Dead, Be Not Proud...
Chapter Five
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Oi! Guess what? *giggles* Someone found me out! This chapter is dedicated to that person. *grin*
~'~
Usagi danced on the cloud tops, giggling like mad. Her dark red-gold hair flew out like a curtain of hammered gold, and her eyes flashed becomingly.
Koto watched her, hovering just above a fluffy cumulus cloud.
-I can't believe I love her.-
His thoughts were incredulous and perhaps to some observers they sounded self-loathing. But in all the hundreds of thousands of years, he had never loved anyone but himself. He had rather delighted in destroying whole planets and reducing the most powerful creatures to a pile of sniveling, begging piles of flesh and tears. But all the months he had spent arguing with Usagi and mocking her natural innocence, something had changed. It had happened so subtly he hadn't noticed until he'd returned to his own body. Once separated from her he was forced to realize that he missed her.
He missed her. Oh, gods, how he did miss her. Inside her mind was a warmth and cheeriness that he desired, a certain aura that enveloped him as part of her even if it knew he was a loathed enemy. Usagi's soul was a good soul, the purest one he'd ever seen. It didn't understand evil, all it knew was that a brother was a brother was a brother and everything that it could make a brother was a brother. Usagi could love the snake that bit her.
The Chaos that bit her.
-How strange, that I should fall in love with her. She's... she's... so perfect. -
*Not really, love. If you think about, we're delightful together. Ultimate corruption with purity? I couldn't have planned it better myself.*
Koto flushed at the realization that he had not shielded his thoughts from her. He chanced a look over to her and found her perched atop a cotton-candy mound, looking at him curiously, her elbows on her knees and her chin resting in her palms. The absolute picture of beauty, he thought.
*Thank you, my darling. I just wish you'd give up on your fears of my senshi cutting off your chaoshood and show me exactly what you mean about love.* The look in her eyes wasn't mischievous or lustful, but simply serene and longing, the kind of look that explained the awe and reverence of which the senshi spoke of Neo Queen Serenity.
-I watched those memories, you know. I'm insanely jealous of King Endymion.-
She grinned.* You don't have to be.*
Koto laughed at her and was about to reply when a surge of energy attacked their senses. Usagi jumped violently and Koto nearly fell. They steadied themselves and looked at each other in horror. \
"They couldn't have..." Koto was stunned, abashed in his underestimate of his former opponents.
Usagi only shook her head and looked at him grimly. "Uh-uh. You forgot that the outer senshi are indeed quite formidable and have the assistance of Mistress Pluto at their side, the only senshi with the power to open gateways into other dimensions. They must have included her help. I'm not surprised-- her powers do not extend to the playing of this universe or my mind. For all she knows you are a terrible demon."
He arched an eyebrow at her and quirked a half-smile. "But I am, my dear."
"Don't flatter yourself." Usagi grabbed his arm and concentrated quickly. In a second they disappeared, leaving the cloudland and reappearing in front of their secret hideaway, the giant redwood. Koto reached over to the tree and keyed in a special series of buttons that opened the door to subspace and the beautiful rooms that they'd hidden Zechs Marquise in.
"We have to hurry. Mercury's computer will trace us here if we don't." Koto rushed inside and began to work furiously at the console panels. Usagi followed him with a wry smile and observed the scene before her.
Leda was climbing out of bed and Semele giggled, snuggled up against the pillowed. Both were wearing only a smile while Zechs rushed to put his pants back on, hopping around madly with a blood-red face. Usagi giggled herself when he fell flat on his face, his hair splaying across the thick black carpeting, creating a lovely contrast.
Zechs didn't really care about that at the moment. Really, he didn't.
Leda took his arm and with surprising strength-- well, not so to him, as he had had a full demonstration earlier-- helped him to his feet, his pants half-on and around his ankles.
"It's very alright, Master Zechs." She murmured to him.
Usagi nodded. "Yes, it is. Zechs, do you honestly believe that I would have left you alone with these two nymphomaniacs and not have expected them to have their own way with you?" She giggled. "I'll have to watch the tapes later. Semele knows some mean tricks that are fun to watch."
Zechs's face darkened to a brilliant purple. "There was a camera?" His voice was a funny squawking hoarseness that made Usagi bit through her lip to keep from exploding.
"Just kidding, Zechs." She managed to choke out.
But humor was cut short when Koto turned around. -They managed to get a bit of trace on us. Not a good one because I caught it and cut it short, but they're in the right country. It could take them weeks to get a good description of us, but we may have a problem.-
Zechs knew something was fatally wrong by the way all the color left Usagi's face and into her eyes entered certain dead look, as though her soul had been ripped out.
*We-- we will have trouble. You-- you don't know what the outers can be like. You don't know how contagious it is. If-- if it had been them looking over the entire planet, moon, and colonies, perhaps it might-- it might be different. But they'll find us, or the pilots. And we led the pilots right to us. Oh, oh. I think I might cry....*
Her face did look it. Koto felt his heart break at the sight of her quivering lip, and wondered at himself for it, but not as much as he did a second later.
-You watch, Usa. It'll be fine. You are their princess, and you can explain it to them. Look what you are now! With your silver locks and gray eyes, you are no longer their princess but their queen!- He felt a strength and warmth in his tone that surprised him but surprised her more. Some of the color returned to her face.
*Yes, yes, of course. You're right.* But her eyes said otherwise.
"Warning. Warning. Trace Big approaching Sector Zero Seven Nine Five Three. Requesting permission to delete. Danger. Trace Bug entering Sector." The computer's monotone female voice resonated through the rooms, and Semele and Leda jumped up immediately, their clothing reappearing on their bodies with magic. They disappeared into a door that also seemed to appear in the wall and disappeared after them.
Zechs calmly pulled on his pants, trying to control his blush. Koto turned back to the keyboards and hit a few keys with stabbing, jerking motions.
"Trace Bug Captured. Scanning for information. Bug is product of Mercurian Computer, model unknown. Purpose: Find Princess Serenity aura type one. Also find Chaos, aura type unknown. Data requested: location and coordinates. Miscellaneous data also requested: condition of Princess Serenity and of Chaos. That is all."
"Ah, ain't that sweet of them, Ko-chan? They're worried about you." Usagi managed a slight grin and moved to lean on his shoulder while he worked, his hands now flying gracefully over the keyboards.
"Only so they can torture me." Koto said grimly. Truly, he wasn't afraid of the sailor senshi; he'd bested stronger than them. But killing them would make Usagi hate him, and that was a dark prospect now. He didn't know what to do, other than to keep Mercury from figuring out how to find them.
*Too late, my love. She's already found a way, I know it. They'll be here soon.* She sounded resigned, and sad, two qualities he was stunned to see in her. Zechs moved away silently and carefully as she sat down weakly on the edge of the gracious bed and buried her face in her hands. Both men were left in shocked silence as her shoulders began to quiver. Even though she made not a sound, they both knew she cried silent tears.
-Koi-sama, what is wrong?- Koto tried to ask, but found she had shut her mind to him. He was hurt now, hurt more than perhaps he should have been, and worried. He'd spent the better part of a year exploring her mind and knew that she must be especially emotional to do this. She'd never cry in front of Zechs, let alone Koto himself.
He looked to Zechs, and saw with relief the man would not mock Usagi or say anything that could send her into a rage or make her flee, as he instinctively knew she was apt to do in that moment.
"Come," He said to Zechs in a low voice. "You must help me barricade this place quickly. We must keep the senshi out until Usagi has collected herself."
Zechs followed without a word, but as soon as they had passed through another invisible archway in the wall, out of earshot of the moon senshi, he spoke. "I know that I owe the both of you a great deal, but I think I deserve to know what is going on to make the boldest warrior I have ever met cry in desperation. If I may be frank with you, it's scaring me half to death."
Koto did not laugh. Instead he led Zechs down a set of stairs in a tight, wooden corridor just wide enough for them to walk side by side and ending a bit of a ways forward at a huge ornamental gateway with the phases of the moon inscribed at the top in some type of silver stone.
"There are several great warriors looking for her. They think I am an evil entity and have brainwashed her or kidnapped her. Which, they do not care, they merely want to see me dead in several different painful ways. She doesn't want them to find us. She's happy here. You see, we're actually from a world very different from this one. We were sent here by a demon, at the same moment they discovered that I was part of her. And somewhere along the way, she started to love me and I started to love her. It's as easy and as complicated as that." He paused to shout a spell that covered the gates with a shimmering violet glitter.
"Let's see Madame Pluto get through that." He muttered, and then walled directly left, where another door opened into a corridor identical to the one they'd just left.
