Title : Wipe Out
Fandom : Sailor Moon (anime) Dark Kingdom
Pairing : Kunzite / Zoisite
Rating : a bit of violence and hints of sex
Copyright : Zoisite, Kunzite, Sailor Moon and the rest are the property of Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Animation, if I recall.
Author's notes : Kunzite back to the narration, and back in the Dark Kingdom. Aaaaand ACTION!


Chapter 12 : Freed

The morning after, I check that the Senshi are preparing to follow the path I opened for them, and I teleport to the entrance of the other passage, the one nobody knows except me.

I drop down my magic wards. I have to walk from there if I want to even reach the Dark Kingdom without being spotted. The narrow tunnel gets totally dark after a few turns, so that even I can't see enough to pace. I brought one of those Earthian flashlights with me, having found out that electricity is far more difficult to detect than smoke or spells for youma.

In the other hand, I hold my sword. It's been long I haven't had the use for it in a real fight. In some domains, classics are still a sure choice.

It's a long walk, as I wanted to make sure to keep a safety margin. Unfortunately, it gives me all the time to wonder what Metallia and Beryl have done with Shiro since he has been taken away from me. Thoughts I had been able to keep away while I was plotting the details of my plan.

Thoughts that I've failed him once more.

I have little hope that he will still be alive if I find him. And even if he is, I doubt I will see the end of the day. I have a choice between helping the Senshi to take Metallia down, which would kill me, or dying in the battle if we aren't strong enough to overcome her.

My deal with the Senshi implies that if Shiro is alive, if I find him, and if the Senshi win, then they will bring him back with them once the battle is over, and leave him in peace.

I know that the odds are low, but it's the only thing that keeps me from rushing in the battle to take down as many youma as possible before they would just kill me.

I stop suddenly and turn the light off. I heard a distant sound and I listen carefully to identify it. As my eyes become more used to darkness, I realize that it's not complete anymore. Luminescent moss softly radiates on the walls, a faded purple that is enough to show me a fork in the passage not far ahead of me.

It also means I passed the borders of the Dark Kingdom, as this moss doesn't grow on Earth. I move forward with added care, hoping to progress as far as possible before alarming Beryl's troops.

As I remember the map, the right passage leads to a hidden entrance in my castle, and the left one to another concealed in a rarely used corridor not far from it. I take the left branch, suspecting that a ward has probably been put around my castle.

Before coming out of the illusion of wall hiding my escape route from passers-by, I wait a few minutes, then carefully walks towards the dungeons. As I pass near a cornice giving a good view on my domain, I stop in my tracks.

The high walls of my castle are now black and burned, the few windows open holes on rampaged rooms. This... was just a place, and I am not shattered by its loss.

But it's also the place where I retreated with Zoisite, where we were something else than Metallia's pawns, so rarely. The few memories left of this time are now in my mind only, even the material reminders have been wiped out like Zoisite's memory.

And like him if I don't find him quickly.

A wet sound comes my way. I stop and wait. It's a slow, repelling friction echo on the damp floor. Not a soldier's footstep. I raise my sword silently, until the noise sounds just around the corner.

I aim low and jump on what's behind the rock, circling its boneless neck and pressing my sword against it.

"No move, no sound."

As I had suspected, it's one of the many sluggish youma who endlessly slide in the corridors, dissolving the wastes in their acid spit on the way. Not designed for fight at any rate, though I'm cautious as to not touch her dribbling underside. But since they move around everywhere in the Kingdom, they do grab valuable information sometimes.

This one is presently stiffened in fright under my weight, and doesn't dare to turn her head to me.

"Where is Zoisite? Speak low."

Her gurgling voice gives me the answer I had feared.

"In the Queen'ssss private quargtergssss. It'ssss all I know."

Beryl's quarters don't only comprise her bedchambers, but also her own jail and torture chambers for 'special' guests, and the lab where she experiments on her spells... Plenty of opportunities for her to take revenge on Shiro.

"Was he alive when he was brought there?"

"Yessss..."

That's better than nothing. But I can't hope to invest Beryl's quarters, not alone. From the state of my castle, I assume I was properly disavowed, which renders my task of finding support more difficult.

"What happened to my youma?"

"The gjailssss..."

Beryl must be softening, or getting some sense after all. I expected she would have them all killed, but she will need arms to fight the Senshi. Eventually she seems to have realized that, and any loyalty to me that she might fear from my youma would be useless if I die.

So that is why they ambushed us, after all...

I raise my sword behind the youma's head, knock her down and pushes her body into a narrow sideway. Her spongy flesh would be too resistant to cutting and the smell of her trash-tainted blood would alarm more quickly than her absence.

I follow my path to the jails, which are better guarded than they used to, confirmation that there are dangerous prisoners inside. As I'm devising a plan to get rid of the four guardian youma, they look up suddenly. Beryl's irritated voice resonates into the hollow caves.

"Idiots! The Senshi have found the Tokyo entrance and are progressing towards the D Point! Go there and stop them!"

