From Then, To Now, 'Til Later

Chapter 6: The Final Days

By: AutumnHime

Five days until the banishing ceremony

Three teenagers gazed in mounting concern and disbelief at the scene that was unfolding below them in the courtyard. It was almost too impossible to believe. There, on the cobblestoned drive that circled up to the door, was their princess, dismounting from her horse. Yet that was not the unbelievable part. The unbelievable part was the man that had helped her dismount was a man she had despised and disliked more than any other just yesterday. The man was Prince Endymion of Earth, a black-hearted man if ever had one been born.

"She flinched as he touched her, but she does not say a word." Minako growled, her hands clenched into fists. As captain of her cousin's bodyguards, her ability to do nothing to the bastard until her Princess commanded or said...SOMETHING...made her want to hit something hard. Her betrothed, perhaps.

"What happened?" Makoto asked, bewildered. "Why did not Queen Selenity send him away? She had our brothers' and betrotheds' and Serenity's report. The Queen is always fair. She always metes out justice!" Her voice trailed off, confusion and bitter disappointment evident.

Knuckles tightened until the skin stretched white. The Princess of Mars' fiery black hair whipped around her with a life of its own. "Why does not Serenity say something! She refuses our company left and right, and we have heard nothing from our Princes. The fire reveals nothing to me but to be careful--that great evil is coming. I cannot but think that this is part of it."

"We need to go down there and confront that b..." Makoto exclaimed, anger running rampant as she watched her Princess be pulled into the grasp of the wretch and drawn into a punishing kiss in front of servants and court alike. She could see the guards whispering back and forth. She could imagine what they were saying.

Venus extended her hand, stopping her fellow princess from continuing with her tirade. "We need to wait for Ami to get back, is what needs to happen. I fear something more than what we see is going on."

Soft steps, with a rapid rhythm to them had the girls spinning around. Petite Ami, Princess of Mercury, stood in front of them, tears and outrage, despair and bitterness, apparent in her wide azure eyes.

"Ami, what is it?" Minako queried softly. Ami merely trembled, shuddering as if cold despite the heritage of ice that ran in her veins. Minako's voice turned stern and commanding, for only something truly devastating would turn the controlled Ami into this mess. "Senshi Mercury, REPORT!"

Ami shuddered, her eyes closing briefly in an attempt to swallow the pain, and then opened them. She thrust her shoulders back, stood up straight and, except for the quaver in her voice as she began, started her tale, responding to her training as she never would have to soft questions and supportive friends.

"Queen Selenity has b-ba-banished Ares from her court from now to her death. She says that Endymion would never have done anything like what the Princes said he did, and what Serenity said he did. She ac-acc-accused Ares of being jealous of Endymion's position. When Apollo and the rest tried to speak up for Ares...the Qu-Queen banished them as well, but only for six months. The ceremony of exile is to begin five days hence! Duo tells me that Serenity dashed out of the room after her mother's pronouncement." Ami raised her head to look at her commander, eyes desperately searching for any glimmer of understanding in the Princess of Love's face. "VENUS! Why would the Queen do such a thing?" Three pairs of eyes continued to stare at the blonde. Venus turned away to grasp at the marble banister, her own blue eyes staring sightlessly as she watched her Princess being guided into the palace, Serenity's slender body curving away from Endymion's hand near the bottom of her back.

"Something evil has come to the Silver Millennium." Venus whispered, turning back to face her comrades. "What are our betrotheds doing about this? What is Ares doing about the fact that Endymion cannot be trusted, and that with their banishments, no one except for us will be here to protect her? Why is he not down there, comforting her? There are too many questions to be answered, Ami. But I vow..." her head rose confidently toward the star-bright sky. "I vow, on the planet of Venus, on what and who I am, that we will get to the bottom of this, or I will die trying."

Makoto's clear green eyes clouded with worries. "Where are we going to start, Venus?"

"We do the job that we are sworn to do first. We protect our Princess." Minako clasped her hands together sending a brief prayer to Selene. Drawing the other three behind her with a gesture, she stalked into the castle without a backwards glance.