"Can't you explain?" Zechs knew it was a stupid question but he felt urged to ask.
Koto snorted. Very ungraceful. "Ha! The inner senshi might, I repeat, might listen, but the outer senshi would rip me apart and then ask me, hey, you're evil, right?" He rolled his eyes and blasted the same spell at a double set of gates. They turned right this time. "The only way is for Usagi to do her bloody best to pull rank on them. I..." His demeanor fell, and his shoulders slumped. Instead of looking like an unworldly elfish king, he looked very much like a lost little boy.
"I just don't know." He whispered. "I've... I've never felt like this for anyone before, not ever." His voice was barely above a whisper and he put out one hand to support himself, for he suddenly felt weak. His voice was choking up, and Zechs could only stare, taken aback by the sudden change.
"I don't understand it. I have lived for thousands of years and never felt so much in all the time as she makes me feel with one dazzling smile. I want to lay down my life at her feet and if she were to only look at me with a comrade's eye I feel as though that would be much more than I should expect. But she loves me! Do you know how it is, to love, and then to be loved? It is the most wonderful thing! It as if nothing could ever be wrong again, as though the fates themselves love you. It's pain but it's not; it's completely beyond description. I want to laugh and cry and dance and do so many things at once. She makes me feel pure, innocent, and complete. Like I've lived all those millennia just for this.
"And now... all of it... it's in danger. I know how Romeo felt. I mocked him then, in her class, but I know now what he felt to make him drink his poison. The planet-- how dare it spin at a moment such as this?" The last words were a sob, and a glimmer of wetness dropping onto the wood-color floor astonished Zechs.
Koto-- was crying? It was more perturbing than seeing Usagi cry.
No, no, it was only one tear, the first tear Koto had ever shed in his life. He watched it fall with fascination and wondered almost idly what it could mean.
But he didn't have the time to listen to the answer. A pounding at the gates ahead of them, a gate Koto had not sealed yet, interrupted and made both men start.
"Oh, shit--" Koto started on a strong string of oaths. He stopped himself as the gate began to give. "Quick, we need to go!" He grabbed Zechs by the forearm and dragged him through a door in the wall and sealed it behind them. One more door and they were back inside the room. Usagi had left the bed and stood at a console, watching the steady streams of numbers in a language Zechs did not recognize.
"They've not managed to get in yet. They're using force, the fools. I think Uranus is at the helm of that one. They've split up into three groups: Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Luna; Uranus, Mamoru, and Jupiter; and Mars, Neptune, Pluto, and Artemis. Mercury is making the most headway. If it weren't for you blocking the main ways, she would have been here by now. It seems as though they've split because of a difference of opinion."
Koto knew the woman here. It was the warrior he spoke to. Usagi had recessed into herself and had let her cold, tactical side take over. She could not handle this as herself anymore.
"Yes, it would seem as such." He watched the characters for a moment. "Mercury is here." He said aloud, mainly for Zechs' benefit.
"I will receive her. Both of you, over there." She motioned to the far corner of the room and closed her eyes. Zechs couldn't help it; he gasped.
Her hair lifted itself up and became a brilliant silver in color, becoming longer and twisting into two round odango. Her clothes vanished, leaving her nude for the slightest second, and then a gown of beautiful ivory silk, smooth and regal, wrapped around her body. Wings erupted from her shoulders, beautiful, tinted gossamer. The final touches were a single golden crown nestled against her silver-white locks and a crescent moon, golden-silver, upon her brow.
"Neo Queen Serenity." Koto said to Zechs, once they were out of line of sight to the main entrance to the door. "Never cross her. For all her beauty she is the most formidable woman you will ever come across. In my strongest hour I could not best her mother and she is a world more powerful than her mother ever was."
"Alert. Alert. Four humanoid presences are at Entrance Zero Four Zero One. Identification, processing. Identified as Sailors Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and the Mauian Luna. Also known as Mizuno Ami, also known as--"
"Computer?" Neo Queen Serenity inquired, making her way to the entrance.
"Yes, your majesty?" Computer replied, waiting.
"It would please me greatly if you wouldn't talk anymore unless another group of senshi approach." Her voice was diplomatic, revealing none of her irritation.
"Affirmative, Your Majesty." The computer promptly shut up as Usagi opened the gates.
Three tall senshi and one furious neko-chan all opened their mouths to speak but seemingly forgot how to when met with the vision of Neo Queen Serenity in full regalia.
"Please, come in." She said, in a warm voice that soothed their anger. "I've expected you. You might as well know how all your energy attacks are useless here, and dare you attack physically I shall be forced to stop you." She stood aside to let them inside. "Be kind to your host, no matter his face."
Saturn entered without another thought, yet her glaive still in hand. Mercury did so after only a second glance up at Serenity's face, cool and serene. Luna followed the quieter senshi. Only Venus hesitated.
"Usagi-chan, are you brainwashed?" She asked softly, not noticing the absurdity of her inquiry. She only stared evenly into her queen's eyes, waiting for an answer.
Serenity cracked a small grin. "When was I ever not, Mina-chan?"
"Oh, Usagi-chan!" Venus flew into Serenity's arm and hugged her. "I knew that you weren't evil." She sobbed into the soft silver hair smelling of jasmine and something smoky and mysterious. "I just knew it wasn't possible."
"Oh, Minako..." Serenity murmured back. "I thought you, of all people, knew that there is so such thing as absolute evil or good. I'm a tiny bit evil, of course. But that's what's fun in the world." She flipped Minako a maniacal smirk and they both smiled. Serenity shut the gates and locked them with a spell.
-My dearest lady, I will not cower before these warriors.- Koto broke through the shield-like aura around the queen and spoke boldly into her mind. -They cannot harm me here, and I think they will listen.-
*Why can't this be easier? She sighed. I feel so afraid. Of them. Of them all.*
-Don't be foolish. Feel it, they love you. They will listen, you see! And they'll understand. Everyone knows a forbidden love, and they will empathize. And dammit, woman, you're the one who made me love you! You're not giving up now!-
She smiled sadly at him. *I think they will. Beware of Luna, she has sharp teeth and claws.*
Luna had been watching the two with dark, suspicious eyes. ^I will have you both know I can hear all you say. So yes, I will listen, no, I will not bite, and you'd better start talking--- NOW!^ But something was softer in her eyes, after hearing Koto's words. Love, Luna thought to herself, quizzically. How very fitting, she decided. Something within her mind whispered that this was right.
Koto moved forward, leaving Zechs to watch. "Please, have a seat." Three chairs grew form the floor, big comfortable poofs of softness that hovered above the floor. "Luna-sama, feel free to sit on the bed, or I can serve up another injunji chair right away."
"The bed will be fine." Luna replied curtly, even though every gesture Koto made forced Luna to like him even more. Chaos or no, someone had raised this man well. He was quite likable, once you got over the teensy fact he was responsible for the destruction of tens of hundreds of galaxies. She jumped up onto the bed and found it so soft she immediately sank into it. But she did not feel smothered at all. In fact it was quite comfortable.
"Is that Chaos?" Saturn giggled. "I like your taste in men, Neo Queen Serenity-sama." She had a childlike maturity to her that was baffling. She was ready and willing to follow Her Queen to the ends of time to do deplorable things if ordered. She loved Usagi and respected Serenity. Whatever the princess did was fine by her.
Mercury eyed them both warily. She knew not to trust them but there seemed to be no threat here, and Luna, after the weird exchange of looks and Serenity turning bright purple earlier, seemed to be okay with the fact that Koto and Serenity seemed close. But this was her queen-- how could she question them?
Venus had no such reservations. She was openly cautious of Koto and completely comfortable with Serenity. She could feel the growing bond of love between them, and to her ultimate shock it was strongest on Koto's side. And it was no tainted love, but something as pure as she had never seen before. It wasn't a love of lust, as Mamoru's had indeed mostly been, but a love of love. She'd never imagined anything like it.
Serenity saw her probing into the bond and smiled despite herself. Yes, this would be interesting.
"Would any of you care to explain why you are working as individuals?" She asked them, after they'd acquainted themselves visually. She could see they were all interested in poor Zechs, but deterred their attention.
It was Mercury who flushed. "We... we argued about the best way to rescue you. We four agreed it was best to talk. Uranus thought best to attack. The others aren't sure what to do, but know we're both wrong." Mercury sighed. "And not that I truly blame them-- you've been gone for nine months, Usagi!"
Saturn picked it up in her strange, gloomy voice. "We have been falling apart. You were our connecting factor, and we never knew it. But I can see you now love him, instead of the conflict I saw before. I thought that the two of you would like each other better." She smiled at everyone's dumbfounded expression. "What? Did you think me blind?" It was so weird out of her little-girl body.
