Chapter 26: Faustian

Wearing a casual black suit jacket with a black tie on top of a white undershirt, Cronus quickly walked across the concrete tarmac over to the entry port of his personal B-class cruiser. His hands fiddled with his collar as he came up to the short little staircase, jogging up into the main hub of his ship.

Inside, his five remaining lieutenants were milling about the hub. Cyprine and Ptilol, twins with blue and red hair respectively, white-haired Viluy, redheaded Eudial, and green-topped Tellu all snapped to attention at seeing their boss enter the ship. The stairs folded up, sealing the ship's entrance portal.

"How about now?" Cyprine asked, staring down Cronus.

"Nothing changes," he said firmly.

"Why are you protecting him?" Tellu asked. "It doesn't bother you, the cowardly way in which he had Mimete killed?"

Cronus moved over to a high-backed seat on the left side of the room and sat down, placing his hands on his thighs and giving an even, emotionless look over at Tellu. "Prince Endymion was put in a difficult situation. Yes, of course I don't approve of him having Mimete killed, nor the method by which he did it. But if Mimete had been passing information up to me, as she should have been doing, Prince Endymion would have been working for me several cycles ago, and there would have been no issues. She also made the Prince fear for his life with her unstable behavior. What happened was completely avoidable, and she carries much of the blame for how things ended."

"So he just gets away with this, then?" Tellu asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm a businessman," Cronus reminded her. "And you know what my priorities are. We can't let emotions rule us. Endymion remains the only link between me and the pure imperium, and that pure imperium guarantees us twenty-seven billion creds a cycle in pure profit as a baseline. I will accept what happened to Mimete if it means gaining that."

Ptilol squinted over at Cronus. "He turned you down, sir. That's what you said, wasn't it? Of course we wouldn't be asking this if he had agreed to work for you, but I was under the impression that he had declined your offer."

Cronus slowly dragged his gaze across the back of the hub room. "For the moment. He's having some doubt about his desire to remain in this business. Based off my conversation with him, I suspect his wife found out and disapproves. I believe this is temporary, and that he'll accept my offer in the near future."

Eudial scratched at the top of her head. "It's not going to matter if he turns the imperium over to the agency. Based off the things he said when you asked to buy his raw product, it seems like that's what he intends to do."

He shook his head. "He won't do that."

"What makes you so sure?" Viluy inquired. "You said that he said he didn't want to be a criminal anymore. Non-criminals hand imperium finds over to the agency."

"Call it intuition," Cronus replied. "Something drove him to enter imperium smuggling in the first place. Whatever that was, I don't believe that it's just gone. If he hands his raw product over to the agency, there will be no going back for him. Besides, I'm sure he's aware of how much power he would be handing the agency if he just gave them this. I doubt he'll be willing to do that."

"You're betting everything on intuition?" Eudial asked, giving a little smirk. "I thought that was my job."

"You once said that, without Endymion, everything we've done over the last decade will have all meant absolutely nothing," Cyprine added. "And now you're willing to bet all of that on your read of his emotions and feelings?"

"We can't really do anything else," Cronus stated. "It's his imperium, we have no idea where it is. I'm not seeing any other option."

"You disappoint me, sometimes," Tellu said. "How about some version of, get your royal ass on over to my laboratory and start cooking imperium for me or else I smash your skull open with a hammer?"

"Hardly the foundation for a good, healthy work relationship," Cronus countered. "This Prince Endymion is someone I would like to have a positive association with. I want investment. And beyond that, I doubt anything good will come of threatening a Prince." He spread his arms out to his sides. "That's one consideration that I'd like everyone in this room to make, since it seems to be escaping all of you. This is not some low-profile black market chemist who nobody will miss if we were to shoot him in the back of the head."

"What good is all the money and power you've obtained over the last ten years if you can't even kill one Prince?" Cyprine asked.

Cronus thought for a moment, looking around at the five young women, face wrinkled slightly into a small frown. "If it's confirmed that Prince Endymion has handed over all of his raw imperium to the agency, I will consider it. But until we know for certain that he is no longer of use to us, he is off-limits." He nodded. "I believe he can be convinced. I just have to figure out what motivated him to enter this business in the first place."

Cyprine sighed, but gave a reluctant nod.

"

Princess Serenity lifted Chibiusa up in front of her, boosting her up high into the air and watching her giggle and kick her feet around as she flew up above Serenity's head. As quickly as the young girl had been lifted up, she was taken back down into her mother's lap.

"So, I have to ask, sweetie. I know you went down to the Earth Palace today, and...well, how did it go?"

Serenity twisted her head back over her left shoulder to look at her mother, who was standing a few steps past the closed bedroom door, tentatively holding her hands together in front of her and forcing an awkward smile onto her face.

"I'm not ready to discuss it," the Princess said flatly, turning back to her daughter and quickly lifting her up into the air again before bringing her back down.

Queen Serenity sighed. "I just don't understand, honey, I...I'm trying to think of what this could be about! I really want you to be able to be open with me on this. If there's anyone in the galaxy you should be able to discuss this with, it should be me! I just don't understand how he could have done something that would make you this upset!"

