Sovereign of Silence
written by Julliet
Disclaimer: Oh, must I recite this trite and worthless line? Sailor
Moon and all related characters do not belong to me. But I did create
some of the characters.
The ones you've never heard of will be those.
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Chapter One--Eternal, Eternal

The young woman slipped through the hallways of the crystal
palace. Her black boots hardly made a noise as she walked swiftly along
the floors of the palace. Her breathing was so low it was undetectable.
Her grip tightened around the silver sword she held in her hand.

Sudden movement! The assassin slipped into the shadows of the
hallway, pressed against the wall. Someone walked by. It was one of the
protectors of the palace. She had long blond hair, sky blue eyes, and a
sunny smile on her face. She began to whistle as she walked by.

As soon as she had passed, the assassin slipped back off the wall
and continued in the direction she was originally going in--opposite the
guard. She glided down the hallway, around a corner, and finally
reached her final destination--the royal bedroom. She slipped inside,
smirking to herself. This was like taking candy from a baby.

For a second she contemplated the royal couple. The king sighed
in contentment, pulling his wife closer to himself. She was breathing
heavily, cuddling down in her husband's embrace. They were a majestic
pair, the two of them. She could almost feel the love they had for each
other bouncing off the walls.

How utterly corny.

She smirked again, feeling no compassion for them, only having the
thought that her next movement would completely sever the blissful
connection the two had. She raised her hands, wielding her sword.

She swung. The sword glinted in the moonlight.

A reflection in the blade! A figure, dark as the night itself,
the body of death. By position of the sword, standing behind her.
Aiyana gasped, her eyes widening.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and she
blacked out, falling to the floor, her sword clattering besides her.

"I can't believe how close we were to death." Neo-Queen Serenity
shook her head unsteadily, snuggling closer to her husband. The two
were in their pajamas, standing in their room. It had recently been
reported to them that an attempted assassination had been apprehended,
saving their lives.

"Shh, don't think about it," King Endymion said, cradling his wife
closer to himself. It had frightened him too, the information they had
been so mechanically given by Sailor Uranus. "Who was it?"

"Who was who? The assassin? We've no idea, King Endymion. We've
never seen her before." Sailor Mercury shook her head at the king.

"Are you sure?" King Endymion asked, raising his head.

"Positive. She's not familiar to any of us. Except..." Sailor
Neptune trailed off.

"Except who?" asked King Endymion.

"Nothing, King Endymion. Nothing relevant."

That made Endymion jumpy anyway. Nothing Sailor Neptune ever
thought of was irrelevant. But he shook it off ignoring it, as well as
the ominous feeling gnawing at the back of his mind.

"What are we going to do with her?" asked Sailor Mars, cocking her
eyebrow. Her shift had been over earlier, so she had quickly woken up
and transformed. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were dark and sleepy.

"What do you mean?" asked Neo-Queen Serenity.

"She's got to have some sort of punishment, for attempted
assassination. Do you want us to put her in prison overnight to await
her--"

King Endymion shook his head hard, but to no avail.

"--execution?"

King Endymion slapped his head.

"Execution?!" the warm-hearted queen squeaked. "I thought you
said she was a teenager!"

"Yes, my queen, but--" Sailor Jupiter struggled to get the words
out. "She tried to kill you!"

"Yes, Jupiter, but if she's only sixteen or seventeen, she's got
her whole life ahead of her!" Neo-Queen Serenity shook her head. "I
couldn't bear to take her life at this young age. Someone at sixteen or
seventeen wouldn't try to kill us that efficiently for no reason."
Serenity was getting into her serious, stubborn mode now. "I don't
believe that any teenager would just, out of their own heads, come up to
kill me or Mamo-chan, unless they really were messed up or were under
orders from someone else. Maybe there's a conspiracy."

"True, my queen--"

Neo-Queen Serenity held up her hand, cutting Sailor Uranus off.
She wriggled away from King Endymion, raising herself up to her full
height--which was not an inch over five foot one. "Maybe we could learn
something from her."

