inner doors. "What ARE you up to?"
"We're trying to listen to the Princess." Mars crossed her
arms and looked at Mercury. "We think she's behaving... a little
odd."
"A little odd?" Jupiter stepped across the room to them,
putting her hands on her hips. "What do you define as being odd?"
"Does talking to yourself in the shower count?" Mercury
pointed to the door as she listened intently. "She's been in there
for quite a while, now, and we're damned if we know what she's up
to."
"Well, that's certainly... odd." Jupiter sweatdropped. "The
Queen sent me up here to see how long it would be before Small Lady
came down for breakfast. She's a little annoyed that her daughter
is so late."
"It doesn't look like anytime soon." Mercury frowned. "She's
started up again."
"What is she saying?" Jupiter stepped up alongside Mercury,
also trying to hear the Princess.
"Something about having control of the world." Mercury raised
an eyebrow and gave both Jupiter and Mars a questioning expression.
"Should we classify that as vaguely normal?"
They were at the door, wanting their little piece of her. "I
know my time in this world is limited." She said to herself. "But
I shall not allow myself to be taken so lightly. May you break
through those doors and smite me. But be warned, I shall plant the
seeds of your destruction the moment you do." She stood from the
chair and stared around the bathroom, at the white tiled walls that
surrounded her, at the similarly covered floor, at the wide but very
plain and simple door and at the curtained alcove that was the
shower. "This is my domain, and forever shall it be."
She stepped forward, doing her best not to slip on the floor,
and pressed one of the tiles in the opposite wall. She imagined she
could hear rumbling and screaming... The sounds of chaos and
destruction. "I give you all the greatest gift that any ruler can
give you. Death and Armageddon." She lifted her head back and
laughed, silently.
She spun as the curtain flew open and the room was filled with
light. The catch holding the curtain reel had come loose, allowing
it to roll upwards freely. She cursed it and stepped over to close
it once more, then paused as she touched the mottled surface of the
window, itself. It didn't really face onto the outside world,
merely a protective promenade, thus the amount of light that came in
was already filtered. She didn't like it at all. The light was
pale and had a ghostly white quality to it.
That quality, however, made everything within the bathroom
stand out, reflecting it almost perfectly. She turned around and
stared at her shadow, cast over the floor and the far wall. It made
her seem so big and so dark, an evil spectral figure, waiting to
take over the world, or destroy it. Much the same kind of figure
she must have cut when she had been mutated into Black Lady, all
those years ago.
It was a reflection of her own darker side, what existed
within her, and suddenly something occured to her. She had merely
been playing the bitter, twisted dictator, forced by circumstance
into a role she did not want. But one day, play would be, or may
be, transformed into reality. And she had gladly cast her fantasy
world into death and destruction. Just how much of Black Lady still
existed within her?
"Well, I don't suppose we can leave it like this." Mercury
nodded sagely as the three Senshi stood in a circle, looking grim.
"After all, her well-being is part of our duty of care."
"Hmm, but you can imagine the ruckus that is going to be
caused if we go charging in there." Mars frowned, crossing her arms
and making a deep growling noise, as if thinking so hard it hurt.
"Well, she'll certainly be in trouble if she doesn't get down
to the main hall to have breakfast. The master has laid out quite
a spread of fruits, cheeses and breads." Jupiter watched both Mars
and Mercury start to drool as she said this. "Yes, those cheeses
are quite exquisite. Fetta, Ricotta, Danish Blue, Cottage, Red
Leicester, Swedish Low-Chol, Colby, Jarlsberg, Camembert..."
"Must you? My stomach is starting to growl." Mars put a
hand over her belly. "I haven't eaten this morning."
"Neither have I." Mercury glowered. "Another good reason we
should drag the silly girl out of her daze."
"She'll be real mad if you do." Jupiter smiled wickedly.
"Should we care? I'm really hungry." This was underlined as
Mars's stomach started making similar noises to that heard in a wild
game park.
"We could go down without her and make a start." Mercury
said, hopefully. Her two partners quashed that immediately.