"Mother, please!" Serenity said. "Right now, it's between me and him, and I'm not ready to talk about it yet! Not with anyone!"

"I...I just...okay, I understand. But there's something I really need to know, honey. I said it wasn't any of my business, but the truth is, some of it is. This...thing between you and Endymion, whatever argument or disagreement you two are having. I just need you to promise me that you're working through it. That, at the very least, today, when you went down to see him, you started down the path of reconciliation. Just tell me that, and I'll stop bothering you, but I need to at least know that."

Princess Serenity scowled, Chibiusa wrapping her small, stubby arms around her mother's neck. "I can't tell you that. Because that's not what's happening."

Queen Serenity winced down hard, putting her hand up to the bridge of her nose and squeezing it.

"Mother, I'm sorry, this might be shocking to you, probably disappointing, but I'm afraid the situation is permanent. I don't want to make up with him, and I'm not going to." She turned around in time to see her mother squeezing her eyes shut hard, as if in pain.

"Mm...sweetie, maybe Endymion made a mistake. I-I just want you to be receptive to the idea that, whatever he might have done, I really do believe that deep down, he really loves you. And whatever it was that he's done that has made you this angry, you absolutely have the right to be upset at him about it and hold him accountable, but to throw away an entire marriage because of it might not be good for you or him. Or anyone! Take some time away, make sure that he understands that he hurt you, but I just want you to have an open mind next time you see him."

The Princess frowned. "Mom, I appreciate you saying all that, but I really need you to let me deal with this on my own. When I'm ready to talk about this, I will. But I need you to understand that there are things happening here that you don't know about right now."

Queen Serenity steepled her hands together in front of her. "Umm...sweetie. There might be some things that you don't know about either." She took in a gasping breath. "Serenity, I need you to be informed before you make any drastic decisions on this, so please, just listen to me. There might be some...things about the Kingdom merger agreement that you're not aware of, I think."

The younger Serenity blinked a few times, glancing down at Chibiusa as she fidgeted about in her lap, and then turned back over her shoulder to look at her mother. "Like what?"

"

Endymion sat, hunched over, arms crossed over his chest and forearms resting on his thighs. It was a rather odd sitting position for the Prince to be taking, looking quite uncomfortable, but to his three loyal generals gathered around him, his posture was the last thing on their minds.

"Your Highness, is there a reason why you don't want Jadeite here?" Kunzite asked, glancing over towards Zoisite and Nephrite.

"Yes," Endymion said darkly.

"It's your decision entirely, of course, but perhaps having another person here might be good," Zoisite pointed out. "Maybe Jadeite could offer a different perspective, see things from a different angle. It can't hurt to have another person offering advice."

"If this is a concern about you feeling you can't trust him, then he really shouldn't even be serving you as a general," Kunzite pointed out. "And I need to say, I believe that you should be able to trust him. He is capable of being serious, even if he often chooses not to be."

"I know I can trust him," Endymion muttered. "And I do. That's not what this is about." He sat up, leaning against the backrest of the couch and looking around at his three generals in a semi-circle around him. "I just already know what he's going to say, and I'm not in the mood to hear it."

"It's worth noting that Jadeite does have more experience with women than any of us," Nephrite noted. "I think, anyway. He might actually have some insight on a problem like this."

Endymion rolled his eyes. "Insight. His insight is going to involve a three-day booking of a luxury hotel suite on Venus, half-a-dozen of their local supermodels, ten barrels of mildly alcoholic drinks, a jar of saffron incense, and a crate of condoms. I don't want to hear it."

After a moment's thought, Kunzite gave a tiny shrug. "Now that you say that, I can...actually hear all of that in his voice really well in my head."

"While we're on the subject, I don't want him to know about my marital problems at all," Endymion continued. "The last thing I need is him sending escorts up to my bedroom at night to try to 'cheer me up'."

"Alright." Kunzite gave a little grunt. "So, you told her everything this morning?"

Endymion gave a shaky little nod. "Not...literally everything, but she knows that I've been illegally mining and smuggling imperium. She knows I'm Tuxedo Mask. She knows that we found the imperium on the Moon and kept it secret. She knows that my father has no idea about any of this. I tried to tell her that...imperium smuggling is a necessary evil and actually accomplishes a lot of good. I told her that I did it to protect her and her Kingdom." He shook his head.

"So she didn't react well, I take it?" Zoisite asked.

"Well, she left again," Endymion replied. "I just don't know what to do at this point. I suppose if I give it some time, a few more days, she might have calmed down enough to at least consider hearing me out?"

He was met with a few beats of silence at this question.

"She strikes me as being remarkably insulated for a royal," Nephrite mused. "Not much exposure to politics or corruption or any of the dirty business that typically comes with having so much power."

"There's an innocence about her," Zoisite agreed. "She might be so utterly repulsed by the idea of doing anything illegal or bad, that she'll just never be willing to have an open mind about it."