"It'd be quite difficult to sustain her in a prison after all,"
said Sailor Mercury, shaking her head slightly. After she was
apprehended, she blacked out into a coma."

"So I request that she be put in a hospital, under close guard."

The six Senshi looked at each other.

"Yes, my queen," they answered meekly.

King Endymion wasn't sure his wife's choice was a wise one, or the
right one. But he was too tired to think of any problems with it.
"Please," he said, "after this is done, please go back to bed."

Aiyana opened her eyes.

She hadn't slept in six months. She was so infuriated and
embarrassed now, that she doubted she'd be able to sleep ever again.
Yet she had been dozing in this bed for--how long?

She had no idea how long it'd been since she'd attempted--and
failed--to carry out her mission, and now she began mulling over her
failure. How had she collapsed by such a small pain? She'd endured
much worse before! What happened to the battles with two broken fingers
and a broken leg, and she'd crawled out victorious? How had she fallen
so easily, by just one small little pain in the back of her head?

She turned over, her cheeks flaming in vexation. How
embarrassing. The First Delta in the Omega Army, on the brink of being
the first female Beta, and she'd utterly embarrassed herself, blacking
out in the middle of a mission. She was sure this would be a first in
the Omega Star Empire. She imagined going before the Alpha Council to
explain. 'Sa, Alpha-sama, I failed because I collapsed of a
headache...'

If she ever made it back to Alpha Proximi or Alpha Centauri. At
the rate she was going, it didn't seem like it. It seemed as if the
Earthians had imprisoned her somewhere. She assessed her surroundings.
White twin bed, white sheets, white walls. She wasn't in a prison;
there were no laser-beam bars and she didn't see a movement tracker,
although there was a small surveillance camera in the corner.

She rolled over and looked on her dresser. There, as plain as
day, was her sword, most likely laid on the night table and left by a
careless employee.

Aiyana nearly smiled. Closing her hands around the hilt of the
sword, she sprung from her bed and crept to the door of the room.

Aiyana had freed herself from her room and was now walking down
the hallway, free as a bird, not able to decide whether she should go to
the main computer room or walk out of the palace. She hadn't yet
finished her mission--she hadn't killed the queen--but she didn't want
to risk getting caught. After they discovered she was no longer in her
room, they would surely come after her.

However, the main computer room would also be of utmost need to
her. She could look into the inner workings of the computer, realize
how much the people of Earth--however primitive and behind the times
they might have been--knew about her mission, and the mission of the
Alphas. Then she could delete the information and crash the computer
systems capable of detecting them. Inherently she tried to figure out
what would be the best way to go to get to the computer room. She
doubted the Terrans knew about mainframe-stealth maskers.

Suddenly she felt her arm wrench in pain, twisted around behind
her back. She was whipped close to a body. Judging from the sinewy
strength of it, as well as the superior height, she guessed it was a
male.

"What are you doing here?"

Aiyana narrowed her eyes. Instead of answering, she moved
quickly, sending her elbow into his groin. As soon as he gave the
slightest flinch of pain, she was off, running as fast as she could away
from the guard.

Kunzite cursed, his gray eyes following the train of the young
girl running across the palace. She was very fast, but she ran a little
unsteadily, as if her legs were too thin to carry her body. In moments
she was out of sight.

"If I were a psychotic assassin, where would I go?" he asked
himself, shaking his head. Suddenly it clicked, and he dialed up his
communicator.

"Zoisite? She's headed for the main computer room. Head her
off."

Aiyana had known better than to use brute strength and force
against that larger, stronger man. Instead, she had used her superior speed,
being much smaller. She was off and running.

She skidded to a short stop when she felt a whirring sound under
her feet. Cupping her ear, she heard it also. The mainframe was
here--right in the center of the palace.

She slowed her pace and confidently walked into the mainframe,
staring around. The computers everywhere were made of the same smooth,
pristine white crystal, gleaming and sparkling. She smiled very
faintly, complacent, and walked towards the one with the biggest screen.

She had just cracked the password to three access screens and was
onto the last, high-security access screen when she heard the word.
"Yameru!"