Only Rei turned back. Only Rei noticed the blood on the horizon. No one saw the Seeress of Fire nod sadly as if something had been made clear to her finally. She then followed her friends inside, black hair blowing behind her.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Four days till the banishment ceremony

Three sharp, quick raps on the doorway distracted Apollo from his packing. "Go away, please." His pleasant tenor had an edge to it. Quatre had thinking to do, and if he had to be rude to get the peace and solitude needed for it, then, even if it went against his grain, rude he would be.

"Do you really want me to leave, Quatre?" The smoky voice of the Princess of Mars filled the air with subtle shades of sadness, understanding, hurt, teasing, and tension.

Quatre dropped the shirt he had just folded and strode to the door. "Of course not, love, it's just that..." He stopped in mid-sentence, hugging Rei hard then pushing her away.

"Why did you not tell me of your mother's sentence?" Rei asked, brushing her hair away from her face, violet eyes steadily meeting sky ones.

Quatre sighed. His betrothed was often insightful and thoughtful, although her thoughtfulness balanced her ego and easily provoked nature.

"I did not say anything because I have not seen you since the sentence. I did not want you to worry." He drifted off, contemplating his next sentence.

"And you were told to maintain absolute secrecy by Ares as you search for answers." Rei finished, her white gown softly shushing as she stepped delicately into the room, closing the ash door behind her.

Quatre smiled bitterly, blue eyes dark with lost innocence. "Yes."

"You hurt Serenity with your silence. She believes that everyone she loves has abandoned her as her mother and lover appear to have done."

Apollo whirled, shock on his face. "What do you mean? Ares hasn't abandoned Serenity. Far from it. He's trying to find answers to Mother's behavior for her!"

Rei's eyes flashed, suddenly angry. "When was the last time you talked to your sister?! When was the last time you bothered to see her?! Do you know that she refuses to let us in to her room to see her? Do you know that her 'fiancée'" Rei spat the word, "treats her like an object, a possession, something to be used as he wishes and in any way he wishes?"

Quatre's eyes widened with each word that Rei pronounced. He flinched, and then yelled back, "I cannot do anything about that! Mother stated that I could not see Serenity during the time before my exile. Ares has the same problem. He's desperately searching for answers for Serenity to make her understand that Mother would not do this to Serenity if she were herself. He wants to find Luna and Artemis. He has no idea where they are. Nobody has any idea where they are. We have been searching frantically; hoping to find answers, but we find nothing...Nothing." Quatre slowly sat down on the bed, a young man with a deep empathy for people and their problems that would eventually make him a great ruler. "I have such an awful feeling about this, dear one, I sense such evil emotions." He buried his fair face in his hands, platinum hair whispering through his fingers.

Rei sat on the bed next to him, and drew him close, heedless of the mess of clothes. "I know, my prince, I know. I see the dark shadows as well." So they sat, until the sun lowering behind the silvery landscape of the moon heralded the end of one day and marked the beginning of another day closer to the ceremony.

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Three days until the banishment ceremony.

"But, Heero!" Quatre begged, his eyes imploring. The King of the Sun was disheveled, his normally immaculate appearance destroyed:  white shirt untucked from white pants, silver-blonde hair looked as if it hadn't been combed that morning, and the only jewelry he wore was the ring he never took off. "I do not know how much more of this Serenity can take! Her guards are only allowed to see her from a distance...Serenity's orders. Rei tells me that she looks frail, much different from the person she was only three days ago..."

"No." Ares' cold voice cut across Quatre's pleas. "I do not want to raise her hopes that we will find something about her mother. Not until I have concrete proof to present." Heero's own eyes met Quatre's. The Prussian blue orbs were hard, determined, and more sorrowful than any mortal's had a right to be.

"Heero, please!" Duo piped in, looking as exhausted and as with it as Quatre appeared. "Ami told me that she not only refuses her friends and guards, but all visitors, except for that slime with the face of a man. It's as if she's frozen off the rest of the world. If you had not been preoccupied these past three days, I would have dragged you outside to see her for yourself."

"I said no, Shinigami" The quiet voice was deadly.

Wufei spoke up. "Ares, you will listen to us...let me paint a picture for you of what our beloved future leader currently looks like."

Heero tried to interrupt, to cut in, to stop the flow of words that Shenlong spoke with ruthless simplicity. He knew what Serenity looked like. The secret entrance to her bedroom gave him quite a good view of his beloved. Yet the Lord of Justice wouldn't stop until he felt justice had been served.