"Yes." Koto answered her bluntly. "It seems I've underestimated all of you greatly. I apologize." His eyes, the color of broken promises, were honest in this.
Saturn waved it off. Her eyes, old in her face, held something akin to trust in them. "I know more of you than you think, Koto." She spoke his name even though neither Serenity nor he had given it to her.
Koto smiled at her. "Yes, Milady, I see it now. How foolish of me not to know my own sister." He took her gloved hand and kissed it gently. Venus couldn't help it; she swooned.
"Ara, Usagi-chan, you are so lucky. He's handsome, evil, and utterly a gentleman. If you're ever tired of him, I'll be perfectly glad to keep him for a while. I'm almost jealous he loves you."
Mercury started. "Wha?" She asked violently. "Love? Who loves who? What? What is going on here? Sister?" She looked bewildered. "What?" She repeated helplessly. Her big blue eyes took in Koto, who still held Saturn's hand, and Luna, who was just staring at Koto with an expression of-- warmth?!-- and Serenity, her queen, near tears.
It was not Serenity, nor Koto, nor Saturn, nor even Venus that answered her. It was Luna, speaking in a voice that Mercury remembered Luna only using twice before. It was a voice that was completely placid and serene, free of worry and stress. "They once said that true love never could be, Sailor Mercury, my Ami-chan. And maybe this was so. Yet, if there is such a thing, you witness it now, Mizuno." Her voice was soft and reverent and her eyes shimmered with youth. "Never doubt this."
*Happy to see you approve.*
^Anyone but Endymion, my dear.^
-I hate the guy too, but really, Luna-sama?- Koto sounded amused, and turned towards Luna, a hint of a smile on his lips.
^Chaos-san,^ Luna said reproachfully, but not at him, ^Mamoru is pigheaded and can be very rude and weak. And his treatment of Usagi at times has been quite appalling. I will never forgive him for some of the things he has done and said. I know very well how both his mind and the dark kingdom words, and at heart sometimes I think he is nothing more than a two-faced, yellow coward.^
Serenity gasped. *Luna! How can you say such things? Mamoru had no control--*
Luna glared at the queen crossly. ^The brainwashing techniques that Beryl used required the consent of the victim, Usagi. And the way he has betrayed and treated you is beyond any excuse. ^
Serenity frowned and arched an eyebrow at her guardian. *Hm... there are things you need to tell me, neko-chan, but later.*
She turned to Venus and Mercury and was about to explain further, when the computer's voice interrupted timidly.
"Sorry, Your Majesty, but there are four more senshi nearing the entrance. Mars, Pluto, and Neptune, plus Artemis the Mauian."
"Let them pass, unarmed." Serenity ordered. "And inform Mars that if she dares bring those scrolls hither I shall tie her up and throw her into a river."
There was only a half-second's delay when Mars came bursting through the doors, her violet eyes flashing. "Usagi! Usagi-chan, watch out for Mamoru! He's furious wi..." The words died on her lips, and her eyes traveled from Serenity to Koto and she broke out into the biggest smile that anyone had ever seen her with.
"Oh." She said, still smiling. "I see that you're fine. I've been watching, in my fire. You let me see you. Thank you." She laughed and hugged her queen. "I was so worried! I'm going to kill you! I already knew Chaos was within you! Why did you go and get killed for? Oh, Odango Atama, you are so dead!"
-You let her watch us?- Koto was intrigued.
Usagi looked abashed. *Actually, I forgot all about that blasted fire... and Neptune's mirror... but don't tell them that!*
"Happy to see you too." She looked over Mars' shoulder at Pluto and Neptune, and Artemis. "I guess you guys knew, too, right?"
Neptune waved her mirror and nodded, and Pluto smiled a mysterious smile.
"My queen, I always knew. And Uranus and the rest have just breached the door. They are the ones you will have trouble with."
Koto looked up. He was surprised none of them had attacked him yet. "I could distract Jupiter." He suggested helpfully. Mars remembered he was there and spun towards him angrily. Oh, boy. She began stepping towards him, accenting every words by another harsh step, until her finger poked into his chest.
"Now listen, you overgrown worm," Thunk! Owowowowow! Hard chest hard chest! Pain through favorite finger! Bastard! "I'll put up with you because she likes you, but one wrong move and before you get to me I'll make sure a certain appendage of yours is roasted a nice, charred black." Her eyes glowered with a fire that made Koto wonder if he should be afraid of this one.
He opened his mouth to assure her that he would not make a wrong move, but she continued holding up a hand to silence him.
"Not yet, Chaos. I'm not through yet." She took a deep breath and sent a quick glance to Serenity, who took it in impassively. "I know you've done some really evil things, but I also know that if Serenity loves you-- and the kind of love I'm talking about isn't child's play-- you're not evil inside. She must have found something pretty special inside you to forgive you for everything you've done, so even though I really don't want to, I'll put up with you. Just because Usagi thinks you're hot enough to drop Mamoru for you, and because you really are handsome, and because you haven't killed any of us again yet."
That was the end. She looked around to find everyone staring at her as though she'd grown another head and blushed, looking at the suddenly fascinating carpet.
But Koto was not angry. "That was a lovely speech, Sailor Mars-san. I am sure it will be wrote done into a history book one day as "Mars-sama Approving of Chaos". But until then, accept my apology." He bowed slightly to her, and she looked very confused. Serenity bit down hard on her lip to keep her laughter in.
*Ko-chan, stop flirting with my senshi!*
-Show me another way to win their favor and I will, my moon lily. -
~-~
While Koto was trying to reconcile with the senshi present in the mini fortress, three very frustrated senshi stood in front of an archaic set of marble gates, each angrier than the next. There were several scorch marks on the once unblemished stone, evidence of several high-power ki attacks each strong enough to blow up a very large city. But that was the only evidence. There was not a dent or even a scratch in the gate.
"That's it! What the hell is this thing made of, anyway?!" Jupiter exploded, launching a very physical assault on the towering doors, bruising her knees and knuckles and not really feeling the sharp jolts of pain. She hit it over and over and finally had to give up, growling and nursing her left hand.
"Oh, that's the way." Uranus snapped at her, still inspecting the nick that the space sword had acquired only seconds before. "Injure yourself so that when we do find Chaos you can't fight." She ran her fingers over the chipped place and glowered.
"Excuuuuse me!" Jupiter had had just about enough of Uranus's bad mood. "I didn't realize we had a bloody genius in our midst! Let's see you open the damned thing!" She advanced a step towards the senshi no kaze and was about to take another when Tuxedo Kamen came between them. His hat was gone and his suit mussed, but he had a thoughtful look on his face.
"Let's not fight amongst ourselves just yet." He said calmly. He pointed one elegantly gloved hand at the stubborn gate. "You're Usagi. What do you do to keep three aggressive, revenge-minded senshi from getting to you?"
Both Uranus and Jupiter stared at him stupidly, eyebrows raised.
Tuxedo Kamen chuckled and walked up to the impressive marble work and laid his palm flat against it, fingers outstretched.
"You make it so they can't get through in anger." He stated simply, before concentrating hard on the stone against his hand. It suddenly felt warm and alive under his fingers. "Alright, Usako." He said, in a tight voice. "We'll talk."
All three jumped violently when Usagi's solemn, beautiful voice came from the gate. "Oh, will you, Mamoru-san? I can see your mind now, don't forget it. A clever plan, Prince, but a foolhardy one. You underestimate me, and Chaos. And you assume I am under his control. Foolish, foolish. The other senshi are here, and we have talked. They understand. They will stand behind me. Even Luna and Artemis agree. I shall let your enter, but your powers will be useless and your subspace pockets sealed away. No well-placed roses, Tux."
He growled in anger and went to punch the stone, but at the precise second his fist would have collided with the barrier, it vanished and he fell through, unable to regain his balance in time and making a very ungraceful nose-dive into soft, black carpeting.
Jupiter giggled, but then noticed the room that the gate had opened into. Her fellow senshi were looking back at them, each tensed and waiting. Her eyes traveled over the room's occupants senshi by senshi, over the two cats and the strange, blonde man in the corner with a little Japanese maiden on his arm. And finally, standing beside a huge computer console that even Mercury would have trouble deciphering, stood little Tsukino Usagi, in her old Juuban High uniform and blonde pigtails. Had it not been for the silver threads weaved through the gold locks and the play of gray in the girl's eyes, she would have said that this was her Usagi, the one that had been before Galaxia.
And very, very slowly, she looked at the man standing behind her friend.