She turned her head for a moment. A woman, curiously
flat-chested, was encroaching upon her at the computer. Nonchalantly,
she turned back to what she was doing.

Zoisite smirked. Obviously the girl hadn't seen him. Now he
could cautiously creep upon her. He drew his sword and rushed towards
her.

It actually seemed as if Zoisite's sword would make contact with
her head, but at the last minute, lightning quick, the assassin whipped
a silver-bladed sword from the scabbard and slashed at Zoisite, knocking
him backwards.

He cursed. "How the hell did she manage to get that far in the
computer screens?"

She smiled at his comment, but still said nothing.

Zoisite sprang back to his feet. He'd be the first to admit that
he wasn't very skilled on the sword, certainly not as much as Kunzite,
the best out of the four of them. However, he'd had training in combat,
and he rushed at the girl again, this time executing a sharp kick while
driving his sword low.

Impossibly, the girl thrusted one hand upwards while the other
hand--wielding the sword--went downwards. She deflected his sword and
took hold of his foot, flipping him down and around, onto his back.

Zoisite landed hard. He shook his head to clear it, and felt a
cold metal blade at his neck. Opening his eyes, he found himself
staring into two of the most intense eyes he had ever seen in his life.
They were clear azure, uncanny--although one of the coolest colors in
the rainbow, the flames within them burned with a fire that could be
unmatched by even the hottest of conflagrations. They were slanted in a
catlike fashion, making her rather attractive.

Sliding his eyes down her body, he realized that was not all that
made her attractive. She had a tall, nicely built, softly curvaceous
shape, coupled with paled skin that only enhanced the quality of her
long violet hair--pulled back into a braid--and her bright blue eyes. A
derisive smirk curved across her slightly rosy lips, making her the
embodiment of a horrendously irresistable siren.

Zoisite felt the pressure of the sword into his neck and began to
utter a few ending words, when suddenly there was the clatter of metal
against metal. The girl's sword scratched his neck painfully but
relatively harmlessly, and she staggered backwards. Lightning quick, a
silver flash flew towards her, aiming to outdo her in swordwork.

Zoisite actually stood back and watched the fight for a few
moments. It was a beautiful example of enemies at each other's throats.
Kunzite and the young female assassin worked almost in a dance sequence,
each ineffectually trying to slay the other with the sword, each only
doing minimal damage to the other. He sensed their frustration growing,
as their slashes became less practiced and more savage, until they were
just a blur of silver and black--a sovereign of light and a seductress
of darkness.

It suddenly occurred to Zoisite that perhaps he should call for
help, and instantly initiated a communication line between himself and
some guards, including the other two kings. Within minutes--and a good
thing, because Kunzite was looking rather worn-out--they arrived.

"Yameru, Kunzite!" Nephrite rushed fowards. By pure instinct
Kunzite dropped his sword upon seeing his ally, and Aiyana took the
advantage to jump forward, embedding her sword in his stomach.

"Chikuso!" he screeched, backing away.

Zoisite knew that the other two kings in commission were too
chivalrous to do what needed to be done a girl, so he took the liberty
of doing it himself. He kicked the girl, once in the stomach, and when
she recoiled, he hit her--hard--with Kunzite's dropped sword.

She wobbled a bit, obviously off-balance. "Shimatta," she
whispered softly.

She's not quite as stable as I thought, Zoisite thought,
staring at her.

Nephrite, looking dubiously at Zoisite, grabbed the girl; Jadeite
secured her, and two other guards latched on to make sure she wouldn't
be a problem. Zoisite gently took Kunzite and another guard assisted
him.

"We'll take you to my wife's hospital to have you looked over."

"What about her?" Jadeite pointed at the girl. Her eyes
refocused on Zoisite, hatred burning within them.

"Take her to the prisoner's infirmary, up on the top floor of the
hospital. Make sure you lock her up tight this time." Zoisite stared
thoughtfully at the assassin again, contemplating the deep fire in her
eyes. She was staring defiantly at him; even in defeat she was fierce,
daunting, filled with power and energy. Zoisite smirked as he wondered
at her endurance.

"Tranquilize her."