"Let's start from the top, shall we?" Wufei asked, icily casual. "Her hair, that shining, blond silver stream, hangs down her back like a brittle waterfall. Her face is thin. The azure eyes that were the talk of the kingdom when she was born, that have not dimmed even the slightest since then, are now gray and red with exhaustion and tears. They are haunted with some horrible nightmare that only Serenity appears able to see. The bags and shadows that have formed under those melancholy spheres add to the pallor and delicacy of her face. Her face no longer glows with life, but rather the anticipation of a fate worse than death darkens it. Her shoulders are hunched, and she flinches away whenever someone comes near, as if even the slightest human contact causes her pain. Are you listening to me, Heero? Do you understand that because you have removed yourself from her contact, she has drawn in upon herself like a collapsed building? She will not receive even her brother, or her guards--her best friends!! Do you understand, Ares?"

Heero's tear-dry eyes turned towards Wufei. And Shenlong gasped at what he saw there.

"Yes, damn you; I know what I've done! But as long as Serenity suspects nothing and acts the way she is, the less suspicious my movements will be. I HAVE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE DEVIL SELENITY IS DOING! I will not go to Serenity without good news." As the last bitter, anguished word dripped from Ares' mouth, Heero swept out the door, disappearing into the darkness beyond.

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Two days before the banishment ceremony

Serenity looked around her room. The tapestries that had been gifts from him had been the first to go. She had ordered them to be placed in protective storage. She wished never to see them again; unable to believe that they had ever had any special meaning for the man she had loved and always would, and whom she believed no longer loved her. She had then ordered her room stripped of all other memorabilia and souvenirs from happier times to be destroyed. Betrayal hurt too much to remember it over and over again.

She knew that her Senshi wondered why she was doing all of this. She knew that her brother and Shinigami, Shenlong and Nanashi had been hurt by the way she treated them and by the way she treated herself. But know she knew the pain of love and trust betrayed and she didn't want to be in that position ever again. Loving people...trusting them...it hurt too much. It was easier to be Endymion's perfect little princess...to punish herself for not being worthy of H...He...Hee...Heero's and her mother's love than it was to believe that there was nothing wrong with her. Serenity had forced herself to lock away the part that screamed about the unfairness of the situation. She preferred the solitude that being alone brought her.

"Serenity!" Quatre's voice woke her out of her thoughts as her always sunny brother banged against the newly fixed door to her quarters. "Let me in...Please, Serenity."

He sounds desperate. I wonder if som....NO! You can't let anybody else in, ever again! Leave it alone, Serenity!

"Go away." The Tsuki no Hime's voice was detached.

"Serenity! OPEN THIS DOOR!" Quatre shouted.

"Leave, Quatre." Her voice was monotonous, a void in reality.

Serenity ignored the rest of the threats and pleas. Only when her brother's footsteps echoed away did she allow the single tear to draw a cold, salty path down her cheek.

It hurts too much!

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The day before the banishment ceremony...

Heero stalked frenetically up and down obscure corridors in the palace. His piercing midnight eyes had the feral gaze of a rabid wolf...or an obsessed man. He had found nothing. There were no signs of the cats anywhere. He knew...he had looked in every single nook and cranny of the palace that he knew of and could get to. The palace guards had looked the other way when he approached or had suddenly found something else to do, if one of the rooms he was entering was under protection. The Queen's decision had been relatively unpopular, especially as the story of what had happened leaked out from anonymous rumors, and being the God of War, most soldiers felt it unlucky to cross him. Yet the rooms he needed to search were the ones guarded by people that still trusted in the Queen...or by Endymion's personal guards.

He raked his hand through his chocolate hair in frustration. Serenity was rapidly declining. Every day that passed, she become less of her bubbly self and more of an automaton. The only time emotions ever showed were during the long hours of the night, when Heero sat by her bed and comforted her throughout her nightmares. He understood what his fellow gods had tried to tell him when he last saw them, but without proof he could make no claim against the Queen, and if he never found any proof, Serenity would still be devastated by his leaving.

"ARGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" The growl counter pointed the loud crunch of marble as knuckles met wall. His shoulders shook silently as the tears of anger, frustration, misery, and despair finally began to fall. Heero slid down the cold wall, face to his knees. He didn't realize he was mewing until almost twenty minutes later.