Endymion hung his head down, chin resting on his chest. "Gods, there's just...so much nuance here. If she could just consider it for a little bit, I really believe that she could at least accept it." He scowled. "This is so much more complicated than, it's illegal, therefore it's bad. And I acknowledged that I realize now it was a mistake, and that I shouldn't have done it and I'm not doing it anymore. But she...I don't know if she didn't believe me or if she doesn't care."

"So, what else did she say?" Kunzite asked.

Endymion sighed heavily. "She said that...in twenty days, she's going to arrange for the imperium vein in the Moon mines to be found, so we have that long to cover up having ever been down there."

Kunzite's gaze narrowed slightly. "You told her where it was?"

Endymion grimaced. "She asked me where it was, and in the spirit of being completely honest with her, I told her." He glanced up. "Don't worry, I already regret it."

Kunzite gave a rasping little hiss. "Yes, that complicates things."

"I tried to tell her how valuable that vein is, and how dangerous it would be to give it all to the agency, but she didn't care." He gritted his teeth. "The most valuable treasure trove in the galaxy, and she's ready to give it all away just because she's too angry with me to see reason."

Nephrite glanced over to Kunzite. "Is twenty days enough time to cover your tracks down there?"

"It'll be impossible to hide the fact that someone has been mining from the vein," Kunzite replied. "But they'll have no way of knowing who. I'll just need a couple days to pour some acids out down there to cover up any traces."

Endymion closed his eyes. "She says she doesn't want to see me anymore. Wants me to stay away from her and Chibiusa."

Zoisite raised an eyebrow, turning around to glance out the balcony window. "Well, that's going to be quite awkward. A married couple that never sees each other."

"Oh, no, she said she wanted a separation," Endymion corrected. "Was very firm about that."

Zoisite seemed taken aback by this, turning back to look at his charge. "She said that?"

"Yes, she was very clear too. Said that she'll turn me into the agency if I don't give her what she wants." He nodded sadly. "She offered to keep my secrets and lie about the reasons for the separation as long as I stayed away from her."

"Hm," Zoisite said, folding his hands together in his lap and looking down at the floor. "She must not know. Or she's so angry, she's forgotten."

Endymion's face twitched, and he quickly latched onto Zoisite's mysterious musings. "What does that mean?"

Zoisite thought for a moment. "It's just difficult for me to believe that she wouldn't care, and she must know, now that I think about it—"

"Zoisite, what are you talking about?" Kunzite prompted, as the youngest member of Endymion's guard seemed to be getting lost in his mind.

"S-sorry," Zoisite said, looking back up at Endymion. "Your Highness, there are serious ramifications if you and Serenity have an official separation. The merger of the Earth Kingdom and Moon Kingdom is contingent on you two being married. If you two are no longer married, then the union is split as well."

Endymion's eyes widened a little bit. "You mean to say that the Moon Kingdom would no longer receive support and funding from the Earth?"

"The contractual agreements would no longer apply, at the very least," Zoisite answered. "That entire document that dictates the terms of the merger would be completely moot. The Moon would be at the mercy of the charity of High King Kasios, and it's unlikely he would be feeling particularly charitable given that the union lasted less than a year. They may have bought themselves some time with the support and funding they've received from Earth since the marriage, but without ongoing deliveries of labor and goods...well, give it ten or twelve years, and there won't be a Moon Kingdom anymore."

Endymion swallowed, thinking. "Suppose the reason given for the separation is infidelity on my part."

"The reason for the separation is completely irrelevant, Your Highness," Zoisite said assuredly. "Doesn't matter who instigated it, who requested the separation, why it's happening, none of it matters at all. If you two separate, the Moon Kingdom loses its security net."

"You're positive?" Endymion asked.

"I wrote most of the merger agreement, so, yes," Zoisite replied. "She can't turn you in, either. Same difference. You go to prison, you're removed from the line of succession and automatically separated from Serenity, no more Kingdom union."

Endymion folded his hands up underneath his chin, resting his head on top of his knuckles. "She hates me so much, she'll see her entire Kingdom and birthright fall into complete ruin so she doesn't have to be around me?"

"That's not what I'm saying," Zoisite insisted. "Your Highness, I believe Princess Serenity was so distraught and upset about recent events, she wasn't seeing the bigger picture. Or she's forgotten, or she's bluffing. She's spent a good portion of her life being made familiar with the fact that her Kingdom is on the brink of collapse, and how devastating it would be to her mother if it collapsed. The Moon Kingdom has been under her family's rule since the start of recorded history, and without this merger, she'll likely end up being the Queen that gets to oversee the end of that. How many hundreds of times do you think Queen Serenity has told her daughter how relieved she is that she's marrying someone who can create the circumstances where the Moon will be protected? How many times did she drill that into her head, how crucial this was to their survival? I just can't imagine her being willing to throw all of that away."

Endymion slowly digested this new information, eyes downcast and mouth curved down into a look of determination. "So, give her time to calm down and she'll realize that she's stuck?"

"I can't speak to your odds of reconciling with her, and she can certainly do everything in her power to stay away from you for as long as she wants. But, as for a separation, well, her hands are tied. To kill the Kingdom union would be letting down pretty much every single person on the Moon." He shrugged. "I doubt she'll be willing to take on that kind of burden."