Koikokoro Masaya walked down the hall, whistling to himself. He
caught himself in time. I'm starting to sound like Okaa, he thought to
himself with a smile.

He walked down to the hospital room way at the end of the hallway.
Room 318. He looked down at his clipboard. PATIENT'S STATUS UNKNOWN,
it said. One of those street victims. He cracked the
door, to check on the patient first.

She was sleeping.

Masaya entered, suddenly interested. He walked over to the
bedside, staring at the young woman. She was younger than him, perhaps
seventeen years old, and she was a very lovely young girl. She had
pale, creamy, unblemished skin faintly tinted olive and long dark violet
hair flowing long over the bedclothes. She looked peaceful as she
slept. Masaya smiled slightly at the young assassin's appearance. A
devil in an angel's robes.

He turned to the side for a minute, away from the girl, to the
table by her. There was a sword lying there, a beautiful sword with a
black hilt and a silver blade. Masaya picked it up in fascination.
That was one thing he shared with his father, one thing they agreed
on--both were enamored by the study of sabers and fencing. Masaya
himself was a champion fencer, taking after both his parents. And
this--this was an excellent sword.

He replaced the sword, returning his gaze to the other object of
his fascination. This angel of Tartarus--

--was gone.

Masaya recoiled in surprise when he realized that the
violet-haired assassin was no longer lying in the bed, framed by the
white sheets.

The next minute he felt his arm being twisted around him in
excruciating pain, being pulled violently off of the nightstand he was
sitting on, and feeling a cold silver blade being whipped to his neck.

"What are you doing in here?" asked a warm, luminous, and utterly
frightening voice.

"Uh--" Masaya struggled to get away, but it was useless. His
assailant had a firm grip on him. He turned what little bit he could,
and realized it was the young female assassin. She was staring down at
him with icy blue eyes. She wasn't angry. In fact, she looked amused.

"I'm the doctor--Koikokoro--Masaya--" he struggled to say.

"You could have knocked," she said. "How do you know I wasn't
dressing?"

"Ano--" He didn't think she really wanted an answer to that
question.

"You all think I'm crazy," she said. "So, I think I will live up
to my description. In a crazy rage of insanity, I think I'll kill you."

Masaya's eyes widened. He searched desperately for some coherent
thought to allay her actions, but all he could think to say was: "Ano--"

He felt the blade tighten against his neck, bringing with it pain,
and he knew she had severed his flesh. She's going to kill me,
he thought. She's really going to kill me, and then I'll be dead, and
then--I won't be alive anymore!

Suddenly he felt himself dropping to the floor, gasping for
breath. There was cruel laughter above him.

He picked himself off the floor, dazed, and shook his head to
clear it. He brought his finger up to his neck. It came back bloody.

"Do not worry, Dr. Koikokoro-sensei; it will heal and then your
neck will be all pretty again. Although there will be a nasty scar
there." The derisive laughter rang out again, melodious and scourging
at the same time. Masaya blinked. Seated on the bed was the young
assassin.

He now got a chance to study her properly. She looked tall, even
sitting down. Her body hinted at a woman's form. No, that wasn't
right--it didn't hint, it announced. Declared. Her eyes were ice blue
and her hair was dark violet, almost black, sharply contrasting with her
pale olive skin. All of it was clothed in a long-sleeved, form-fitting,
pale blue hospital nightgown. She was extremely pretty, beautiful even,
and would have had a benevolent, angelic look to her had her eyes not
been so ardent and evilly narrowed and her mouth not been curled into a
malicious smile.

Instead of being incensed at her, as he should have been, he was
actually intrugued by her beauty--as well as her fluid motion. "How did
you do that?" he asked.

She seemed surprised. "You are--"

"Not angry? Not really. I've never seen anyone move like that,"
he said. "I mean, I've never felt anyone move like that, because I
didn't even see you. One minute you're lying in the bed, and the
next--you had me by the neck and immobilized. No one has ever done that
before."

"Plenty of people. There are many better than me," she said,
seeming very surprised. Not only at Masaya's misjudgment of her
abilities, but also at the fact that she was even answering him. She
hadn't talked to anyone since landing on this godforsaken planet.

