Forbidden
Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon not mine.

"What do you mean she was with the queen? If she was with the queen, then who the heck was that that I saw in the gardens?" Jadeite bolted upright in his bed, face draining of what little color he had regained.

"Well Jade, I believe when I say she was with the queen, I mean she was with the queen. I believe they entered their conference shortly before you came to disturb me in my star reading, and parted long after I'd gone to sleep, which was long after you'd left me alone."

"Neph, I know what I saw," Jadeite's disbelief was starting to turn into worry. "I know I saw Sailor Mars praying to the fire. That couldn't have been anyone else – no one else should be that close to the element of fire. No one on Earth should be closer to it than me."

Nephrite stood up. "Get dressed. I think this a matter we need to report to Endymion."

Jadeite nodded, bounding out of bed and landing in front of his wardrobe. In under five minutes, a record dressing speed for the usually lazy general, he and Nephrite had managed to have his entire uniform fastened on and were running out the door to find their prince.

Bursting into the study where Endymion should have been in lessons with Zoisite, they were surprised instead to find a battered and unconscious Zoisite, broken glass from the massive window to the main balcony strewn all over the floor, and no Endymion in sight. Nephrite ran towards the balcony and looked out, trying to see if he could spot their prince anywhere, as Jadeite fell to the ground next to Zoisite, grabbing his wrist and feeling for a pulse. Getting a faint but viable one, he yelled for guards and doctors and Kunzite and anyone that could provide any help at all. Minutes later, Kunzite ran in, and, taking one look at Zoisite, immediately began unbuttoning the boy's uniform to let him breath easier and to get a good look at the extent of the damage to his body.

"What happened?" the head general demanded, as doctors and guards began filing in. Zoisite groaned, starting to come to while a doctor ripped open his uniform to start wiping away at some of the blood.

"We came to look for Endymion, and found this," Jadeite replied.

"Where's Endymion?"

"That's the problem," Nephrite responded from his position still searching over the balcony. "Come, you may want to see this."

Jadeite and Kunzite quickly made their way to Nephrite, glass crunching under their feet, leaving Zoisite to the care of the doctors. Looking outside at the palace gardens, Jadeite commented, "There's nothing unusual."

"Exactly," Kunzite replied.

"If someone were to have snuck in and abducted Endymion, Endy wouldn't have allowed himself captured with so little struggle. Something's unusual about this," Nephrite voiced their collective thoughts. "The question is, who, and how."

"Generals." They turned around to see one of the doctors that had been treating Zoisite facing them, as the others were lifting their comrade onto a stretcher. "We've applied all emergency first aid possible, and will move him to the infirmary. It seems he has several broken bones and cuts, but we see nothing life-threatening."

Kunzite nodded to him, and turned around again to look outside. "It's good that Zoi will be all right," Jadeite commented.

"Not if Endy isn't found," Nephrite replied. They paled, wondering exactly how Zoisite had been beaten to such a level, given that he was one of the best-trained warriors and the best tactician on Earth. More important than that though, was the fact that he hadn't managed to protect the prince, for which he would suffer a heavy penalty yet unknown to them.

"We'll find him," Kunzite declared. "We'll find him, and pay back whomever did this a hundred times over." Coming from the leader of Earth's armed forces, it was the same as a formal declaration of war.

Even Kunzite being Kunzite didn't make facing the king and queen any easier, though, Jadeite ruefully thought from his kneeled position on the floor of the king's private study rooms. The queen, strong a woman as she was, wasn't taking the news of her son's kidnapping very well at all.

"What do you mean Endymion was abducted? Where was Zoisite?" King Cyril demanded.

"My Lord, Zoisite is currently in the critical care unit. We found him unconscious, and to our knowledge, he has not yet regained consciousness," Kunzite's voice was smooth as normal, but those who knew him could detect traces of both fear and anger. He feared for his friend and his prince, and he was enraged that anyone would dare to endanger them thus.

The queen looked ready to keel over. "My son," she whispered, and Jadeite wondered if it was the only thing she had comprehended from the briefing Kunzite had just given.

"Generals, find my son. And do not let word of this pass the palace walls," the king demanded, as he pushed himself out of his seat. "Come love, you need to lie down." He wrapped an arm around the pale queen and led her towards their chambers.

Exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding, Nephrite squeezed his eyes shut as Jadeite forced a cheery grin to his face. "Well, that went well." Kunzite felt it appropriate to smack Jadeite on the nape.

On an unspoken command, the three generals headed to the infirmary to check on Zoisite's condition. They arrived to find the doctors and nurses all in a frenzy, like ants who just had their nest disturbed. Kunzite grabbed the first person to cross his path, a woman dressed in doctor garbs. "What's going on here?"