"There are other considerations, too," Kunzite thought aloud. "If it comes out that High King Kasios's son is an interplanetary imperium smuggler who was operating out of the Earth Palace, he'll certainly lose his council seat. I imagine there'd be an investigation on whether he was involved in the operation. Could be an investigation into Queen Serenity as well, since the imperium vein is on the Moon. There could be a lot of collateral damage. I imagine she'd be very hesitant to open up that box."

Endymion nodded. "She can still turn the imperium vein over to the agency, of course."

"Something you might just have to accept," Kunzite pointed out. "Yes, there are drawbacks and problems with handing it all over to the agency, it's far from ideal, but we'll survive."

Endymion scowled a bit, looking down at his feet. "She just doesn't understand the significance. If she could just calm down for a little bit and actually try to grasp the scope of what that vein represents, I'm sure she'd get it." He leaned back heavily, putting his hand up to his forehead. "But once she reports it, there's no going back. I'm still her husband, I need to protect her. I feel like I can't let this happen."

"What do you propose?" Nephrite asked. "Locking her in your room without her communicator for the rest of her life?"

Endymion exhaled deeply, looking off into the far corner of the room.

"It's going to be difficult to convince her of anything if she's insisting you stay away from her," Zoisite pointed out.

Endymion grimaced. "I suppose you're right." He sighed. "So, just let her hand the imperium over, and then wait? If she can't separate, then eventually she'll just have to...take me back, right?"

The three generals exchanged silent glances, back and forth.

"They're all that I care about," Endymion said wistfully. "My wife and my daughter. Whatever I have to do to give myself a chance to get them back in my life, I'm willing to do it."

Kunzite slowly rose to his feet, then leaned over the Prince and placed his hand on his shoulder. "We'll...we'll work through it, whatever it may be."

"If I might offer my perspective as a soldier, Your Highness," Nephrite chimed in as he too stood up. "It seems to me that you're the one with the advantage."

"Hm?" Endymion picked his head up, looking up at the brunette general.

"If what Zoisite says is true, and a separation would be devastating to her, then you have the advantage of knowing that she has no choice but to stay married to you. And as long as that's the case, then you should be able to dictate the terms of your future interactions with her. As her husband, you are...legally entitled to certain rights. So maybe you should exercise those."

Endymion's forehead furrowed in thought at this statement.

"Um, maybe not anytime soon!" Zoisite said quickly, shuffling over between Nephrite and Endymion. "U-uh...w-when I said all of that, that's not really what I meant."

Endymion tilted his head slightly to the right, hands still folded underneath his chin.

"Um...alright," Kunzite said, furtively gesturing over towards his two fellow generals. "Let's just hang back for now. Give her some time to realize her position and, maybe, open herself up to at least hearing you out. Eventually."

Endymion gave a vacant nod.

"

"Son of a bitch."

Kasios and Naxos were standing in front of a large detailed map of the galaxy being projected up onto the back wall of Kasios's office. Every planet and moon was depicted, with many of the moons being little more than tiny dots. Kasios held a black remote in his right hand, and was repeatedly tapping a button on its face. After several button presses, a few blinking red dots started to pulse on assorted depictions of the planets and moons.

"Eleven days now. Eleven days since the last whiff we've gotten of the clear stuff. How is that possible?" Kasios spread his hands to his sides in disbelief. "This can't just be a fluke. How can it explode all across the solar system and then just disappear in less than a cycle?"

"Maybe the guy ran out of product," Naxos suggested. "Whatever he did to go interplanetary, it took a lot of imperium. Maybe it was his one big push to quickly make his money and then get out of the business."

Kasios, mouth open slightly, rubbed at his chin. "Why go through the trouble of getting a distribution network that covers the entire galaxy if you've only got a little imperium left?"

"Who knows?" Naxos said. "Maybe this distributor just happened to be the highest bidder, or got to him first." He shrugged. "Maybe Tuxedo Mask is dead. Or decided he's made enough money and is getting out."

Kasios gave an annoyed grunt. "Great. This guy gets to make billions of creds on our watch, and then he just disappears into the ether."

"Maybe it's his corpse that went into the ether," Naxos suggested. "I'd sleep a little easier thinking that. Maybe he's just dead, and all that money he made isn't worth anything to him now."

"Mm," Kasios hummed. "Maybe. Maybe he's dead, and his massive hoard of ninety-nine percent pure imperium is...somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, never to be found, just sitting there while the whole galaxy just goes dormant, and civilization regresses tens of thousands of years."

"I'm trying to be a little optimistic," Naxos said.

"I can't afford to be optimistic," Kasios grumbled, tapping the remote a few times and watching all the red dots disappear. "Shit. God, I wanted to get this prick."

"We all did," Naxos assured him. "But, if he really is done now, at least he didn't disrupt our long-term operations too much."

"No," Kasios grunted. "No, it's not...that's not what I'm here to get excited about." He shook his head. "I wanted to bring him in. I wanted to stick him in a cell, grill him for his product, hold him accountable. If we could have just kept him contained to Earth back a couple cycles ago, I really think we could have gotten him eventually. I mean, it was just a matter of time. You can't just keep framing people, and eventually we would have arrested the right person."