"You can imagine how the Queen will be if we come down without
the Princess and start hoeing in." Jupiter waved a finger at
Mercury. "That'll put us in the doo-doo for at least a week or so."
"And you can imagine how the Princess will feel if we scarf
half of the food without her. She can eat at least half of the food
all by herself." Mars nodded.
"Yes, she certainly has a healthy appetite." Jupiter chipped
in. "And anyway, one of us has to keep a watch over her, which
means that person is going to miss out."
"Maybe we should draw straws." Mercury suggested, seriously.
"Or play janken pon, to see who stays."
"That's not entirely fair, is it." Mars chided Mercury.
"I don't care. I'm really hungry." Mercury whined.
"What if you were the one who lost, silly? Can you imagine
how you'd feel then? About the same as the Princess would feel...
Really cheesed off." Jupiter did her best superior expression, as
she was very good at doing from a height. Mercury and Mars glared
at her and said in union...
"Stop mentioning the cheese."
Jupiter sweatdropped and put a hand behind her head, giggling
nervously. "Oops... Sorry about that."
"Well, I suppose this means we're going to HAVE to bust in on
her, whether she likes it or not." Mars said, finally, after a few
moments of contemplating the doors to the inner sanctum. "I'm
damned if I'm going to let Venus scoff the lot. Where is she, by
the way?" Mars turned to Jupiter and Mercury, who both looked at
each other, nervously.
"She's kinda... uhh... indisposed at the moment." Mercury
swallowed. "Although she's probably finished by now."
"I wouldn't quite have put it that way." Jupiter shifted on
her feet, uncomfortably. "I mean... Well, you know what I mean."
"No, I don't know what you mean." Mars looked from Jupiter to
Mercury. They both went red-faced.
"She was actually talking to me. And yes, I do know what she
means." Mercury stifled a nervous giggle, which gave the game away
to Mars.
"She's not doing THAT again, is she?" Mars rolled her eyes.
"Doesn't she have anything better to do?"
"Well, not really. I suppose." Jupiter, likewise, suppressed
a snicker. "You know how it is with her and the Guards. If there
is a good looking one..."
"I don't think I want to know." Mars turned from the others
and made her way back to the doors of the inner sanctum. "We don't
have any choice. We're going to have to bust her out of there."
She reached down to the door handles.
"Don't!" Mercury said, suddenly. Mars turned to her with an
inquiring expression. "I mean... Oh, forget it." Mercury trailed
off, looking around, nervously. Mars sighed and tried the handle.
"It's locked." She said, simply. "The girl has locked us
out. What if something really serious happened to her in there?"
"Like what?" Jupiter stepped up behind her.
"Like... she slipped and hit her head, or something."
"It isn't very likely, is it?" Jupiter shook her head, then
backed up, slightly. "Don't worry, I'll get those doors open."
"Umm... How are you..?" Mars started to ask. Jupiter shook
her head.
"How do you think, silly. I'm going to charge and bowl
through the doors." She lifted up her arms, clenching her fists, as
if steeling herself.
"Don't!" They both turned to Mercury, who was once more
trailing off with embarrassment. "I mean... We'll get into real
strife, won't we? I mean, if we damage the doors and all..." She
paused, then looked down at her feet. Jupiter and Mars turned from
her once more.
"How solid do you think these doors are?" Mars placed a hand
against the doors. "They look pretty tough to me."
"Not tough enough to keep me out. I bust through things like
this for breakfast..." She winced as Mars shot her a look. "Okay,
okay... I won't mention... you know." She tensed herself up again.
"By the way." She paused. "Do these things open inwards or
outwards?"
"Does that really matter?" Mars scratched her head.
"Well, yes. It'd be a whole lot more damaging if I were to go
charging into a door that actually opens the other way, for both
myself and the door." Jupiter relaxed again. "Maybe this isn't
such a good idea."
"Alright, then. Why don't you pull the doors open?" Mars
gestured to the handles.
"Why don't you?" Jupiter shrugged. "I'm sure even you could
force your way through."
