Minako spun in circles, chased by her chambermaids, who were torn between being frustrated and happy. "Miss Aino! Miss Aino, please let us finish getting you dressed!"
"Ha! Miss Aino I'll be no more, after this morning!" Minako yelled, continuing to spin.
"You'll still be Miss Aino by daybreak if you keep spinning around like that!" her maid-of-honor said, grabbing hold of her flighty friend. "Stand still. I know it's hard for you to do that! But it's only a few minutes!"
Minako stood still, and her bridesmaids attacked her. One rushed to affix her veil to her golden blonde hair, another went to put make-up on her face and the third bent to straighten the hem of Minako's wedding gown.
Finally she was made up to their satisfaction, and they stood and stared at her, sighing.
"Minako..." one of the bridesmaids began. "You – you look so beautiful!"
"Kunzite's going to drop dead on the spot," another one whispered.
Minako's maid-of-honor stepped forward and circled the smiling bride, bringing her arms around her neck.
Minako looked down. A shining golden necklace was being affixed to her neck, a golden-colored stone sitting in the middle.
"Congratulations," the maid-of-honor said, smiling. "I was going to give it to you at your bridal shower, but I decided to wait and surprise you with it today. The stone in the center is topaz. It goes so well with the rest of your colors...plus, it's the 'stone of the sun'. It allows you to focus your wishes and dreams into it, and it attracts love and prosperity."
Minako's eyes filled with tears, and she actually waited patiently until her maid-of-honor was finished with the necklace, then embraced her tightly.
"Thank you so much," she whispered, her eyes still wet.
The topaz glowed.
Kunzite grabbed his right hand, but the tremors continued, just placed themselves farther up his arms. Yes, there was no way around it – he was nervous.
He anxiously stared at the doors from the back. His bride would be entering from that back door any second, and he was sure he would jump five feet in the air when she did.
How ironic. He, Kunzite, famed lyrist and Argonaut, who drowned out the Sirens' song, who sailed with the heroic Jason and the witch Medea, who had seen exciting places and had done exciting things, was nervous at his own wedding.
He sighed, trying to calm himself. Minako's maid-of-honor walking through the doors, however, only sparked his anxiety again. His beloved and beautiful bride was coming through those doors next, and he couldn't wait to lay eyes on her.
Then the congregation rose, and Kunzite inhaled sharply.
Minako was gliding through the doors, sheer white veil pulled modestly over her face, cheeks rosy, holding a bouquet of flowers of all shades between white and yellow.
Kunzite's heart was beating giddily.
He didn't realize he was still holding his breath until Minako stepped in front of him, looking up into his eyes, and her father was placing her hand in his. That was because he tried to inhale again, and his chest nearly burst.
He exhaled slowly, and his bride smiled amusedly through her veil.
With shaking fingers, Kunzite reached forward to lift the veil over Minako's head, smiling more and more widely as the veil went up. Minako's bright blue eyes and rosy pink lips were then smiling up at him, her eyes misty.
He thought he could break down right there.
Everything went in a blur from then on. The priest began to intone words, say a prayer, and Kunzite bowed his head and rose it at the right times, but he could not take his eyes from his bride. And the same seemed true for Minako. He shut his eyes directly before the prayer, then opened them to find Minako doing the same. They both smiled, she blushed, and they shut their eyes again.
The two of them then repeated their vows after the priest, each placing a golden ring on the other's finger, and the priest sprinkled the holy water on them, then joined their hands.
"I now pronounce you man and wife," he intoned, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You may kiss your bride."
And his will was done.
"You looked so beautiful up there!"
"You still do!"
"How did his kiss feel? Was it too forceful?"
"It sure looked dreamy enough."
"I can't wait until I get married!"
Minako merely giggled at her bridesmaids' remarks, blushing modestly as she pranced alongside them through the meadow. In their yellow muslin dresses, they appeared to be nymphs dancing through the woods, picking brightly colored, sweet-scented flowers.
"And can you imagine," one of the bridesmaids said impishly, "what we're gathering these flowers for?"
All the girls giggled at once, and Minako blushed deeply. In fact, the girls were picking flowers to strew across Minako's bridal bed for good luck and fertility.
"I won't," she said, slightly embarrassed, but smiling all the while.