"You can't beat yourself up over it," Naxos insisted. "Whoever this Tuxedo Mask guy is, or was, he's good at this."

"I like to consider myself good at this too," Kasios grumbled. "Naxos, this guy, he was different. All these other imperium smugglers, these black market chemists, they're just the sludge on the floor that we have to mop up. Dummies trying to make a quick buck. But...shit, there's no other way to say it. This Tuxedo Mask guy was making us look like fools. The product he was putting out there blew anything we could do out of the water. No, this was something else. I wanted to bring him in. Wanted to make sure he understood that, ultimately, you can't beat the system. But, if he really did take the money and run, I guess maybe he did."

Naxos gave a slow sigh.

"Well, I guess without him to chase around, I'll have more time to focus on my duties on Earth," Kasios reasoned. "I really should get back there, I've spent too many days in a row up here."

"Oh, I wanted to ask, what's going on with that new mystic on Earth? Track him down yet?" Naxos watched as Kasios took his focus off the map and turned back to his desk.

"Her," Kasios clarified. "It's a her. And no, we're not getting anywhere on that one. Thankfully, she hasn't taken over the planet or killed anyone really important yet, so there's some kind of limit to her abilities. But it's going to be a huge pain to actually arrest her given what she can do."

"You've really got nothing?" Naxos asked, as Kasios settled down at the desk.

"We've got a name, I guess," Kasios said, sounding just a little bitter. "Uh...Beryl, I think."

"Like a wooden barrel?" Naxos wondered, scratching the back of his head.

"Maybe," Kasios muttered.

Suddenly, the communicator on the desk began to emit a low little tone, a couple lights on the front flashing.

"I'll let you get that," Naxos said, turning around towards the office door and trekking out of the room. "See you at dinner?"

"Sure thing," Kasios said, grabbing the communicator and tapping the center of the disc. He pulled the earpiece over to his ear and pushed it in. "Kasios here." He leaned back in the chair, the leather seat bending back under his weight. "Yes, I'm alone. Go ahead." The neutral little smile on his face was quickly replaced by a wrinkled frown. "Wait, what? What do you mean, she moved out?!"

"

"Who told you?" Endymion asked, holding the active communicator up to his mouth as he paced nervously around his bedroom. "Yes, it matters, I didn't want you to hear about this!"

Several bags of assorted snack foods and a few empty glass bottles were scattered all around the carpet near the couch, Endymion holding a half-empty bottle of a yellow liquid in his left hand to soon be added to the collection. Typically, the Prince's private chambers had not so much as a single piece of lint out of place, but Endymion's depression had caused him to lose focus on such things temporarily.

"Because it's insignificant and it doesn't matter, and I don't want you to worry about it." He lifted the bottle up to his mouth and took a quick drink out of it. "We're having a fight, and she decided to take drastic measures because she was upset with me. But she's going to move back in and everything's going to be fine. A few days, probably."

Absentmindedly, he stepped on one of the bags, a loud collection of crunching filling the air as Endymion's foot caused thousands of little fractures in the contents. He jumped at the sound, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up a bit at the abrasive sound.

"...that was the holographic projector, I'm watching something," he muttered into the communicator. "Sorry, I'm turning the volume down now." He sighed, frowning down at the collection of chip shards now spilled out onto the carpet. "You don't need to come down here for this, it's not a big deal! And it's between me and her anyway, we're resolving this. Just give me some time."

He took another swig out of the glass bottle.

"Okay, then come down, that's fine, but I am handling this, and everything is fine. We've had a disagreement, it blew up a bit, and now we just need some time to mend things." He bobbled his head to the left and right. "I can't believe it either, but she did it. But I'm dealing with it." He nodded a couple times. "Alright, see you when you get here. But really, I've got this."

He pressed his thumb into the center of the communicator, and with a sigh, fell to the floor, landing heavily next to one of the bags of food. He picked it up, absentmindedly reaching into it and pulling out a thin, hard crisp. He lifted it to his mouth and shoved it in.

After taking a moment to chew and digest the snack, he reached up to feel his cheeks, brushing his fingertips against the hard stubble that had built up. He lifted the bottle up in front of him, staring at the yellow liquid as he tilted the bottle around.

He blinked a few times, just staring at the beverage. Slowly, his gaze tilted down to the communicator, still in his hand, the earpiece cord trailing up to the side of his head.

Suddenly, his fingers quickly began running along the outside rim of the communicator disc, before pressing in on the center button. He leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling.

"Kunzite, you free to talk for a little bit?" Endymion asked. "Hey, so, I just had an idea. It's...it's pretty complex, and it's not going to be easy to pull off, but it's an idea. I want to run it past you. It's rough, but I think it's doable in a general sense."

He twisted himself around and got back to his feet.

"Okay, so...first question," Endymion said, glancing over towards the bedroom door. "Do you happen to know which Earth prisons hold the highest population of prisoners awaiting execution?"