He was only a little taller than the golden child. His hair what caught her eyes first, and it was beautiful, the color of the very last rosy rays of sunset, long and thick. His face was lean and of delicate make, almost doll-like, with a generous, almost feminine mouth and big cat-like eyes that were dark and mystifying. He wore a pair of black pants and a black button up shirt over a body that was fit and agile.
She hated to admit it, but they contrasted beautifully. It was a picture of power and deceptive strength, one that even she respected.
She had heard them all say she was the most loyal to Serenity a lifetime ago. She felt that tug now, and knew she couldn't do this. Her eyes found the floor and she sighed, the fight leaving her body.
"Alright." She said, grudgedly. "I'll live with it."
Uranus, however, had no such reservation. She knew her duty, and it was to protect the dignity of the solar system. Her loyalties to the princess were second priority. "You may, but I won't!" With a blur of gold and blue she rushed Chaos.
"No, Haruka." Usagi raised one palm and Haruka froze in mid-leap, suspended in air and looking furious. "You will not attack. I am your queen. And look-- do you think he would still live if any here had a good reason to kill him?"
Mercury flushed. "We do have a good reason, Usagi-chan. But we don't want to. He's cute." Her red face grew even more so and she buried her face in her hands.
Venus looked at her suspiciously. "I was about to say that. Are you able to read minds too, Ami-chan?" She giggled slightly. Then, her face grew solemn and she looked up at Uranus, ignoring how absurd the senshi looked. "Uranus-san, I would not allow anyone whom I thought might harm the princess live. You know that. But I can see something inside Koto-san that I respect. That I feel I can trust. Even Rei-chan agrees with me, and you know he could not hide an evil aura from her."
Mars opened her mouth to protest but saw the wavering look on Uranus's face and wisely shut it. If the senshi of wind believed in her that much, who was she to argue? Anything to keep from turning to cinders in a great, big, Space Sword Blaster....
Still, Koto did not release Uranus. He could see the angry thoughts swarming in her mind. He shot a look to Usagi who sighed and stepped forward. Uranus struggled to get free but Usagi came closer until she could touch Uranus. She gently laid one moon-pale palm flat against Uranus's forehead.
"Haruka, you will not stop until you understand. I know it." She whispered, closing her sad eyes. "I am so sorry..."
Sorry for what, Uranus began to sneer, but before she could even make the first syllable, she knew why. With a scream the most quicksilver bolts of pain shot through her body. Neptune stepped forward, ready to protest, but Saturn's hand kept her back.
"No." Saturn said, in a commanding voice she rarely ever used. "Usagi is showing her memories of what has happened. It only hurts at first. Watch."
Uranus fell limp, her eyes closed. Usagi began to glow with an ever so slight aura and as she did, Uranus's aura lit up as well, a lulling blue.
Slowly, Usagi fed her memories into the woman, letting her catch glimpse of each one before showing her another. Uranus watched in silence, wincing only twice. The whole thing took all of twenty seconds. When the light had died, Usagi allowed Uranus to stand up.
Everyone waited with bated breath for the tall woman to say something. She did not. She stared down at Usagi with clouded, indecipherable eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she nodded, a slowly, bowing of her head. She knelt, a hint of a smile on her lips.
"My queen, I won't question you on this. If you trust him, then I will bear him. But I don't have to like him." She added, deadpan. Usagi pulled her to her feet, giggling.
"That's all I really ask. I think you'll like Koto, Haruka."
-Am I the only one here breathing a BIG sigh of relief?- Some of the color had returned to Koto's face.
Luna shot him a sour look, and Usagi turned to shake her head *Shut up, Forest Sprite. You're still not forgiven.*
His jaw dropped open indignantly and he glared at her. -What did I do?- The tone of the words was bewildered. -Remember? I'm the one everyone here wanted to kill! I'm the innocent, abused victim here! -
She rolled her eyes. *Oh, please. Sing me another.*
Michiru's eyes traveled back and forth between the pair. She, like Rei, couldn't hear them when they spoke like that but there was an irritating little buzz in the back of her mind that told her they were. She could catch the emotional drift of it, though, and smiled. Lover's spat, she thought, grinning.
Rei saw her grin. "Funny, isn't it?" She asked, distracting the senshi's attention from the couple and diverting it to her and Michiru. "They do that a lot."
"Doing what?" Jupiter asked, interested.
Venus smiled mischievously. "They can communicate telepathically. Luna and Artemis can hear them, can't you?" She hugged the white cat until it turned blue. Saturn leapt to the cat's rescue and while all the other senshi watched the wrestling match in delight, Tuxedo Kamen was glaring daggers at Koto as he waved his arms, gesturing wildly at Usagi, who stood in an incredulous posture, her hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised.
It only made him more furious, and his hand inched towards his cane. It was a completely physical weapon... and he didn't care what anyone said, there was no way elf-boy was strong enough to defeat him. His rage was clouding into his mind, forcing all other thoughts out until the one of Koto bleeding to death was looking very tempting. Something inside him snapped as Usagi laughed and reached up to stroke Koto's cheek softly.
The next thing Mamoru knew he was in midair, silently screaming, the sharp edge of his cane outstretched and aimed directly for Koto's throat.
"That's not polite, Mamoru!" Luna screeched, and dove for his head. Tuxedo Kamen screamed as razor-like claws were dragged down his face. At the same instant, the staff of Saturn's glaive game up, caught him in the stomach, and threw him to the floor. Koto had pushed Usagi behind him, and opened his mouth to say something, but Rei beat him to it.
"Mamoru, never try that again. Or I will be the one to kill you. Don't you see? You could never be Usagi's equal. Neither can Koto, but at least he comes close. She loves him! If you can't accept that, perhaps you don't belong here anymore."
Mamoru gaped at her, not wanting to fully comprehend the extent of her statement. But Rei only stared back coolly, daring him to challenge her.
Finally, his shoulders slumped.
Usagi smiled and pushed past her senshi to hug him.
"I'm sorry, Mamoru-chan. I know you don't understand. But you will. And I'll always love you, you know. Just.... perhaps not in the way you want me to." She whispered.
Jupiter turned to Koto. "You do know that if you ever lay a hand on her we'll find a way to kill you, right?"
Koto nodded. -For some reason, I think they would find a way.-
Usagi raised her eyebrows at him. *You forget-- they would love to. After all, you *did* kill them all, and you *did* try to kill me, and you *did*--*
-If I have to snog you in front of your temperamental ex boyfriend to make you cease making me feel guilty, I will, love. Watch me.- He flashed her a smile that made half the senshi in the room swoon and Usagi's eyebrow quirk.
*If we didn't have an audience, I would so say something.*
Luna sat up and stared at her mistress suspiciously. "Did he make you into a hentai, Usagi?" She demanded loudly, making Usagi turn a very becoming shade of fuchsia and Koto grin impishly while the senshi waited for Usagi's response, which was a sputtered mess of "No!"
Rei grinned in a rather evil manner. "Is our sweet Usagi having ecchi thoughts?" She taunted. Usagi turned to glare at her.
"I am NOT!" She wailed, and then blushed even more. *How does she ALWAYS revert me to this!?*
Koto smiled at her warmly. -Because you wouldn't be my little bunny any other way.-
She glowered at him. *Sometimes I want to strangle you. Other times, I want to strangle you. And then I, at times, I want to strange you. But you make me love you! ARGH!*
-Tyger, Tyger, burning bright....- Koto quoted to her, and her face went blank.
"I forgot!" She gasped. "We're still undercover! Ack! Uhm, okay. Now that you people know I'm not dead, go home! NOW! Ack, we have to get back to the base! Uhm--what are you *standing* here for?" She was sinking into panic-mode, fast. "That was an order! Go home! Why did you even come in the first place? Oh... yeah... I was killed by an evil youma... but... that's completely beside the point!" She made a shooing motion with her hands.
Rei looked at Setsuna, who nodded. Luna glowered and refused to get up, so she was picked up gingerly by Makoto. Haruka still had a firm grip on Mamoru's arm as she pulled up towards the gate that Setsuna had opened. Minako stopped in front of Usagi.
"I don't want to go. None of us do, but you need to finish what you've started. Promise you'll come back?"
Usagi nodded absently. "... and oh my god, we left Heero and Duo boinking in the middle of the forest and Duo doesn't have any clothes except for those wings and sure, Minako, no problem, and the other pilots are probably going to get captured and that's another problem and...."
Minako giggled and hugged her friend.
"Kino Makoto, you put me down this instant! I will not leave MY Usagi to be ravaged by that man--"
"Oh, yes you will!"
~'~
Next Chapter: Snogging with Une! Wheeeeee!