"General Kunzite!" She automatically bowed her head in acknowledgement of the three in front of her. "General Zoisite has not yet regained consciousness. We've stopped the bleeding and set some of his bones, but several are shattered and will need surgery. We can't do that though, unless we get blood that can be transfused into him."

"Take mine," Nephrite commanded.

"We have blood on stock," the doctor tried to reply.

"Zoisite's very particular about the pure bloodline. He and I share common ancestors; he won't be happy about it, but it's better than anything else." There was an unspoken declaration in his command that didn't go unnoticed by all present – "He will live to complain."

"Yes General Nephrite, we'll get on it right away." She grabbed the small walkie-talkie from her waist and started barking commands about preparing for blood transfusion.

Nephrite turned to Kunzite and Jadeite. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you as soon as I'm done here." He was whisked off by some nurses – well, as whisked off as one could be by those who didn't dare look at you, much less touch you, Jadeite thought – and Kunzite turned to leave. Jadeite wondered slightly at Kunzite's not demanding to see his best friend for himself, but figured his duty probably weighed too heavily on his mind to think of other things.

Not knowing where else to go, they headed to the gardens beneath the library and began to poke around there, hoping to find clues that would bring about possibilities as to where the prince was. Suddenly, Jadeite remembered why he'd been searching for Endymion that morning in the first place. "Kunzite!" he bellowed.

In an instant, Kunzite was by his side.

"Find anything?"

"No, but I just remembered – on the senshi's first night here, right before I locked myself up, Neph told me Sailor Mars was with the queen all night?"

Kunzite's anger was almost tangible. "Why are you thinking about that at a time like this?"

"Because, Kunzite, I met a 'Sailor Mars' in the gardens that night. I'm assuming she was not the real one, and therefore might lead to some clues."

Kunzite showed about as much shock as he ever did. "Where did you meet her? We should go check it out."

Picking his way through the garden larger than entire farms, Jadeite described the events of that evening, conveniently leaving out the parts about his being totally attracted to the senshi of fire. "When she calmed the fire, I realized just the full extent of her abilities and ties with the fire, so I decided to leave. Then Nephrite told me that the real Sailor Mars had been with the queen that night, which I found extremely odd." By then, the shrine was clearly in sight, directly ahead of the two generals, and Kunzite was busy processing the story he'd just been told. With an unspoken decision, they entered the shrine and began examining the fire pyre and the room.

"She knelt right here." Jadeite knelt and peered closely at the ground in front of him. A thorough search of the shrine, including checking under each floorboard, revealed only a few deserted rat nests. "This means we're either dealing with someone very experiences, or this was the real Sailor Mars, and the queen was meeting with an imposter." There were times when Jadeite seriously wondered if Kunzite weren't reticent as much as he was sly – speaking only when he thought he knew something other people didn't. This was one of those times.

"I think we should consult Sailor Mars on this," he said instead of answering. Kunzite merely nodded his agreement, and they headed back to the palace to report their findings. Finding Nephrite at the balcony, examining the break of the glass and keeping an eye on the guards gathering collecting blood samples.

"How's Zoisite?" Jadeite asked.

"Still in critical condition. The doctors were preparing to start the operation when I left."

"I'll take over here. Neph, go with Jade and get permission to contact Sailor Mars. Report back to me when you finish – we need to discuss war preparations."

The two friends immediately set off for the communications room. After explaining the situation to the king and queen via intercom, Jadeite received permission to call the Moon. It took about half an hour for the connection to be established, and then another quarter hour to explain the situation to the Lunar communications officers and get permission for an audience with Sailor Mars.

Then she appeared on the screen. Jadeite almost forgot his reason for needing to call her – she obviously was called out in the middle of a training session, and looked even more beautiful in her present state than when she was impeccably groomed and following strict protocol. Seeing his friend's obvious daze, Nephrite started the conversation instead. "Sailor Mars, we're very sorry to interrupt whatever you were doing, but we're currently in a state of crisis. Jadeite says he ran into you in a shrine in our gardens the first evening you were here, but the rest of us distinctly remember you were in a meeting with the queen that evening. We were wondering as to your exact location that night?"

"I was with the queen," she replied, no preamble, no greeting, no protocol nonsense. "I was not aware you have a shrine in your gardens; this is the first time I've heard of it."

"Thank you. You have no idea how much that helps us," said Jadeite, who had just realized what was happening, with a tight smile.

"You're welcome. If that's all then, I'll be getting back to training. Good luck with whatever your crisis is." With that, the communication was severed.

"Well, now what?" To say Jadeite was frustrated would be an understatement. Earth's smartest scholar-warrior was currently in a fight for his life, the crown prince and second most important individual on the planet was missing, and not a single clue was to be found. All the strength of Kunzite, experience of Nephrite and anger of Jadeite couldn't do anything to, well, do anything. It didn't matter how many meetings Kunzite called – without any information, they just simply couldn't get anywhere.