"

"Look, my answer is no, this is my bedroom!" Endymion snapped, poking his head out through the small gap he was permitting between his bedroom door and the wall, scowling out at the eight large men in white uniforms. All of them looked rather cowed by the aggressive Earth Prince. Each of the men carried a large brown crate.

"Your Highness, we've been given orders from Princess Serenity to collect her belongings from your bedroom," one of the men closest to the door stated, giving him a pleading look.

"Well, I'm giving you orders to forget those orders! I'm not letting any of you in here!" he hissed.

He sighed. "Your Majesty, I...this is all none of my business, but you're putting us in a difficult situation. Just, please, let us in, she wants her clothes and some of her framed pictures. We were actually hoping you could help point out what's hers, since we don't know. She said you'd be okay with this."

Endymion sighed, settling himself back down, soothing the burning in his head. "Guys. I appreciate the fact that you're trying to follow orders, but these orders will be wasting your time. You move all her stuff up to the Moon, in five days you'll be moving it all back here! Just trust me on that. Now, you do not have my permission to enter my bedroom, please, leave the palace."

Before they could protest again, he shut the door and locked it with his right hand's thumb. He gave an irritated grunt, turning around to look around at his depressingly-underpopulated bedroom. Hands on his hips, he frowned, then marched forward, heading back over towards the couch close to the balcony door.

"Actually sending movers," he muttered under his breath darkly. "What kind of...like she doesn't...ugh…"

He heavily threw himself down on the couch, mildly seething, face etched with wrinkles of frustration. No sooner had his body hit the cushioned furniture than he heard a loud series of knocks from his bedroom door. He jumped to his feet and stormed over to the door, feet pressing down hard into the carpeted floor with each step.

"I thought I was being very clear just now!" Endymion yelled at the door, marching towards it and grabbing the knob. "But—"

He yanked the door open, revealing the tall, broad-chested, white-haired frame of his senior guardian, causing him to startle a bit and quickly close his mouth.

"Afternoon to you as well," Kunzite said dryly, watching Endymion's angered expression melt a little bit.

"...s-sorry," Endymion replied meekly. "Thought you were someone else."

Kunzite pointed his right hand down the hall. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, um...nothing, nothing important, come in," Endymion said, beckoning forward. Kunzite entered the bedroom. After securely shutting the door, Endymion leaned up close to Kunzite's right ear. "So, how'd it go?" Endymion whispered.

"It's done," Kunzite replied. "All of it."

"Oh...wow," Endymion gasped. "With a few days to spare, too."

"It was certainly not easy, and I still have to forge some documentation to cover some things up, but...I believe it's worked." Kunzite nodded.

Endymion lightly tapped his right palm against Kunzite's chest a couple times. "Kunzite, I...I knew I was asking a lot of you this time. This goes for Nephrite and Zoisite as well, of course. I just want you to know I really, really appreciate you actually pulling this off. And I know it didn't sit well with you to be away from me for such an extended period of time, so thank you for agreeing to that. You've really gone above and beyond with this one."

Kunzite gave a small smile. "Just doing my job."

"No, this was beyond your job," Endymion insisted. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Kunzite. I want all three of you to make sure you take some days of rest and relaxation, it could not have been easy, making this happen. You all need a break."

"Will do, Your Highness," Kunzite answered. "Now, it's been awhile since we've seen each other, so I must ask, how are things here?"

Endymion's facial expression immediately hardened, reminded of the less-than-ideal situation around him now. "Father came to discuss things a couple times, I think he's starting to get worried." He rolled his eyes, then turned away from his guardian, stalking forward towards the center of his room. "Serenity...I didn't expect her to have moved back in by now, but...twenty days now since she left, and she still won't even listen to a word I have to say! She won't answer when I call her communicator, she changed the lock on her bedroom door so my thumbprint won't open it anymore, just...those were movers!" He spun around, gesticulating wildly towards the bedroom door. "She actually sent movers down here to get her things! I can understand threatening it, she has a right to be upset, but...actually sending them?!"

Kunzite nervously glanced across the room. "You...you actually went up to the Moon Palace?"

Endymion glowered over towards the balcony doors. "She didn't even tell me to go away. I was just standing there knocking on the door, talking to myself. I don't know how long it was." He pushed out a rattled groan.

"Your Highness, I...are you sure it was really a good idea, trying to push things so aggressively?" Kunzite crossed his arms over his chest.

"Obviously, it wasn't," he admitted tersely. "I just figured, by now, that...that she'd at least start trying to open up a dialogue! Make a little headway into mending things! Twenty days!"

Kunzite pursed his lips, giving a sideways glance over towards the large windows at the back of the room.

"For all the mistakes that I made, can't she at least realize that I did all of this for her?!" he grumbled. "I—"

The communicator on the bedside table suddenly began giving a dull little tone, quickly drawing Endymion's attention. He sprinted over, almost skidding into the table before snatching the round device up and looking at the center of it. Eyes widening, he quickly pressed his thumb into the center of the disc and lifted it to his mouth. "Serenity! I—"

"Endymion, don't say anything," Serenity's feminine voice came through the transmitter. Endymion quickly slapped his mouth shut, staring down at the communicator. "Just listen. So, I had a group of men sent down to the Earth Palace to collect my things from your room, and they just called and told me something rather interesting."