Chapter Five
~-~
Oi! Guess what? *giggles* Someone found me out! This chapter is dedicated to that person. *grin*
~'~
Usagi danced on the cloud tops, giggling like mad. Her dark red-gold hair flew out like a curtain of hammered gold, and her eyes flashed becomingly.
Koto watched her, hovering just above a fluffy cumulus cloud.
-I can't believe I love her.-
His thoughts were incredulous and perhaps to some observers they sounded self-loathing. But in all the hundreds of thousands of years, he had never loved anyone but himself. He had rather delighted in destroying whole planets and reducing the most powerful creatures to a pile of sniveling, begging piles of flesh and tears. But all the months he had spent arguing with Usagi and mocking her natural innocence, something had changed. It had happened so subtly he hadn't noticed until he'd returned to his own body. Once separated from her he was forced to realize that he missed her.
He missed her. Oh, gods, how he did miss her. Inside her mind was a warmth and cheeriness that he desired, a certain aura that enveloped him as part of her even if it knew he was a loathed enemy. Usagi's soul was a good soul, the purest one he'd ever seen. It didn't understand evil, all it knew was that a brother was a brother was a brother and everything that it could make a brother was a brother. Usagi could love the snake that bit her.
The Chaos that bit her.
-How strange, that I should fall in love with her. She's... she's... so perfect. -
*Not really, love. If you think about, we're delightful together. Ultimate corruption with purity? I couldn't have planned it better myself.*
Koto flushed at the realization that he had not shielded his thoughts from her. He chanced a look over to her and found her perched atop a cotton-candy mound, looking at him curiously, her elbows on her knees and her chin resting in her palms. The absolute picture of beauty, he thought.
*Thank you, my darling. I just wish you'd give up on your fears of my senshi cutting off your chaoshood and show me exactly what you mean about love.* The look in her eyes wasn't mischievous or lustful, but simply serene and longing, the kind of look that explained the awe and reverence of which the senshi spoke of Neo Queen Serenity.
-I watched those memories, you know. I'm insanely jealous of King Endymion.-
She grinned.* You don't have to be.*
Koto laughed at her and was about to reply when a surge of energy attacked their senses. Usagi jumped violently and Koto nearly fell. They steadied themselves and looked at each other in horror. \
"They couldn't have..." Koto was stunned, abashed in his underestimate of his former opponents.
Usagi only shook her head and looked at him grimly. "Uh-uh. You forgot that the outer senshi are indeed quite formidable and have the assistance of Mistress Pluto at their side, the only senshi with the power to open gateways into other dimensions. They must have included her help. I'm not surprised-- her powers do not extend to the playing of this universe or my mind. For all she knows you are a terrible demon."
He arched an eyebrow at her and quirked a half-smile. "But I am, my dear."
"Don't flatter yourself." Usagi grabbed his arm and concentrated quickly. In a second they disappeared, leaving the cloudland and reappearing in front of their secret hideaway, the giant redwood. Koto reached over to the tree and keyed in a special series of buttons that opened the door to subspace and the beautiful rooms that they'd hidden Zechs Marquise in.
"We have to hurry. Mercury's computer will trace us here if we don't." Koto rushed inside and began to work furiously at the console panels. Usagi followed him with a wry smile and observed the scene before her.
Leda was climbing out of bed and Semele giggled, snuggled up against the pillowed. Both were wearing only a smile while Zechs rushed to put his pants back on, hopping around madly with a blood-red face. Usagi giggled herself when he fell flat on his face, his hair splaying across the thick black carpeting, creating a lovely contrast.
Zechs didn't really care about that at the moment. Really, he didn't.
Leda took his arm and with surprising strength-- well, not so to him, as he had had a full demonstration earlier-- helped him to his feet, his pants half-on and around his ankles.
"It's very alright, Master Zechs." She murmured to him.
Usagi nodded. "Yes, it is. Zechs, do you honestly believe that I would have left you alone with these two nymphomaniacs and not have expected them to have their own way with you?" She giggled. "I'll have to watch the tapes later. Semele knows some mean tricks that are fun to watch."
Zechs's face darkened to a brilliant purple. "There was a camera?" His voice was a funny squawking hoarseness that made Usagi bit through her lip to keep from exploding.
"Just kidding, Zechs." She managed to choke out.
But humor was cut short when Koto turned around. -They managed to get a bit of trace on us. Not a good one because I caught it and cut it short, but they're in the right country. It could take them weeks to get a good description of us, but we may have a problem.-
Zechs knew something was fatally wrong by the way all the color left Usagi's face and into her eyes entered certain dead look, as though her soul had been ripped out.
*We-- we will have trouble. You-- you don't know what the outers can be like. You don't know how contagious it is. If-- if it had been them looking over the entire planet, moon, and colonies, perhaps it might-- it might be different. But they'll find us, or the pilots. And we led the pilots right to us. Oh, oh. I think I might cry....*
Her face did look it. Koto felt his heart break at the sight of her quivering lip, and wondered at himself for it, but not as much as he did a second later.
-You watch, Usa. It'll be fine. You are their princess, and you can explain it to them. Look what you are now! With your silver locks and gray eyes, you are no longer their princess but their queen!- He felt a strength and warmth in his tone that surprised him but surprised her more. Some of the color returned to her face.
*Yes, yes, of course. You're right.* But her eyes said otherwise.
"Warning. Warning. Trace Big approaching Sector Zero Seven Nine Five Three. Requesting permission to delete. Danger. Trace Bug entering Sector." The computer's monotone female voice resonated through the rooms, and Semele and Leda jumped up immediately, their clothing reappearing on their bodies with magic. They disappeared into a door that also seemed to appear in the wall and disappeared after them.
Zechs calmly pulled on his pants, trying to control his blush. Koto turned back to the keyboards and hit a few keys with stabbing, jerking motions.
"Trace Bug Captured. Scanning for information. Bug is product of Mercurian Computer, model unknown. Purpose: Find Princess Serenity aura type one. Also find Chaos, aura type unknown. Data requested: location and coordinates. Miscellaneous data also requested: condition of Princess Serenity and of Chaos. That is all."
"Ah, ain't that sweet of them, Ko-chan? They're worried about you." Usagi managed a slight grin and moved to lean on his shoulder while he worked, his hands now flying gracefully over the keyboards.
"Only so they can torture me." Koto said grimly. Truly, he wasn't afraid of the sailor senshi; he'd bested stronger than them. But killing them would make Usagi hate him, and that was a dark prospect now. He didn't know what to do, other than to keep Mercury from figuring out how to find them.
*Too late, my love. She's already found a way, I know it. They'll be here soon.* She sounded resigned, and sad, two qualities he was stunned to see in her. Zechs moved away silently and carefully as she sat down weakly on the edge of the gracious bed and buried her face in her hands. Both men were left in shocked silence as her shoulders began to quiver. Even though she made not a sound, they both knew she cried silent tears.
-Koi-sama, what is wrong?- Koto tried to ask, but found she had shut her mind to him. He was hurt now, hurt more than perhaps he should have been, and worried. He'd spent the better part of a year exploring her mind and knew that she must be especially emotional to do this. She'd never cry in front of Zechs, let alone Koto himself.
He looked to Zechs, and saw with relief the man would not mock Usagi or say anything that could send her into a rage or make her flee, as he instinctively knew she was apt to do in that moment.
"Come," He said to Zechs in a low voice. "You must help me barricade this place quickly. We must keep the senshi out until Usagi has collected herself."
Zechs followed without a word, but as soon as they had passed through another invisible archway in the wall, out of earshot of the moon senshi, he spoke. "I know that I owe the both of you a great deal, but I think I deserve to know what is going on to make the boldest warrior I have ever met cry in desperation. If I may be frank with you, it's scaring me half to death."
Koto did not laugh. Instead he led Zechs down a set of stairs in a tight, wooden corridor just wide enough for them to walk side by side and ending a bit of a ways forward at a huge ornamental gateway with the phases of the moon inscribed at the top in some type of silver stone.
"There are several great warriors looking for her. They think I am an evil entity and have brainwashed her or kidnapped her. Which, they do not care, they merely want to see me dead in several different painful ways. She doesn't want them to find us. She's happy here. You see, we're actually from a world very different from this one. We were sent here by a demon, at the same moment they discovered that I was part of her. And somewhere along the way, she started to love me and I started to love her. It's as easy and as complicated as that." He paused to shout a spell that covered the gates with a shimmering violet glitter.
"Let's see Madame Pluto get through that." He muttered, and then walled directly left, where another door opened into a corridor identical to the one they'd just left.