"What was all that bravado about a few moments ago?" Mars
hung her head, helplessly. "Honestly, for a group of female
warriors, we have all the tactical skills of a committee."
At that point, the doors clicked and opened, and the Princess
made her entrance, groomed and dressed in a softly-coloured cotton
skirt and blouse. The three Senshi took a big step back,
sweatdropping as they did so.
"Umm... Ohayo, Princess." Mars chuckled nervously as she
wrung her hands in front of her. The Princess looked at the three
of them with a taciturn air.
"What on Earth are the three of you up to?" She grumped.
"You were making so much noise out here, I thought you were having
some kind of committee meeting." She brightened up and clapped her
hands together. "Anyway, we're late for breakfast. Shall we go
down and face the music from Mama?" She looked at each one in turn,
then strode past them on her way to the main doors. Mercury and
Jupiter followed her as Mars closed the inner doors.
"Umm... Princess?" Mercury butted in as she stepped
alongside her. The Princess turned to her, raising an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
Mercury was taken aback by her brusqueness. "Ano... I just
wanted to know... if everything... is alright, that's all."
"Hmm?" The Princess allowed a smile to cross her face. "Yes,
everything is just fine. Just fine, I tell you. Don't worry if you
hear me talking in the shower, or anything. I'm just working
through things. Gotta do it somehow."
"See, I told you." Mars said as she caught up to them after
closing the main doors behind them.
"Yes, I'll be alright. I hope." The Princess mumbled to
herself, quietly enough so that they didn't hear her. They walked
the rest of the distance to the Main Hall in silence.
=^.^= niya
Sievert Anathea Dienar sievertd@start.com.au
Disclaimer - Sailormoon is owned by a lot of people, most of whom
are not me, so don't get all worked up about my using the characters
in ways they weren't meant. I'm just a common or garden fanfic
writer without a hope in this dark and cruel world. Maybe.
"Where is Small Lady?" Mercury asked Mars seconds after
entering the private quarters of the Princess. Mars, who had been
sitting in the large, comfortable sofa in the middle of the spacious
main chamber, reading an issue of an old magazine that the Princess
had taken to collecting with some fervor, recently, looked up at
Mercury and shrugged.
"She's taking a shower."
"She's taking a shower?" Mercury put her hands on her hips,
a questioning expression crossing her face.
"Don't ask me. I know it would be more befitting for her to
bathe within the Palace baths, but she was insistent. She wanted to
take a shower. And she has been doing so for the..." Mars turned
her head and looked back at the large grandfather clock that sat
some short distance from the entrance doors. "...For the last 45
minutes."
"45 minutes?" Mercury raised an eyebrow as Mars dropped the
magazine onto the sofa, standing and brushing down her skirt. "Are
you sure she is alright?"
"Yes. If you listen, you can hear her talking to herself in
there." Mars pointed to the door that lead to the Princess's inner
sanctum. After a few seconds of silence, they could hear her soft,
distinctive mumbling. Mercury swallowed.
"H... how long has she been doing this for?"
"About 45 minutes, as I said."
Mercury shook her head with annoyance. "No, not how long she
has been doing it now. How long has she been exhibiting this
behaviour?"
Mars put a finger to her lips, staring up at the ceiling as
she seemed to search for the answer. "Well, I asked Venus about it.
Venus has been taking care of the Princess over the last few weeks,
and she says the Princess was doing it when her time started." Mars
started to rub her chin. "As far as she was concerned, it wasn't
doing the Princess any harm. She wasn't doing anything odd or
strange outside, so she let it slide." She shrugged, dropping her
hands to her sides. "I guess she's just working through all of her
frustrations and problems. She is in her early teens, now, and
doesn't have many friends of her own age."
"That's not really the point." Mercury crossed her arms,
huffing. "Her mother and father want to know where she has been,
these last few months, when it has come time to bathe. They're not
happy that she'd rather take a shower in private."
"Let me ask you something." Mars smiled. "When you were
around the age of thirteen, going on fourteen, did you like to spend
your time naked in a public place?" Mercury opened her mouth to
speak, then closed it as her face went red. "I rest my case." Mars
sat back down in the sofa, gesturing to the space next to her.