"No. I meant no one has ever done that to me before. I'm one of
the best fencers in Crystal Tokyo." He sat down on the bed, very close
to her.

She slid away, reddening a little. "Ano...really?" she asked,
seeming to have lost her composure for a while. His eyes were boring
into hers.

He laughed. "What are you afraid of? After a move like that, I'd
think you were fearless."

"Only a fool fears nothing," she scoffed, looking away. "Fear
stops one from doing things they may later regret."

"Yes. But sometimes, fear makes you do things you may later
regret." Masaya turned and picked up the clipboard; then turned around
and looked straight at Aiyana with his serious gray-blue eyes. "Now,
like I said, I'm Dr. Koikokoro Masaya. You can call me Masaya, I guess.
What is your name?"

Aiyana cocked her head, reddening a little again. "Aiyana
Khalidah," she answered accidentally, in her fluster.

"Eye-ah-nah ka-lie-dah," he spoke, writing it down. "Does it mean
anything in your language?"

"What?"

"Your name. Most names have meanings. What does yours mean?"

"Eternal, eternal."

"Excuse me?"

Aiyana sighed. "Both of my names mean eternal," she said.
"Eternal, eternal. They are that way for...how do you say? Effect.
Emphasis."

Masaya merely stared at the young woman, until she began to squirm
uncomfortably. "How old are you, Aiyana?"

"I am in my eighteenth year," she answered truthfully, although
she had no idea why. Something about Masaya's loose but respectful and
fascinated manner made her want to tell the truth. Although she could
never be comfortable on this planet, she figured--since she was locked
up in this room--that it couldn't be too bad to tell a little,
especially to the handsome young doctor before her now. Admittedly
Aiyana was tired of keeping secrets.

"You're what?" asked Masaya, and he laughed. "You mean you're
seventeen. I used to do that when I was younger. Slow down, you'll
grow up soon enough!"

"But I am in my eighteenth year," Aiyana protested. "My birthday
is Jolene twenty-second--about equivalent to the fourteenth of January.
And I was born in the year five thousand sixty-two, which is about the
same as the year twenty-eight eighty-three here. Twenty-eight
eighty-three until now is seventeen years, but I completed my
seventeenth year two weeks ago, so I am in my eighteenth."

Masaya laughed again. "But it's only February second!"

Aiyana didn't say anything at first, just stared. "Where I am
from, we say that we are in our eighteenth year."

"Where are you from, Aiyana?"

Aiyana thought. "I cannot tell you that."

Masaya's head went up. "Why?"

"Because. I cannot." She said it calmly, but her eyes flashed a
dangerous violet.

Masaya was taken aback, but undaunted. "Okay," he said. "So,
your name is Aiyana Khalidah and you're seventeen years old. What else
do I need to know about you?"

Aiyana stared at him.

Masaya raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, I guess. Unless you have any
medical conditions I should know about."

Aiyana stared at him.

"I'll take that as a no," he said, rolling his eyes and setting
down his clipboard. "I guess that's it. Are you hungry?"

"No," said Aiyana. "I have no need for food or drink."

"What?" Masaya raised his eyebrow again. Aiyana felt the red
color creeping back up to her cheeks.

"I do not need to eat," she explained. "It is part of an extensive
program that our scientists created. They injected me with elixir, and
I lost the need for nourishment."

"Now this sounds like some kind of medical information," said
Masaya, grabbing his clipboard. "I'll go get some food--for myself--and
then you can tell me about that. Hold that thought!" He dashed out of
the room.
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Author's Notes:

Those Japanese words that you might not know...
Eto-let's see
Sa-well (As in 'Well, Mother...'
Yameru-stop
Chikuso-damnit
Shimatta-oh, shit
Okaa-Mom, mother
Ano-um (when you're at a loss for words, this is what you say)

The 'angel of Tartarus' thing refers to Greek mythology. Tartarus was
the darkest, deepest region in Hades. So referring to her as an angel
of Tartarus is kind of like saying she's a beautiful being, but inwardly
evil. I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, just didn't know if
some would get that