"Can't you explain?" Zechs knew it was a stupid question but he felt urged to ask.
Koto snorted. Very ungraceful. "Ha! The inner senshi might, I repeat, might listen, but the outer senshi would rip me apart and then ask me, hey, you're evil, right?" He rolled his eyes and blasted the same spell at a double set of gates. They turned right this time. "The only way is for Usagi to do her bloody best to pull rank on them. I..." His demeanor fell, and his shoulders slumped. Instead of looking like an unworldly elfish king, he looked very much like a lost little boy.
"I just don't know." He whispered. "I've... I've never felt like this for anyone before, not ever." His voice was barely above a whisper and he put out one hand to support himself, for he suddenly felt weak. His voice was choking up, and Zechs could only stare, taken aback by the sudden change.
"I don't understand it. I have lived for thousands of years and never felt so much in all the time as she makes me feel with one dazzling smile. I want to lay down my life at her feet and if she were to only look at me with a comrade's eye I feel as though that would be much more than I should expect. But she loves me! Do you know how it is, to love, and then to be loved? It is the most wonderful thing! It as if nothing could ever be wrong again, as though the fates themselves love you. It's pain but it's not; it's completely beyond description. I want to laugh and cry and dance and do so many things at once. She makes me feel pure, innocent, and complete. Like I've lived all those millennia just for this.
"And now... all of it... it's in danger. I know how Romeo felt. I mocked him then, in her class, but I know now what he felt to make him drink his poison. The planet-- how dare it spin at a moment such as this?" The last words were a sob, and a glimmer of wetness dropping onto the wood-color floor astonished Zechs.
Koto-- was crying? It was more perturbing than seeing Usagi cry.
No, no, it was only one tear, the first tear Koto had ever shed in his life. He watched it fall with fascination and wondered almost idly what it could mean.
But he didn't have the time to listen to the answer. A pounding at the gates ahead of them, a gate Koto had not sealed yet, interrupted and made both men start.
"Oh, shit--" Koto started on a strong string of oaths. He stopped himself as the gate began to give. "Quick, we need to go!" He grabbed Zechs by the forearm and dragged him through a door in the wall and sealed it behind them. One more door and they were back inside the room. Usagi had left the bed and stood at a console, watching the steady streams of numbers in a language Zechs did not recognize.
"They've not managed to get in yet. They're using force, the fools. I think Uranus is at the helm of that one. They've split up into three groups: Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Luna; Uranus, Mamoru, and Jupiter; and Mars, Neptune, Pluto, and Artemis. Mercury is making the most headway. If it weren't for you blocking the main ways, she would have been here by now. It seems as though they've split because of a difference of opinion."
Koto knew the woman here. It was the warrior he spoke to. Usagi had recessed into herself and had let her cold, tactical side take over. She could not handle this as herself anymore.
"Yes, it would seem as such." He watched the characters for a moment. "Mercury is here." He said aloud, mainly for Zechs' benefit.
"I will receive her. Both of you, over there." She motioned to the far corner of the room and closed her eyes. Zechs couldn't help it; he gasped.
Her hair lifted itself up and became a brilliant silver in color, becoming longer and twisting into two round odango. Her clothes vanished, leaving her nude for the slightest second, and then a gown of beautiful ivory silk, smooth and regal, wrapped around her body. Wings erupted from her shoulders, beautiful, tinted gossamer. The final touches were a single golden crown nestled against her silver-white locks and a crescent moon, golden-silver, upon her brow.
"Neo Queen Serenity." Koto said to Zechs, once they were out of line of sight to the main entrance to the door. "Never cross her. For all her beauty she is the most formidable woman you will ever come across. In my strongest hour I could not best her mother and she is a world more powerful than her mother ever was."
"Alert. Alert. Four humanoid presences are at Entrance Zero Four Zero One. Identification, processing. Identified as Sailors Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and the Mauian Luna. Also known as Mizuno Ami, also known as--"
"Computer?" Neo Queen Serenity inquired, making her way to the entrance.
"Yes, your majesty?" Computer replied, waiting.
"It would please me greatly if you wouldn't talk anymore unless another group of senshi approach." Her voice was diplomatic, revealing none of her irritation.
"Affirmative, Your Majesty." The computer promptly shut up as Usagi opened the gates.
Three tall senshi and one furious neko-chan all opened their mouths to speak but seemingly forgot how to when met with the vision of Neo Queen Serenity in full regalia.
"Please, come in." She said, in a warm voice that soothed their anger. "I've expected you. You might as well know how all your energy attacks are useless here, and dare you attack physically I shall be forced to stop you." She stood aside to let them inside. "Be kind to your host, no matter his face."
Saturn entered without another thought, yet her glaive still in hand. Mercury did so after only a second glance up at Serenity's face, cool and serene. Luna followed the quieter senshi. Only Venus hesitated.
"Usagi-chan, are you brainwashed?" She asked softly, not noticing the absurdity of her inquiry. She only stared evenly into her queen's eyes, waiting for an answer.
Serenity cracked a small grin. "When was I ever not, Mina-chan?"
"Oh, Usagi-chan!" Venus flew into Serenity's arm and hugged her. "I knew that you weren't evil." She sobbed into the soft silver hair smelling of jasmine and something smoky and mysterious. "I just knew it wasn't possible."
"Oh, Minako..." Serenity murmured back. "I thought you, of all people, knew that there is so such thing as absolute evil or good. I'm a tiny bit evil, of course. But that's what's fun in the world." She flipped Minako a maniacal smirk and they both smiled. Serenity shut the gates and locked them with a spell.
-My dearest lady, I will not cower before these warriors.- Koto broke through the shield-like aura around the queen and spoke boldly into her mind. -They cannot harm me here, and I think they will listen.-
*Why can't this be easier? She sighed. I feel so afraid. Of them. Of them all.*
-Don't be foolish. Feel it, they love you. They will listen, you see! And they'll understand. Everyone knows a forbidden love, and they will empathize. And dammit, woman, you're the one who made me love you! You're not giving up now!-
She smiled sadly at him. *I think they will. Beware of Luna, she has sharp teeth and claws.*
Luna had been watching the two with dark, suspicious eyes. ^I will have you both know I can hear all you say. So yes, I will listen, no, I will not bite, and you'd better start talking--- NOW!^ But something was softer in her eyes, after hearing Koto's words. Love, Luna thought to herself, quizzically. How very fitting, she decided. Something within her mind whispered that this was right.
Koto moved forward, leaving Zechs to watch. "Please, have a seat." Three chairs grew form the floor, big comfortable poofs of softness that hovered above the floor. "Luna-sama, feel free to sit on the bed, or I can serve up another injunji chair right away."
"The bed will be fine." Luna replied curtly, even though every gesture Koto made forced Luna to like him even more. Chaos or no, someone had raised this man well. He was quite likable, once you got over the teensy fact he was responsible for the destruction of tens of hundreds of galaxies. She jumped up onto the bed and found it so soft she immediately sank into it. But she did not feel smothered at all. In fact it was quite comfortable.
"Is that Chaos?" Saturn giggled. "I like your taste in men, Neo Queen Serenity-sama." She had a childlike maturity to her that was baffling. She was ready and willing to follow Her Queen to the ends of time to do deplorable things if ordered. She loved Usagi and respected Serenity. Whatever the princess did was fine by her.
Mercury eyed them both warily. She knew not to trust them but there seemed to be no threat here, and Luna, after the weird exchange of looks and Serenity turning bright purple earlier, seemed to be okay with the fact that Koto and Serenity seemed close. But this was her queen-- how could she question them?
Venus had no such reservations. She was openly cautious of Koto and completely comfortable with Serenity. She could feel the growing bond of love between them, and to her ultimate shock it was strongest on Koto's side. And it was no tainted love, but something as pure as she had never seen before. It wasn't a love of lust, as Mamoru's had indeed mostly been, but a love of love. She'd never imagined anything like it.
Serenity saw her probing into the bond and smiled despite herself. Yes, this would be interesting.
"Would any of you care to explain why you are working as individuals?" She asked them, after they'd acquainted themselves visually. She could see they were all interested in poor Zechs, but deterred their attention.
It was Mercury who flushed. "We... we argued about the best way to rescue you. We four agreed it was best to talk. Uranus thought best to attack. The others aren't sure what to do, but know we're both wrong." Mercury sighed. "And not that I truly blame them-- you've been gone for nine months, Usagi!"
Saturn picked it up in her strange, gloomy voice. "We have been falling apart. You were our connecting factor, and we never knew it. But I can see you now love him, instead of the conflict I saw before. I thought that the two of you would like each other better." She smiled at everyone's dumbfounded expression. "What? Did you think me blind?" It was so weird out of her little-girl body.