"Care to wait?"
She had the power of life and death over everyone on the face
of the planet, and there was next to nothing they could do about it.
From within this dark, wet place, where many past rulers have
planned and plotted their various schemes, she treated people like
pawns, punishing them all for being chosen to be The One.
The Computer always chose the person who least wanted to rule,
almost as a safety net against the creation of a calcified power
structure. The Computer, created by ancient technologies nobody
could understand, and immune to tampering by threatening parties,
capable of defending itself by simply switching off the life of its
attackers like shutting down a program, never once thought about
whether the person it chose had the skills to be The One. Refusal
to take up the role met with the same fate as those who tried to
attack it. And she didn't want to die.
That meant being shut off in a secret place from where The
Computer gave her access to the lives and events of people across
the face of the planet. She saw all and knew all, and she hated it.
So she made the lives of people as miserable as possible. There was
nothing they could do to stop her, not until the day she died.
God Almighty, she was bored.
"This wall..." Mars stared up towards the ceiling as both she
and Mercury studied the wall of the Princess's private quarters from
up close.
"What about it?" Mercury ran a finger down the wall, feeling
the grain of the material from which it was made.
"Although it is very marbled in appearance, it's a lot more
subtle than the walls of my own chamber." Mars nodded. "Perhaps
fitting for someone such as Small Lady."
"The interior design for her quarters was realised by the
architect Kitano Manako." Mercury frowned as she tried to remember
everything she could about the architect. "He was the designer of
the Great Library and the Museum of Modern Art, I do believe."
"Oh, him." Mars chuckled. "I heard he wasn't that hot on the
interior design stuff. He much preferred a holistic approach to
design, putting together buildings from the ground up. He hated
having to work with the designs of another."
"Well, it is a bit like having to decorate a cake someone else
has baked. Most of the set up work has already been done. You can
only add the icing to what is presented before you."
Mars turned around and stared at the doors to the inner
sanctum. "She's never let me through those doors to see what it
looks like, you know that?"
"That's not really surprising." Mercury followed her gaze.
"She hasn't let anyone in there, other than her mother and father.
I don't know what she is so frightened of, allowing people to see
what she has made of it."
"Probably because she never cleans it up." Mars chuckled.
Mercury sighed, trying to keep the subject serious.
"She has the autocleaners to do that for her. You know she's
the spotless sort. Really quite pedantic about cleanliness."
"Probably why she takes such long showers." Mars shrugged.
"But you know what they say about perfectionists... Only one screw
tight away from weaving the baskets."
They were out there, searching for her. She knew they were
talking about her, plotting her downfall. As the liquid warmth
cascades over her small, naked frame, she allowed herself to sink
into the large basin at the base of the shower.
Everyone searched for The One. The Computer had made sure
that there was only one place for The One to rule from. It had
been designed by the ancients for this purpose. With a mystery
ruler ruling from a mystery place, the chain of succession was
assured. Oh, how she hated that. She wished that somebody would
break into this place and end her now worthless existence.
No... She wanted to live. She had to fight and destroy
those who would do the same to her. She slid across the shower
basin and pressed herself hard against the tiled wall. It was
hard to see anything in the twilight of the bathroom, but she could
clearly see the nine plain white tiles which she used to command the
Computer to do her bidding.
She reached up and pressed one of the tiles. There! How
would they like THAT, eh?
"Hmm... I don't know if I could live in a place that had such
subtle decorations." Mars looked around the room, taking it all in.
"I like much bolder, harder colours and imagery."
"That's why your chamber is decorated in nothing but red and
black, hmm?" Mercury raised an eyebrow, causing Mars to huff her
response.
"What is wrong with red and black?"
"Oh nothing, nothing. It just lacks a tasteful subtlety,
that's all." Ignoring her fuming colleague, Mercury went on. "Now
MY chamber, that IS style. Those walls of blue, fluid crystal. So
calming and mesmerising."
"You call THAT tasteful? I can't stand the way you can see
the crystals moving around within the skin of the wall, making that
icy ringing noise. It sets my teeth on edge."