"You won't have to," said her maid-of-honor, and the girls broke up into giggles again.
"It's such a beautiful day," Minako said, spreading her arms out wide. "I'm so glad we decided to have an outdoor wedding. I would have been positively livid if I had my wedding indoors on a day like this!" She started to spin past her bridesmaids.
They chuckled softly, all bending to pick up flowers as they continued to stride.
Her maid-of-honor bent to pick a particularly large daffodil, and that's when she saw the snake.
"Minako! Look out!"
Minako perked her head forward, but too late. She stumbled across a rock behind her, falling right into the poisonous viper's path.
It hissed. It struck.
Minako screamed woefully.
"No! No! I won't believe it! Where is she!"
"Kunzite, it won't do you any good to go in there. You'll just get her all riled up, and her heart will only start pumping the venom through her veins faster."
"You mean to tell me there's nothing you can do? There's no hope?"
The doctor lowered his face and shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "Viper's venom works very quickly, and Minako was so scared her heart started pumping it very fast. She didn't get to me in time for me to get the venom out before it spread all over her body. It's only a matter of time before it stops her heart."
Kunzite reared his head back and let out a loud bellow of grief.
"We can only hope in the gods now," he said.
Kunzite shook his head and charged into the curtained room.
"No, Kunzite," said the doctor, running after him. "You'll want to remember your bride as you saw her last. Not this way."
"I want to see her," Kunzite said.
"I don't advise—"
"I want to see her." His voice was filled venom more poisonous than any viper's.
The doctor sighed and gestured towards the room, and Kunzite entered.
Immediately he almost wished he had listened to the doctor. His beautiful Minako was laying in a bed, her face gaunt and blue, her eyes hollow and glazed over. She would appear to be sleeping if her eyes hadn't been open, staring straight up at the ceiling.
"Minako," he whispered, going to her bedside.
She heard his voice and struggled to turn her head to it, smiling weakly. "Kunzite," she wailed, but it came out as a whisper.
"Minako...how could I let..."
"It's...not your fault..."
"I should've protected you," he said. "I was going to be your husband."
She smiled, reached a hand out with much pain, and took his. "You are my husband."
Her eyes closed.
Kunzite's eyes widened. "Minako, I love you...Minako, can you hear me? Are you still there? Minako, open your eyes. I'm trying to tell you something...can you hear me? I love you! Minako...?" He shook her gently but she did not stir.
With a pained countenance Kunzite rested his head against his wife's chest. Her heart was beating so faintly he couldn't even feel it, could only hear a faint vibration.
Then, nothing.
Kunzite turned his head over and buried his face in his wife's bridal gown, soaking it in his tears.
We can only hope in the gods now.
Kunzite twirled a yellow rose between his fingers – one left over from Minako's nosegay. His face was gloomy. He couldn't get his mind from upon Minako – hadn't been able to since she died three days ago with him at her side.
We can only hope in the gods now.
Something about what the doctor said was bothering him, but he didn't understand what. Kunzite was distressed over the gods' actions, but also over their sometimes seeming powerlessness, too. Why, he had conquered the voices of those demi-goddesses the Sirens...there was no one, mortal or not, who could reisist the music of his lyre.
We can only hope in the gods now.
Suddenly Kunzite sat bolt upright, his eyes wide. There was no one, mortal or not, who could reisist his lyre.
With that thought, the young musician jumped up and grabbed his famous lyre from the stand, then rushed out of the door of his house without a second thought.
It was a very strange day in the Underworld.
The Time Guardian, the mystical everlasting warrior, the stoic and unfeeling watcher of time, had fallen asleep.
"What!" Hades leapt to his feet, glaring at the messenger. "She's what?!"
"Asleep, sire," said the messenger. Oddly, he wasn't trembling in fear of the dark god. Instead, he wore a calm, peaceful expression on his face, his eyes sparkling.
"How?"
"That's not all, sire," the messenger continued in a ridiculously upbeat voice. "Those souls you punished? Ixion's wheel does not turn; Sisyphus sits at rest; and Tantalus has forgotten his thirst and dips no more."
Hades' eyes widened, and he began to storm in that direction, but something else gave him pause.
The goddesses Megaera, Tisiphone, and Allecto were passing through, their blood-red gowns swishing around them.