"Yes." Koto answered her bluntly. "It seems I've underestimated all of you greatly. I apologize." His eyes, the color of broken promises, were honest in this.
Saturn waved it off. Her eyes, old in her face, held something akin to trust in them. "I know more of you than you think, Koto." She spoke his name even though neither Serenity nor he had given it to her.
Koto smiled at her. "Yes, Milady, I see it now. How foolish of me not to know my own sister." He took her gloved hand and kissed it gently. Venus couldn't help it; she swooned.
"Ara, Usagi-chan, you are so lucky. He's handsome, evil, and utterly a gentleman. If you're ever tired of him, I'll be perfectly glad to keep him for a while. I'm almost jealous he loves you."
Mercury started. "Wha?" She asked violently. "Love? Who loves who? What? What is going on here? Sister?" She looked bewildered. "What?" She repeated helplessly. Her big blue eyes took in Koto, who still held Saturn's hand, and Luna, who was just staring at Koto with an expression of-- warmth?!-- and Serenity, her queen, near tears.
It was not Serenity, nor Koto, nor Saturn, nor even Venus that answered her. It was Luna, speaking in a voice that Mercury remembered Luna only using twice before. It was a voice that was completely placid and serene, free of worry and stress. "They once said that true love never could be, Sailor Mercury, my Ami-chan. And maybe this was so. Yet, if there is such a thing, you witness it now, Mizuno." Her voice was soft and reverent and her eyes shimmered with youth. "Never doubt this."
*Happy to see you approve.*
^Anyone but Endymion, my dear.^
-I hate the guy too, but really, Luna-sama?- Koto sounded amused, and turned towards Luna, a hint of a smile on his lips.
^Chaos-san,^ Luna said reproachfully, but not at him, ^Mamoru is pigheaded and can be very rude and weak. And his treatment of Usagi at times has been quite appalling. I will never forgive him for some of the things he has done and said. I know very well how both his mind and the dark kingdom words, and at heart sometimes I think he is nothing more than a two-faced, yellow coward.^
Serenity gasped. *Luna! How can you say such things? Mamoru had no control--*
Luna glared at the queen crossly. ^The brainwashing techniques that Beryl used required the consent of the victim, Usagi. And the way he has betrayed and treated you is beyond any excuse. ^
Serenity frowned and arched an eyebrow at her guardian. *Hm... there are things you need to tell me, neko-chan, but later.*
She turned to Venus and Mercury and was about to explain further, when the computer's voice interrupted timidly.
"Sorry, Your Majesty, but there are four more senshi nearing the entrance. Mars, Pluto, and Neptune, plus Artemis the Mauian."
"Let them pass, unarmed." Serenity ordered. "And inform Mars that if she dares bring those scrolls hither I shall tie her up and throw her into a river."
There was only a half-second's delay when Mars came bursting through the doors, her violet eyes flashing. "Usagi! Usagi-chan, watch out for Mamoru! He's furious wi..." The words died on her lips, and her eyes traveled from Serenity to Koto and she broke out into the biggest smile that anyone had ever seen her with.
"Oh." She said, still smiling. "I see that you're fine. I've been watching, in my fire. You let me see you. Thank you." She laughed and hugged her queen. "I was so worried! I'm going to kill you! I already knew Chaos was within you! Why did you go and get killed for? Oh, Odango Atama, you are so dead!"
-You let her watch us?- Koto was intrigued.
Usagi looked abashed. *Actually, I forgot all about that blasted fire... and Neptune's mirror... but don't tell them that!*
"Happy to see you too." She looked over Mars' shoulder at Pluto and Neptune, and Artemis. "I guess you guys knew, too, right?"
Neptune waved her mirror and nodded, and Pluto smiled a mysterious smile.
"My queen, I always knew. And Uranus and the rest have just breached the door. They are the ones you will have trouble with."
Koto looked up. He was surprised none of them had attacked him yet. "I could distract Jupiter." He suggested helpfully. Mars remembered he was there and spun towards him angrily. Oh, boy. She began stepping towards him, accenting every words by another harsh step, until her finger poked into his chest.
"Now listen, you overgrown worm," Thunk! Owowowowow! Hard chest hard chest! Pain through favorite finger! Bastard! "I'll put up with you because she likes you, but one wrong move and before you get to me I'll make sure a certain appendage of yours is roasted a nice, charred black." Her eyes glowered with a fire that made Koto wonder if he should be afraid of this one.
He opened his mouth to assure her that he would not make a wrong move, but she continued holding up a hand to silence him.
"Not yet, Chaos. I'm not through yet." She took a deep breath and sent a quick glance to Serenity, who took it in impassively. "I know you've done some really evil things, but I also know that if Serenity loves you-- and the kind of love I'm talking about isn't child's play-- you're not evil inside. She must have found something pretty special inside you to forgive you for everything you've done, so even though I really don't want to, I'll put up with you. Just because Usagi thinks you're hot enough to drop Mamoru for you, and because you really are handsome, and because you haven't killed any of us again yet."
That was the end. She looked around to find everyone staring at her as though she'd grown another head and blushed, looking at the suddenly fascinating carpet.
But Koto was not angry. "That was a lovely speech, Sailor Mars-san. I am sure it will be wrote done into a history book one day as "Mars-sama Approving of Chaos". But until then, accept my apology." He bowed slightly to her, and she looked very confused. Serenity bit down hard on her lip to keep her laughter in.
*Ko-chan, stop flirting with my senshi!*
-Show me another way to win their favor and I will, my moon lily. -
~-~
While Koto was trying to reconcile with the senshi present in the mini fortress, three very frustrated senshi stood in front of an archaic set of marble gates, each angrier than the next. There were several scorch marks on the once unblemished stone, evidence of several high-power ki attacks each strong enough to blow up a very large city. But that was the only evidence. There was not a dent or even a scratch in the gate.
"That's it! What the hell is this thing made of, anyway?!" Jupiter exploded, launching a very physical assault on the towering doors, bruising her knees and knuckles and not really feeling the sharp jolts of pain. She hit it over and over and finally had to give up, growling and nursing her left hand.
"Oh, that's the way." Uranus snapped at her, still inspecting the nick that the space sword had acquired only seconds before. "Injure yourself so that when we do find Chaos you can't fight." She ran her fingers over the chipped place and glowered.
"Excuuuuse me!" Jupiter had had just about enough of Uranus's bad mood. "I didn't realize we had a bloody genius in our midst! Let's see you open the damned thing!" She advanced a step towards the senshi no kaze and was about to take another when Tuxedo Kamen came between them. His hat was gone and his suit mussed, but he had a thoughtful look on his face.
"Let's not fight amongst ourselves just yet." He said calmly. He pointed one elegantly gloved hand at the stubborn gate. "You're Usagi. What do you do to keep three aggressive, revenge-minded senshi from getting to you?"
Both Uranus and Jupiter stared at him stupidly, eyebrows raised.
Tuxedo Kamen chuckled and walked up to the impressive marble work and laid his palm flat against it, fingers outstretched.
"You make it so they can't get through in anger." He stated simply, before concentrating hard on the stone against his hand. It suddenly felt warm and alive under his fingers. "Alright, Usako." He said, in a tight voice. "We'll talk."
All three jumped violently when Usagi's solemn, beautiful voice came from the gate. "Oh, will you, Mamoru-san? I can see your mind now, don't forget it. A clever plan, Prince, but a foolhardy one. You underestimate me, and Chaos. And you assume I am under his control. Foolish, foolish. The other senshi are here, and we have talked. They understand. They will stand behind me. Even Luna and Artemis agree. I shall let your enter, but your powers will be useless and your subspace pockets sealed away. No well-placed roses, Tux."
He growled in anger and went to punch the stone, but at the precise second his fist would have collided with the barrier, it vanished and he fell through, unable to regain his balance in time and making a very ungraceful nose-dive into soft, black carpeting.
Jupiter giggled, but then noticed the room that the gate had opened into. Her fellow senshi were looking back at them, each tensed and waiting. Her eyes traveled over the room's occupants senshi by senshi, over the two cats and the strange, blonde man in the corner with a little Japanese maiden on his arm. And finally, standing beside a huge computer console that even Mercury would have trouble deciphering, stood little Tsukino Usagi, in her old Juuban High uniform and blonde pigtails. Had it not been for the silver threads weaved through the gold locks and the play of gray in the girl's eyes, she would have said that this was her Usagi, the one that had been before Galaxia.
And very, very slowly, she looked at the man standing behind her friend.