"I wanted the design of my chambers to use the latest in
modern design materials. The liquid crystal wall is all the rage,
now. I was the very first to make use of it in a working capacity.
It was a triumph of architecture, I tell you."
"It'd probably all melt given a long, hot summer." Mars
smirked, wickedly. "At least I don't live in fear of my walls
collapsing without warning one day. It'll be the end of you, I say,
those things flooding your room and drowning you."
"Oh, and I'd bet you'd like to see that happen, too." Mercury
sniffed, sticking her nose in the air. Mars rolled her eyes,
wondering why her old friend always took her so seriously.
"I'm joking, silly. Lighten up a little."
"Still better than your plain old cement walls." Mercury
replied sulkily. Mars shook her head, giving up on the argument,
and turned back to the doors of the inner sanctum. She listened in
silence for a few moments.
"She's stopped talking." Mars said flatly. "The shower is
still running, but she has stopped talking."
"I was wondering when you'd notice." Mercury turned to Mars,
smiling. "It has been like that for the last few minutes. The tone
of the water is flat, too. There is nobody in the shower."
"Or nobody moving in the shower." Mars stepped towards the
doors, getting a click of the tongue from Mercury.
"Now now. Don't you be charging in and disturbing her."
"But she could be..." Before she could finish what she was
going to say, there was a clunking noise from the inner sanctum...
The sound of a plastic chair being carried into the bathroom. At
least, that was what they thought it sounded like. They looked at
each other, bemused.
"What the hell is she doing in there?" Mars scratched her
head, for want of some better expression of confusion.
She plonked her rear into the curved seat of the plastic
chair, shivering as air, churned up by the exhaust fan set in the
ceiling, cascaded over her wet, naked frame. She glanced to her
right, where the shower was still running. A few miserable clouds
of steam rising from behind the curtain stood out in the half-light
that glinted through a crack between the window curtain and the
sill. So dark in here, yet so full of noise and action. People
just don't understand. She is a prisoner in this place. They hate
her for what she is, but don't ask themselves the question of WHO
she is. It wasn't her fault she was placed here. They all deserved
to suffer for hating her so.
She leaned back and rested her head against the wall. The
sounds and the twilight had a drowsy effect upon her. The moments
when she could be alone were so few and far between. Everyone
seemed to think that having a full life meant imposing themselves
on other people. She didn't think that way. At least, not today,
anyway. Sure, she liked the company of others, but there were those
moments where she just liked to be alone with her own imagination,
retaining an element of her childlike desire to play and make
believe. She often played The One. There was an amazingly
claustrophobic sense of oneness in the game. There was also the
game of the Prisoner. Trapped deep within a cryogenic cell, where
she is kept alive in suspended animation during the term of her
punishment, rather than be fed, clothed and kept entertained. Yet
something wasn't quite right with her cubicle, and she was able to
wake up and wander round the cell block, looking at the other
prisoners like displays at an art gallery, and dodging the rounds of
the security guards.
People would think she was mad if she let on about this. Not
quite right in the head. Here she was, at the age of thirteen, and
she was playing paranoid little games in her shower, like twisted
versions of the games children play. So what? Honestly, it was
nothing more than an extension of the kind of play she used to get
up to when she was younger. Just updated for her expanding
intellect. One day they might make for interesting stories, if she
ever found the time to write them down. Although people might think
her strange for having such stories rattling around in her head in
the first place. They'd probably blame it all on the friendship she
shared with Saturn and Pluto. They normally did, not knowing the
two dark Senshi on a personal level. At least they didn't demand
to be a part of her life, day in day out, and they were always happy
to share their time with her when she requested it, just as long as
they could have their own moments of solitude and introspection. It
was only recently that she began to understand why.
"Princess..." She could hear the voice, coming from outside
the inner sanctum of her quarters. She inwardly groaned as she
recognised Mercury's voice. What did that busybody want now?
"Princess, are you alright in there?"
"Yes, I'm alright." She shouted back, a little more tersely
than she'd intended. "What do you want?"