As if fate knew of their troubles and planned accordingly, an internal affairs director came barging into the meeting room, bowing in greeting as he reached the table Kunzite, Nephrite and Jadeite were sitting around. "Generals, the European Assembly has heard some shocking news about their and the Earth's princes, and request confirmation."

"How did they hear of it? It hasn't been told to anyone yet." Nephrite closed his eyes and looked utterly drained. The military planning room was in the middle of the palace and had no windows or air vents, to prevent leaking of important information, and Jadeite knew the closed room never agreed well with Nephrite, lover of nature and the open night skies.

"That's the next part – they found a note on King Tanzanite's throne. I have a copy of it right here." Reaching into his uniform, the director pulled out a slip of paper and set it down on the middle of the polished marble table. "After the Earth makes a full trip, when the moon reaches her zenith, in the gardens of gold, an even trade of four for one," he recited, as the generals leaned in to read along. "We think it means whomever captured Prince Endymion wishes to trade the four of you for him, at next year's Harvest Moon." He paused before continuing, "The European Council also wants to inform you that no matter what happens, they will always stand behind the Golden Kingdom."

"Thank you, you may leave." After the director bowed again and excused himself, Kunzite added, "Europe thinks we'll commit the trade. They're saying they're OK with Zoisite, their own prince, being handed over."

"Yes, but Kunzite, at this point, what choices do we have? We don't know anything about the enemy; we can't exactly attack or infiltrate them without knowing who or where they are." Jadeite wondered about the exact mental condition of Kunzite. They all knew that without the four generals to lead the army and protect Endymion, there was almost no chance for the Golden Kingdom to survive attack.

Nephrite stood up and walked to the world map that covered one of the walls. Little colored tacks indicated the location of military bases, naval fleets, and the five royal palaces. "We've got a year. Let me consult the stars tonight. We'll ready our armies in the meantime – train them and keep everyone on wartime alert. We can't take any other action until we consult with their highnesses, as well as the four councils of our home countries – all but Europe, that is."

Kunzite nodded his agreement. "We'll inform the king and queen of the development when we meet with them tomorrow morning. It might be necessary to ask the Silver Alliance for help – the loss of the Prince of Earth is a matter that involves the entire Solar System, whether or not anyone likes it."

With that, the meeting was unofficially adjourned. "Jade, spar a bit with me? I need to get some air."

"Sure. Kunzite, want to come?"

"No, I think I'm going to go check on Zoisite, figure out how long it will take him to recover." With that, the three split into two groups, Jadeite and Nephrite heading for the outdoor training grounds.

Meanwhile, on the Moon, the Princess Serenity rapidly lost all coloring in her face as she watched the events take place on Earth. Prince Endymion – the man she had somehow fallen in love with by just watching him day in and day out, was captured?

Princess Minako of Venus wandered into the room and smiled, seeing her best friend again looking at the Earth. It was unhealthy, the girl's obsession with the Earth Prince, but nothing any of them did could change her heart. As the representative of the planet of love though, she simply couldn't reprimand the girl's actions; rather, she felt the love burning inside might help strengthen Serenity's weak body. "Serenity?" she called lightly, "Want to go riding with us?" She gasped when the younger blonde turned around, tears in her eyes and face paler than the dress she was wearing. "Serenity! What's wrong?" Suddenly, Serenity fell in a faint. Minako ran and dived to catch the girl before she crashed onto the stone floor. "AMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Seconds later, Ami, Makoto and Rei raced into the room. Ami quickly knelt down and felt Serenity's throat. "She's OK, just fainted," she pronounced, to the extreme relief of everyone present. "What happened?"

"I don't know; I just came in to ask if she wanted to go riding with us, and she fainted. She looked really white though. Maybe something's happened on Earth," Minako replied.

Makoto bent over and scooped up the petite girl in her arms. "Whatever it was isn't as important as her condition right now. Let's get her to her rooms and see if we can wake her up."

Rei was the only one watching the events taking place on the screen. "Guys, isn't that one of the generals that protects Prince Endymion?" She pointed at the blonde general lying on a hospital bed. Next to his bed, the silver haired general – whom they'd only seen calm and collected – appeared to be screaming something at the doctors, who were rushing about the room like ants. Something had definitely happened on Earth, and that something most definitely involved the prince.

Review, please? Let me know if I should continute; I've also got an AU present-day plot I'm outlining, so if this story sucks, I'll start writing up that one instead.

Oh yea... By the way, this sort of follows the manga – in that Princess Serenity always looked at Prince Endymion from the Moon, without there being communication between the planets, etc.etc., except they just recently began communications. Yea…

And whining just 'cause I can - I hate how FFN won't let me use my own separators anymore. Rawr. What if I don't like those horizontal lines? >