Wait a second...Mewing? The sharp analytical personality that made the God of War so good at his job took over. In a flash, Ares had regained his feet. "Artemis...Luna? Are you here?"

The reply was faint, "...own...ere...Ares...Find...."

"KEEP TALKING, CATS! I NEED YOUR HELP!" And Heero raced off into the darkness of a palace hallway that he had never seen before.

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The day of the banishing ceremony

On a dais in the middle of the palace's largest square, Queen Selenity reigned. The square had the feeling of a successful ball...crushed and elated; waiting to watch this latest entertainment like it was a public execution...which, in a manner of speaking, it would become. Beryl gloated that the time had almost come to put her plan into action. Serenity's behavior after the pronouncement of the sentences could not have pleased her more. Defiance had left the golden moon child currently sitting at her right hand. Both 'mother' and child wore formal court gowns. Endymion, fully armored and posed as if he expected treason at any moment, stood behind the two, waiting for the end of the tedious speeches and summary teleportation of the Princes off of the moon. He was to take Serenity to the gate immediately after and make her open the gate. Then the invasion would begin, and without the Princes supporting the Inner Planetary Princesses, and there being no time for the Outer Princesses to get to the Kingdom that quickly...the Moon Kingdom would be history.

The gigantic bell of the watch tower tolled eleven. The ceremony was to begin. The doors of the palace swung open and out came the five, transformed into their 'Ultra' personalities. Ares headed the group, followed by Apollo and Shinigami walking side by side, and Shenlong and Nanashi behind them. They took up their positions, kneeling in front of the queen. The Planetary Princesses made their entrance. Besides the Door into the palace, also known as Moon Gate, there were nine others, named for the planets of the system. Traditionally, any arriving Senshi, Royalty, or other dignitary used the gate of their planet to enter via during state functions or formal visits. It was also used during formal ceremonies, when the Planet powers would be needed to formally banish someone away, and then lock the teleport against that person until the sentence was finished. Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter took up their positions, kneeling on the ground, with their hands held wide...each forming one of the corners of a square.

Beryl, in Selenity's guise, stood. "Heero d'Mars, Quatre d'Helios, Duo d'Hades, Wufei d'Uranus, and Trowa d'Poseidon, you stand before your ruler to face the sentence of banishment. Heero d'Mars, you are summarily sentenced to exile from the Moon for my lifetime. Any contact made between you and anyone on this planet will result in an immediate sentence of treason and subsequently death for you and the person you contact. Quatre d'Helios, Duo d'Hades, Wufei d'Uranus, and Trowa d'Poseidon, you are banished from this satellite for the duration of six months. During that time, you are to follow the same policy of silence that Heero d'Mars must. We hope that you use this time to reflect upon the sin of doubting your supreme ruler. Let the Teleportation begin." The Queen banged the heavy staff of state upon the marble dais. Immediately, the Princesses began chanting. A rainbow of lights sprang up from the circle encompassed by their square. The five princes stood from their kneeling position and stepped into the lights. The chanting grew heavier.

Serenity had stared sightlessly into space from the moment the Princes had stridden out of the palace. But she could not resist one last look at Heero's face. Blue met blue, and Serenity stared at the sight of the beloved...no, mustn't think about that...face until it disappeared in a final flash of light. Her Senshi collapsed due to the colossal strain sending five grown men caused and were helped by their attendants. She buried her head in her hands, unconsciously reflecting Heero's gesture from a few days prior. What had she done?

Beryl stood. She had preparations to make before she left this body. "Well, that's over." Her voice was delighted and doubly evil. "Oh, don't worry, my dear, dear daughter...the separation won't be forever." Beryl laughed cruelly and then gestured at Endymion to get going. "Going on a walk are we?" Her violet orbs widened innocently. "Have fun, pet!" Beryl stalked away.

"Come along, my dear." Endymion's voice was just as cruel as Beryl's. "There are no princes to help you now."

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This chapter goes by fast and there isn't a lot of clarification to some things. I may write a side story as to how Beryl got control of Selenity in the first place, and there are some other side stories that I might write. However, in this chapter, I just wanted you to see flashes of things that were occurring during the final days...and what the protagonists were going through.

Hope you enjoyed...and if not, don't stop reading, just send some hate mail!

AutumnHime