"We're just checking to see if you're alright." That was
Mars. She let out a breath. Did they have a committee outside, or
something?
"Well, as you can hear, I'm not in distress or anything. I'm
perfectly alright, so you don't have to worry about me."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you properly?" Mars's voice
sounded a bit muffled. She was probably pressing up against the
inner doors, trying to hear what she had to say over the sound of
the shower.
"I said I'm not in distress or anything. I am perfectly
alright. You do not have to worry about me." She said each word
slowly and spaced apart, hoping that Mars and Mercury understood.
"Okay, Princess. Sorry to disturb you. We were just
wondering, that was all. You have been in the shower for quite a
long time." Mercury droned, as if expecting a response. She
clenched her teeth and clutched the edge of the chair. Why did they
have to meddle in her little games like this?
"I'm allowed to take as long a shower as I like, aren't I?"
"What was that?" Mercury asked, genuinely. It still made her
seethe, though.
"I said I am allowed to take as long a shower as I like. I am
the Princess, am I not?"
There was no response to that. She could hear voices, but it
was more Mars and Mercury talking to each other. Probably planning
some excuse for breaking in to her private world, meddling in her
affairs. She wished she could press one of the tiles, like a button
to the Computer, and make them go away. It would be so simple to
do. Just reach forward and press against the tile. And they'd be
gone forever, or at the very least as long as she wished them to be.
How why couldn't she ever have that kind of power?
"Well, I think we can be safe in assuming that she is,
physically, alright." Mars raised her eyebrows. "Physically,
anyway."
"What on Earth is she doing in there?" Mercury puzzled. "Her
responses were quite curt. Terse, even. That's not like the
Princess I know."
"People change during their lives. She's just going through
an odd phase, that's all." Mars didn't seem so sure about the truth
of what she had said.
"Odd phases tend to be symptomatic of something deeper."
Mercury pressed her ear up against the inner doors, trying to
listen. "She's gone dead quiet, now."
"I bet she's sulking."
Mercury turned to Mars. "What makes you think that?"
"Well, if I wanted a bit of peace and quiet whilst I was in
the shower, I'd be a bit annoyed at a couple of busybodies hanging
around outside, wanting to know if I was alright."
"Yes, but this isn't you we're talking about, here." Mercury
pressed her ear back up against the door. "I think she's whispering
to herself, now."
"Hey guys. What are you up to?" They both turned as Jupiter
entered the room, stopping as she saw how close they were to the
inner doors. "What ARE you up to?"
"We're trying to listen to the Princess." Mars crossed her
arms and looked at Mercury. "We think she's behaving... a little
odd."
"A little odd?" Jupiter stepped across the room to them,
putting her hands on her hips. "What do you define as being odd?"
"Does talking to yourself in the shower count?" Mercury
pointed to the door as she listened intently. "She's been in there
for quite a while, now, and we're damned if we know what she's up
to."
"Well, that's certainly... odd." Jupiter sweatdropped. "The
Queen sent me up here to see how long it would be before Small Lady
came down for breakfast. She's a little annoyed that her daughter
is so late."
"It doesn't look like anytime soon." Mercury frowned. "She's
started up again."
"What is she saying?" Jupiter stepped up alongside Mercury,
also trying to hear the Princess.
"Something about having control of the world." Mercury raised
an eyebrow and gave both Jupiter and Mars a questioning expression.
"Should we classify that as vaguely normal?"
They were at the door, wanting their little piece of her. "I
know my time in this world is limited." She said to herself. "But
I shall not allow myself to be taken so lightly. May you break
through those doors and smite me. But be warned, I shall plant the
seeds of your destruction the moment you do." She stood from the
chair and stared around the bathroom, at the white tiled walls that
surrounded her, at the similarly covered floor, at the wide but very
plain and simple door and at the curtained alcove that was the
shower. "This is my domain, and forever shall it be."
She stepped forward, doing her best not to slip on the floor,
and pressed one of the tiles in the opposite wall. She imagined she
could hear rumbling and screaming... The sounds of chaos and
destruction. "I give you all the greatest gift that any ruler can
give you. Death and Armageddon." She lifted her head back and
laughed, silently.