They were weeping. Loudly.
Which may not have been so surprising if these three weren't the horrible Furies, punishers of evil mortals.
"What the hell is going on here..."
Then he heard it. A musical note...a tune...a melody. It was drifting into the palace, growing louder as the minutes passed.
Hades began to raise his voice, but a strange feeling overcame him, and he quieted. He did not sense his face twisting into a peaceful guise, his lips stretching into a smile.
A young man strolled into his palace, with shoulder-length white hair and smoky grey eyes. He held a lyre, stroking it softly, and his mouth was open in song, his voice resonating in a beautiful melody.
Hades sat back in his throne, his eyes begging for the lyrist to come near.
Kunzite did come near. He was so nervous he had to consciously tell his knees not to knock, but he kept his voice steady and sweet as he segued into another song – one he had prepared especially for that day.
"O Gods who rule the dark and silent world,
To you all born of a woman needs must come.
All lovely things at last go down to you.
You are the debtor who is always paid.
A little while we tarry up on earth.
Then we are yours forever and forever.
But I seek one who came to you too soon.
The bud was plucked before the flower bloomed.
I tried to bear my loss. I could not bear it.
Love was too strong a god. O King, you know
If that old tale men tell is true, how once
The flowers saw the rape of Proserpina.
Then weave again for sweet Minako
Life's pattern that was taken from the loom
Too quickly. See, I ask a little thing,
Only that you will lend, not give, her to me.
She shall be yours when her years' span is full."
Hades sighed and closed his eyes, and Kunzite continued to strum, although he quieted his voice to wait for an answer.
Then Hades lifted his hand, and a messenger fled.
"Turn your head, talented lyrist," Hades told Kunzite, and he obediently turned around.
A few second passed, and then Kunzite heard Hades speak again. "Behind you my messenger leads Minako by the hand," he said. "You may take her back to the upperworld to live the rest of her years. However," he added quickly, "you must not turn to look at her before she comes out of the Underworld. Otherwise, she will return to me, and you will not have a second chance."
Kunzite nodded, and he felt a hand being placed in his.
"Go now," Hades said.
Kunzite nodded again and gave the feminine hand he felt a slight tug. The two of them began walking towards the entrance to the Underworld, where Kunzite had come in.
All through the journey back to the daylight Kunzite longed to turn around and see his wife. He knew he had to trust that the god had really given him back his Minako, but besides confirming it, he only wanted to turn and see her lovely face, moving and alive, once again, and to make sure she was following him all right, not slipping and falling. But he restrained himself as he and his wife climbed the rocky crags out of the underworld.
Finally, his face turned up into the light of day. He nimbly jumped out of the hole in the ground, stared up at the sunlight happily, and turned, ecstatic, to take his wife into his arms.
She was there, as beautiful as ever, her face dappled by the sunlight. She started to smile, and then her expression changed into one of despair. She reached a hand out for him, then turned it and waved.
Too late he realized his mistake.
He was out of the underworld – but his fair bride was not.
"Minako!" he cried, running towards her.
"Farewell, my love," she sobbed, and her soul disappeared into the darkness.
"MINAKO! NO!"
Kuzite trudged away from the giant hole, sobbing uncontrollably. He had the chance to save his wife – and failed.
That bitter thought only loudened his wails, and he threw his lyre to the ground. How useless it had become against his own stupidity.
He walked with his head down, not watching his way, and that was the cause of him bumping into someone.
"The stupidity of a helpless lover," she snarled.
Kunzite lifted his head. Standing before him was a hideous woman, hair matted and knotted, arms and legs bony as Death, teeth stained with the red blood of a kill.
"A Maenad," he said.
"Maenad I am, with a proposition for you," she said, putting her fists on her hips. "Your wife lays beneath the Underworld because of your fault. The gods will not allow her to come up again, as you cannot re-enter the Underworld alive. But..."
Kunzite's eyes grew interest.
"But, you may enter dead."
His eyes darkened.
"She would not be dead if you had protected her better – twice!" the Maenad shrieked, pointing at Kunzite accusingly. "Sell your soul for hers. A soul for a soul. You will be replaced with her.""She owns my love and my soul. I'll do it," he said.
The Maenad cackled loudly and grabbed the young musician, the two of them disappearing into thin air.