Endymion's forehead knitted together, a minorly-pronounced scowl developing on his features as he glared down at the communicator.

"They said that you wouldn't let them in your room," she continued. "Endymion, I've been up on the Moon for twenty days now, I would like my things. You need to act like an adult, like I said last time we met. That was part of the deal."

Endymion started to squeeze the communicator tightly in his right hand, knuckles going white as he applied great pressure on the device with his fingers.

"I'm going to give you tonight to cool off, and then send them back tomorrow. I expect you to cooperate. And in a few days, when I request that the rest of the midwives be allowed to move up here, I expect you'll cooperate with that as well. You need to accept the way things are now and control yourself, or else this will become much more unpleasant for you."

The soundwave hologram flickered off as the call was disconnected. Endymion, with a frustrated growl, managed to crack the casing of the communicator with his grip, and then with a primal grunt, spun around and coiled his right arm back, hurling the device in frustration over towards the windows.

Almost immediately after leaving his hand, the broken communicator was neatly caught in Kunzite's, the white-haired general having moved up a few steps behind the Prince during Serenity's call. Endymion just stared at his guardian for several beats, eyes still alight with the flames of anger, before he finally hunched over and gave a heavy sigh.

"I'll...get you a new one," Kunzite said, glancing down at the damaged communicator.

The Prince slowly nodded. "Thank you," he said meekly. The scowl gently faded into a frown of sadness.

Kunzite went over to his charge, gently rubbing his shoulder. "Why don't you go...take a cold bath or something, Your Majesty? Just calm down. There's no longer any reason to rush into getting her back."

He gave a tiny little nod. "Right."

"Let's just...hold in a little tactical retreat for awhile, let her have her things back tomorrow, and just wait for her to make the first move."

He gave a tension-releasing groan. "Mmhm."

"Let's just...not do anything drastic for now. Rock the boat. We can afford to just wait her out," Kunzite assured him. "Let her have space for as long as she feels she needs it."

Endymion gave a defeated little nod. "Sure."

"

"I'm telling you, man," Aku said sternly, shaking his head back and forth slowly. "They've got to make some kind of trade for depth on defense. If they could somehow just get a fourth guy on the third line who knows how to prevent penetration and can disrupt charges, they can go all the way this year."

"How do they get that without giving up Mayar?" Neil asked. "I don't want to lose Mayar for a reserve player, give it two years and he'll probably be one of the three best midfielders in the league."

The two middle-aged men were both clad in tight, light grey uniforms, with holstered weapons at their hips, sitting on a stone bench just about ten paces away from the towering green hedgewall that encircled the entire Moon Palace. Another of the many imports from Earth, as greenery was not native to the Moon, it was the first line of defense against intruders. It's thick makeup of green leaves and brown branches made it a moderately adequate barrier, although it served as a decoration primarily, with actual protection left largely to the stone walls closer to the palace.

"Yeah, but they could win the title this year, and you never know with the young ones. Imagine if we could trade Mayar for a reserve defender and a middling prospect, and then in three years Mayar isn't even getting playing time. That kind of stuff happens all the time." Aku nodded. "It's worth it, we'd at least be competing for the title for the next two years until Himanshu is too old."

"Maybe," Neil conceded.

Suddenly, a section of the hedge wall began to shift around and shake about. Quickly, the two guards jumped to their feet, spreading their stances out and glueing their eyes to the disturbance. Both of them withdrew their firearms from their holsters and trained them on the shifting wall-section. Neil turned a powerful flashlight on his chest on, putting the beam of light on the hedge.

"Someone there?!" Aku called out. "Show yourself! Now!"

"D-don't shoot, it's okay!"

A moment later, a tall, thin, male figure began pushing himself out from the foliage, several green leaves stuck to his clothes and in his hair. With a final push, he managed to lurch forward out onto the concrete walkway, nearly falling over. Both guards stared in awe for a beat, and then quickly lowered their weapons to the side, as Neil's light revealed quite clearly who it was.

"Prince Endymion?!" Aku gasped, as the surprise intruder reached up to comb the loose leaves out of his hair with his fingers.

"Y-yes, it's me," he said. Both guards quickly dropped to one knee, Endymion immediately beckoning them up. "It's fine, get up."

Both got back to a standing position, then approached him slowly, expressions of shock on their faces. "S-sir, Your Highness, what...are you okay?!" Neil asked.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." He brushed off the front of his tunic with his hands. "I...I just wanted to see Serenity."

"Uh...okay," Neil said uneasily. "Did the palace garage not answer your hails, or something?"

"Oh, well, here's the thing," Endymion said, coming up closer to the two guards. "I don't know if you two have noticed, but lately, me and her have been...having problems."

"I was wondering why she moved back into the palace," Aku admitted. "But it's above my pay grade, so I wasn't asking questions."

"Yeah, it's been a little rocky. Please, don't tell anyone I said this, I'm trying to keep it low-profile, but...we're having problems." Endymion put his hands out towards the two.