She spun as the curtain flew open and the room was filled with
light. The catch holding the curtain reel had come loose, allowing
it to roll upwards freely. She cursed it and stepped over to close
it once more, then paused as she touched the mottled surface of the
window, itself. It didn't really face onto the outside world,
merely a protective promenade, thus the amount of light that came in
was already filtered. She didn't like it at all. The light was
pale and had a ghostly white quality to it.
That quality, however, made everything within the bathroom
stand out, reflecting it almost perfectly. She turned around and
stared at her shadow, cast over the floor and the far wall. It made
her seem so big and so dark, an evil spectral figure, waiting to
take over the world, or destroy it. Much the same kind of figure
she must have cut when she had been mutated into Black Lady, all
those years ago.
It was a reflection of her own darker side, what existed
within her, and suddenly something occured to her. She had merely
been playing the bitter, twisted dictator, forced by circumstance
into a role she did not want. But one day, play would be, or may
be, transformed into reality. And she had gladly cast her fantasy
world into death and destruction. Just how much of Black Lady still
existed within her?
"Well, I don't suppose we can leave it like this." Mercury
nodded sagely as the three Senshi stood in a circle, looking grim.
"After all, her well-being is part of our duty of care."
"Hmm, but you can imagine the ruckus that is going to be
caused if we go charging in there." Mars frowned, crossing her arms
and making a deep growling noise, as if thinking so hard it hurt.
"Well, she'll certainly be in trouble if she doesn't get down
to the main hall to have breakfast. The master has laid out quite
a spread of fruits, cheeses and breads." Jupiter watched both Mars
and Mercury start to drool as she said this. "Yes, those cheeses
are quite exquisite. Fetta, Ricotta, Danish Blue, Cottage, Red
Leicester, Swedish Low-Chol, Colby, Jarlsberg, Camembert..."
"Must you? My stomach is starting to growl." Mars put a
hand over her belly. "I haven't eaten this morning."
"Neither have I." Mercury glowered. "Another good reason we
should drag the silly girl out of her daze."
"She'll be real mad if you do." Jupiter smiled wickedly.
"Should we care? I'm really hungry." This was underlined as
Mars's stomach started making similar noises to that heard in a wild
game park.
"We could go down without her and make a start." Mercury
said, hopefully. Her two partners quashed that immediately.
"You can imagine how the Queen will be if we come down without
the Princess and start hoeing in." Jupiter waved a finger at
Mercury. "That'll put us in the doo-doo for at least a week or so."
"And you can imagine how the Princess will feel if we scarf
half of the food without her. She can eat at least half of the food
all by herself." Mars nodded.
"Yes, she certainly has a healthy appetite." Jupiter chipped
in. "And anyway, one of us has to keep a watch over her, which
means that person is going to miss out."
"Maybe we should draw straws." Mercury suggested, seriously.
"Or play janken pon, to see who stays."
"That's not entirely fair, is it." Mars chided Mercury.
"I don't care. I'm really hungry." Mercury whined.
"What if you were the one who lost, silly? Can you imagine
how you'd feel then? About the same as the Princess would feel...
Really cheesed off." Jupiter did her best superior expression, as
she was very good at doing from a height. Mercury and Mars glared
at her and said in union...
"Stop mentioning the cheese."
Jupiter sweatdropped and put a hand behind her head, giggling
nervously. "Oops... Sorry about that."
"Well, I suppose this means we're going to HAVE to bust in on
her, whether she likes it or not." Mars said, finally, after a few
moments of contemplating the doors to the inner sanctum. "I'm
damned if I'm going to let Venus scoff the lot. Where is she, by
the way?" Mars turned to Jupiter and Mercury, who both looked at
each other, nervously.
"She's kinda... uhh... indisposed at the moment." Mercury
swallowed. "Although she's probably finished by now."
"I wouldn't quite have put it that way." Jupiter shifted on
her feet, uncomfortably. "I mean... Well, you know what I mean."