He was only a little taller than the golden child. His hair what caught her eyes first, and it was beautiful, the color of the very last rosy rays of sunset, long and thick. His face was lean and of delicate make, almost doll-like, with a generous, almost feminine mouth and big cat-like eyes that were dark and mystifying. He wore a pair of black pants and a black button up shirt over a body that was fit and agile.
She hated to admit it, but they contrasted beautifully. It was a picture of power and deceptive strength, one that even she respected.
She had heard them all say she was the most loyal to Serenity a lifetime ago. She felt that tug now, and knew she couldn't do this. Her eyes found the floor and she sighed, the fight leaving her body.
"Alright." She said, grudgedly. "I'll live with it."
Uranus, however, had no such reservation. She knew her duty, and it was to protect the dignity of the solar system. Her loyalties to the princess were second priority. "You may, but I won't!" With a blur of gold and blue she rushed Chaos.
"No, Haruka." Usagi raised one palm and Haruka froze in mid-leap, suspended in air and looking furious. "You will not attack. I am your queen. And look-- do you think he would still live if any here had a good reason to kill him?"
Mercury flushed. "We do have a good reason, Usagi-chan. But we don't want to. He's cute." Her red face grew even more so and she buried her face in her hands.
Venus looked at her suspiciously. "I was about to say that. Are you able to read minds too, Ami-chan?" She giggled slightly. Then, her face grew solemn and she looked up at Uranus, ignoring how absurd the senshi looked. "Uranus-san, I would not allow anyone whom I thought might harm the princess live. You know that. But I can see something inside Koto-san that I respect. That I feel I can trust. Even Rei-chan agrees with me, and you know he could not hide an evil aura from her."
Mars opened her mouth to protest but saw the wavering look on Uranus's face and wisely shut it. If the senshi of wind believed in her that much, who was she to argue? Anything to keep from turning to cinders in a great, big, Space Sword Blaster....
Still, Koto did not release Uranus. He could see the angry thoughts swarming in her mind. He shot a look to Usagi who sighed and stepped forward. Uranus struggled to get free but Usagi came closer until she could touch Uranus. She gently laid one moon-pale palm flat against Uranus's forehead.
"Haruka, you will not stop until you understand. I know it." She whispered, closing her sad eyes. "I am so sorry..."
Sorry for what, Uranus began to sneer, but before she could even make the first syllable, she knew why. With a scream the most quicksilver bolts of pain shot through her body. Neptune stepped forward, ready to protest, but Saturn's hand kept her back.
"No." Saturn said, in a commanding voice she rarely ever used. "Usagi is showing her memories of what has happened. It only hurts at first. Watch."
Uranus fell limp, her eyes closed. Usagi began to glow with an ever so slight aura and as she did, Uranus's aura lit up as well, a lulling blue.
Slowly, Usagi fed her memories into the woman, letting her catch glimpse of each one before showing her another. Uranus watched in silence, wincing only twice. The whole thing took all of twenty seconds. When the light had died, Usagi allowed Uranus to stand up.
Everyone waited with bated breath for the tall woman to say something. She did not. She stared down at Usagi with clouded, indecipherable eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she nodded, a slowly, bowing of her head. She knelt, a hint of a smile on her lips.
"My queen, I won't question you on this. If you trust him, then I will bear him. But I don't have to like him." She added, deadpan. Usagi pulled her to her feet, giggling.
"That's all I really ask. I think you'll like Koto, Haruka."
-Am I the only one here breathing a BIG sigh of relief?- Some of the color had returned to Koto's face.
Luna shot him a sour look, and Usagi turned to shake her head *Shut up, Forest Sprite. You're still not forgiven.*
His jaw dropped open indignantly and he glared at her. -What did I do?- The tone of the words was bewildered. -Remember? I'm the one everyone here wanted to kill! I'm the innocent, abused victim here! -
She rolled her eyes. *Oh, please. Sing me another.*
Michiru's eyes traveled back and forth between the pair. She, like Rei, couldn't hear them when they spoke like that but there was an irritating little buzz in the back of her mind that told her they were. She could catch the emotional drift of it, though, and smiled. Lover's spat, she thought, grinning.
Rei saw her grin. "Funny, isn't it?" She asked, distracting the senshi's attention from the couple and diverting it to her and Michiru. "They do that a lot."
"Doing what?" Jupiter asked, interested.
Venus smiled mischievously. "They can communicate telepathically. Luna and Artemis can hear them, can't you?" She hugged the white cat until it turned blue. Saturn leapt to the cat's rescue and while all the other senshi watched the wrestling match in delight, Tuxedo Kamen was glaring daggers at Koto as he waved his arms, gesturing wildly at Usagi, who stood in an incredulous posture, her hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised.
It only made him more furious, and his hand inched towards his cane. It was a completely physical weapon... and he didn't care what anyone said, there was no way elf-boy was strong enough to defeat him. His rage was clouding into his mind, forcing all other thoughts out until the one of Koto bleeding to death was looking very tempting. Something inside him snapped as Usagi laughed and reached up to stroke Koto's cheek softly.
The next thing Mamoru knew he was in midair, silently screaming, the sharp edge of his cane outstretched and aimed directly for Koto's throat.
"That's not polite, Mamoru!" Luna screeched, and dove for his head. Tuxedo Kamen screamed as razor-like claws were dragged down his face. At the same instant, the staff of Saturn's glaive game up, caught him in the stomach, and threw him to the floor. Koto had pushed Usagi behind him, and opened his mouth to say something, but Rei beat him to it.
"Mamoru, never try that again. Or I will be the one to kill you. Don't you see? You could never be Usagi's equal. Neither can Koto, but at least he comes close. She loves him! If you can't accept that, perhaps you don't belong here anymore."
Mamoru gaped at her, not wanting to fully comprehend the extent of her statement. But Rei only stared back coolly, daring him to challenge her.
Finally, his shoulders slumped.
Usagi smiled and pushed past her senshi to hug him.
"I'm sorry, Mamoru-chan. I know you don't understand. But you will. And I'll always love you, you know. Just.... perhaps not in the way you want me to." She whispered.
Jupiter turned to Koto. "You do know that if you ever lay a hand on her we'll find a way to kill you, right?"
Koto nodded. -For some reason, I think they would find a way.-
Usagi raised her eyebrows at him. *You forget-- they would love to. After all, you *did* kill them all, and you *did* try to kill me, and you *did*--*
-If I have to snog you in front of your temperamental ex boyfriend to make you cease making me feel guilty, I will, love. Watch me.- He flashed her a smile that made half the senshi in the room swoon and Usagi's eyebrow quirk.
*If we didn't have an audience, I would so say something.*
Luna sat up and stared at her mistress suspiciously. "Did he make you into a hentai, Usagi?" She demanded loudly, making Usagi turn a very becoming shade of fuchsia and Koto grin impishly while the senshi waited for Usagi's response, which was a sputtered mess of "No!"
Rei grinned in a rather evil manner. "Is our sweet Usagi having ecchi thoughts?" She taunted. Usagi turned to glare at her.
"I am NOT!" She wailed, and then blushed even more. *How does she ALWAYS revert me to this!?*
Koto smiled at her warmly. -Because you wouldn't be my little bunny any other way.-
She glowered at him. *Sometimes I want to strangle you. Other times, I want to strangle you. And then I, at times, I want to strange you. But you make me love you! ARGH!*
-Tyger, Tyger, burning bright....- Koto quoted to her, and her face went blank.
"I forgot!" She gasped. "We're still undercover! Ack! Uhm, okay. Now that you people know I'm not dead, go home! NOW! Ack, we have to get back to the base! Uhm--what are you *standing* here for?" She was sinking into panic-mode, fast. "That was an order! Go home! Why did you even come in the first place? Oh... yeah... I was killed by an evil youma... but... that's completely beside the point!" She made a shooing motion with her hands.
Rei looked at Setsuna, who nodded. Luna glowered and refused to get up, so she was picked up gingerly by Makoto. Haruka still had a firm grip on Mamoru's arm as she pulled up towards the gate that Setsuna had opened. Minako stopped in front of Usagi.
"I don't want to go. None of us do, but you need to finish what you've started. Promise you'll come back?"
Usagi nodded absently. "... and oh my god, we left Heero and Duo boinking in the middle of the forest and Duo doesn't have any clothes except for those wings and sure, Minako, no problem, and the other pilots are probably going to get captured and that's another problem and...."
Minako giggled and hugged her friend.
"Kino Makoto, you put me down this instant! I will not leave MY Usagi to be ravaged by that man--"
"Oh, yes you will!"
~'~
Next Chapter: Snogging with Une! Wheeeeee!