Perfect timing for your appearance, Senshi. Two of the youma teleport away. While the other two start gibbering about the news, I jump in their back and strike one before they even see me, cutting her head. The last one barely has the time to counter-attack before I take her down.

I find my youma gathered in the biggest cell, in the deep end of the corridor. It's time to use magic now, so I deactivate the ward spell and break the door with one blow.

The spell preventing anyone to use magic inside the cells is still holding, but I used a similar one on some on my prisoners, so it doesn't take me long to annihilate it.

"Are you all here?", I ask.

They seem more than a little surprised to see me. As my gaze fall over each of them, I notice that many wear burn marks and wounds. Nothing deadly or disabling, but certainly painful. Torture.

And healers should have taken care of that. Where is my own? She doesn't seem to be in the cell.

I ask for her. Furihuri replies.

"In a separate cell. Beryl said that whoever would try to help us would suffer the same punishment as Bandana."

They part and I now see, on the far wall, that Bandana is pinned there like a butterfly, limbs spread, metal nails in her arms and feet, whip scars barring her flesh.

One of her companions is by her side, holding her head to keep her from badly cutting her throat on the steel collar fixing it to the wall.

"Free the healer. Bring her here".

I hear rushed footsteps as some of the youma follow my orders.

I walk to the pair and free Bandana, moving her telekinetically in the air, not willing to put pressure on her wounds. She opens one of her eyes to me - the other being too swollen.

Beryl did realize who had killed Ashura, after all.

"Rest now. You served me well."

The healer walks in, not injured at all. She starts to work on Bandana right away. I turn to the others.

"I need help. I was going to stay away from the Dark Kingdom because I had no reason to fight you, but Beryl took Zoisite."

Then because it's too late to lie to them, and because I chose my youma among the ones who were not easy to fool anyway, I feel compelled to be honest. It's a more sensible thing to do than risking them to turn against me at the worst moment if they find out I manipulate them.

"This is a war. The Senshi are coming down here, and while they make a diversion, I will try to find Zoisite who has been taken to Beryl's quarters. If you want to follow me, do it. If you don't, all I ask is that you stay away from this conflict. In any case, it is likely that we will all die today, whether the Senshi win or not."

I can feel them slowly digesting my speech. But that doesn't faze them. They were ready to die from the moment Beryl threw them in jail, or before.

Saiyuki, my pretty scaly spy, steps out of line and asks softly.

"Are you asking us to die without any hope of saving anything?"

She's right. I can't convince them of doing that. They don't have my motivation. I drop the truth.

"I hope to save Zoisite. He has been cured from Metallia's energy by the Ginzuishou, so he should be able to survive her demise, if the Senshi win. I made a deal with them to ensure his safety if that happens."

There are a few whispers in the ranks. I know most of them were not fond of Zoisite and his temper. He was never as bad to them as Beryl herself, though. They seemed to have some kind of "I ignore you, you obey me" agreement.

Saiyuki however got along with him pretty well, and with just a look to the others, she steps forward and bows.

"I will help you. Metallia did the first move against us without any reason, except for Bandana's action."

"I'm... sorry..."

The weak murmur came from Bandana.

Saiyuki has a reassuring move for her.

"Don't apologize. You did nothing but your duty, and we will do ours."

As if she was speaking for all of them, the youma gather closer to her and nod in agreement, saying each a word of submission to me or revenge against the Queens.

That is a pleasant surprise. I always treated them rather well, but I didn't expect them to follow me so far, so willingly. They must know that if Dark Kingdom sees its last day, it's a good time to pay old debts.

"Fine. Healer, is Bandana transportable?"

She raises a furry eyebrow.

"Yes she is, but she can't fight."

"She won't fight. You will take her to a mansion on Earth. Bupu?"

My little servant makes her way among the hips of fighters, and waits for my orders. I cast the locating spell that will allow them all to find their way to what was Nephrite's lair, where I modified the wards last night to include them to the access list.

"You will stay with them and attend them. The mansion will be the retreat point if things don't turn the way we hope."

Furihuri shrugs.

"Will it be worth retreating anywhere if we seem to lose?"

"Any time won over death is worth it, especially if it gives you a chance to fight back."

That's a lesson I learned the hard way lately...

The healer vanishes, taking Bandana and Bupu with her.

"From here we're heading straight to Beryl's quarters. We can't let anybody stop us. Are you ready?"

"Kunzite-sama..."

I turn back to Saiyuki. She hands me something wrapped in a cloth.

"Before Beryl decided that we were all suspects, and when she ordered your castle to be destroyed, I managed to save this."

I unwrap the cloth to see the gold frame bearing the picture of me and Zoisite taken by Bandana.

When did my youma turn into sentimental beings? Has Metallia's hold on us been weakening and allowed that, while she was imprisoned by the Ginzuishou? Or was Shiro's humanity contagious?

I nod and thank her, however, and slip the package under my jacket.

To be continued...