"No, I don't know what you mean." Mars looked from Jupiter to
Mercury. They both went red-faced.
"She was actually talking to me. And yes, I do know what she
means." Mercury stifled a nervous giggle, which gave the game away
to Mars.
"She's not doing THAT again, is she?" Mars rolled her eyes.
"Doesn't she have anything better to do?"
"Well, not really. I suppose." Jupiter, likewise, suppressed
a snicker. "You know how it is with her and the Guards. If there
is a good looking one..."
"I don't think I want to know." Mars turned from the others
and made her way back to the doors of the inner sanctum. "We don't
have any choice. We're going to have to bust her out of there."
She reached down to the door handles.
"Don't!" Mercury said, suddenly. Mars turned to her with an
inquiring expression. "I mean... Oh, forget it." Mercury trailed
off, looking around, nervously. Mars sighed and tried the handle.
"It's locked." She said, simply. "The girl has locked us
out. What if something really serious happened to her in there?"
"Like what?" Jupiter stepped up behind her.
"Like... she slipped and hit her head, or something."
"It isn't very likely, is it?" Jupiter shook her head, then
backed up, slightly. "Don't worry, I'll get those doors open."
"Umm... How are you..?" Mars started to ask. Jupiter shook
her head.
"How do you think, silly. I'm going to charge and bowl
through the doors." She lifted up her arms, clenching her fists, as
if steeling herself.
"Don't!" They both turned to Mercury, who was once more
trailing off with embarrassment. "I mean... We'll get into real
strife, won't we? I mean, if we damage the doors and all..." She
paused, then looked down at her feet. Jupiter and Mars turned from
her once more.
"How solid do you think these doors are?" Mars placed a hand
against the doors. "They look pretty tough to me."
"Not tough enough to keep me out. I bust through things like
this for breakfast..." She winced as Mars shot her a look. "Okay,
okay... I won't mention... you know." She tensed herself up again.
"By the way." She paused. "Do these things open inwards or
outwards?"
"Does that really matter?" Mars scratched her head.
"Well, yes. It'd be a whole lot more damaging if I were to go
charging into a door that actually opens the other way, for both
myself and the door." Jupiter relaxed again. "Maybe this isn't
such a good idea."
"Alright, then. Why don't you pull the doors open?" Mars
gestured to the handles.
"Why don't you?" Jupiter shrugged. "I'm sure even you could
force your way through."
"What was all that bravado about a few moments ago?" Mars
hung her head, helplessly. "Honestly, for a group of female
warriors, we have all the tactical skills of a committee."
At that point, the doors clicked and opened, and the Princess
made her entrance, groomed and dressed in a softly-coloured cotton
skirt and blouse. The three Senshi took a big step back,
sweatdropping as they did so.
"Umm... Ohayo, Princess." Mars chuckled nervously as she
wrung her hands in front of her. The Princess looked at the three
of them with a taciturn air.
"What on Earth are the three of you up to?" She grumped.
"You were making so much noise out here, I thought you were having
some kind of committee meeting." She brightened up and clapped her
hands together. "Anyway, we're late for breakfast. Shall we go
down and face the music from Mama?" She looked at each one in turn,
then strode past them on her way to the main doors. Mercury and
Jupiter followed her as Mars closed the inner doors.
"Umm... Princess?" Mercury butted in as she stepped
alongside her. The Princess turned to her, raising an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
Mercury was taken aback by her brusqueness. "Ano... I just
wanted to know... if everything... is alright, that's all."
"Hmm?" The Princess allowed a smile to cross her face. "Yes,
everything is just fine. Just fine, I tell you. Don't worry if you
hear me talking in the shower, or anything. I'm just working
through things. Gotta do it somehow."
"See, I told you." Mars said as she caught up to them after
closing the main doors behind them.
"Yes, I'll be alright. I hope." The Princess mumbled to
herself, quietly enough so that they didn't hear her. They walked
the rest of the distance to the Main Hall in silence.
=^.^= niya
Sievert Anathea Dienar sievertd@start.com.au