"I'm married, Your Highness, I know how it can be sometimes," Neil said. "And of course, I won't be saying a word. Secret safe with me."

"So, basically, I don't want her to know I'm here. I parked my ship outside the palace grounds, and I was going to just walk over. I have a little bit of an idea, I think it'll work. She's probably asleep by now, right?" Endymion looked off into the distance, over towards the palace, able to make out the top half of it above the assorted barriers.

"She has to be," Aku agreed.

"Right, so, I wanted to climb up to her balcony," Endymion said, as if it was the most normal suggestion in the world. "She's got that big lemon tree that goes right up to the balcony, so I can climb up it and get onto the balcony right outside her room."

Neil gave a shocked look. "You...you want to climb up that lemon tree?"

"Sure," Endymion said. "I've...climbed things before, I can do it."

"It's...pretty high up," Aku pointed out nervously. "And the stump goes up really high, there aren't going to be very many branches until you get way up."

"I can manage it," Endymion said assuredly. "Look, it'll be really romantic. She'll wake up tomorrow morning, get out of bed, and then she'll see me standing on the balcony. I think she'll really like that."

"You're planning on...staying out on the balcony all night?" Neil questioned disbelievingly.

"Sure, not a big deal," Endymion said, shrugging. "Look, I really think this is going to help me get this marriage back on track."

"Admittedly, it does sound...pretty romantic," Aku acknowledged after a couple beats, putting his hand up to his chin. "Like one of those old-time romance films."

Neil thought for a moment, giving a crooked little smile. "Well, when you put it like that...yeah, I could see that. Maybe I should try that next time I'm in hot water."

"Hey, Neil, I'll keep watch over here, can you escort the Prince over to the palace? Just make sure nobody else gets in his way." Aku gestured over towards his colleague.

"I-it'd be my honor," Neil said, beckoning towards Endymion. "Your Highness, whenever you're ready."

Endymion put his right hand up towards the palace. "Lead the way."

"

A determined look on his face, Endymion gave a soft little grunt as he lifted his left hand up over his head, as high as he could, and pressed the business-end of the piton into the thick wood trunk of the tree. He tapped his thumb on the opposite end of the little stick, and a tiny, yet sturdy steel rod fired out and embedded into the wood. Capable of supporting a lot of weight despite its tiny size, Endymion was able to use it as leverage as he hoisted him up another arm-length up the large tree.

Like the hedge, the tree was also imported from Earth, with very precise and detailed care being applied to it over the centuries so that it would actually grow and survive on the Moon. It had been grown very precisely so that it would have branches hanging right by the back balcony of the Princess's bedroom, so that it would be easy for her to pluck lemons from it for her morning tea. A similar tree was positioned by the back balcony of the Queen's bedroom as well.

The Prince, having shed the need to put up a good front and act friendly with the guards no longer around, was back to grumbling to himself aimlessly as he climbed.

"Much more unpleasant for me…" he muttered darkly, his right arm rising up to plant the climbing piton as high as he could get it. "Much more unpleasant for me...stupid...stubborn...I'll show…"

He didn't dare look down, as he could do math well enough to know he was uncomfortably high up, and that should he make a mistake on his ascent and fall, things would not end well for him. The higher he got up, the more he started to question his decision to do this at all, but he blocked out such doubt by just continuing to approach the thick head of the tree.

Another thrust of his piton loosened up a little collection of tree sap, causing it to flood down his arm. With a grunt, he tried to wipe his forearm off on the tree bark, but found the sticky substance to be quite resistant to his attempts to get it off his skin. Groaning, he decided to just focus on the climb, and lifted himself up to the first thick branch of the tree top.

Twisting his head around, he saw the back balcony, with a glass door leading into Princess Serenity's bedroom, the branch leading him right to it. Delicately, trying to not make noise, he managed to hoist himself over to this branch. Giving it a couple of gentle prods, he judged it as being reasonably study, and wrapped his arms around it after mounting it. Slowly, finger-length by finger-length, he began to inch himself forward across it.

Slowly pushing his way through leafy branches, trying to ignore the unwelcome sensation of loose fronds getting inside his clothes, he stopped every couple secundas to try to judge how the branch was holding his weight. Slowly but surely, however, he made his way to the little deck, focused very intently on not tilting his head downward for any reason.

He was almost there, just a couple more arm-lengths to go, when he suddenly heard an abrasive cracking, and could feel the branch drop just a little bit. Eyes widening in panic, he immediately shuffled himself forward as fast as he could, clearly detecting his added weight causing the bough to strain. Luckily for him, he was able to swing his legs down to land on top of the handrail along the outside edge of the small deck, and then quickly jump down onto the actual balcony. The branch snapped back up a bit, no longer subject to increased gravity due to the Prince's body.

Quickly, he turned around, easily crossing the deck over to the glass door. The balcony was significantly smaller than the one attached to his room, only enough room for a few people. He pressed his face up to the window, peering inside, finding that for all the noise he had no doubt produced on his dangerous ascent, his wife remained asleep.

Glancing back and forth, then going back to the ledge and looking down at the palace backyard far below him, he then took a moment to look down and regard himself. He wiped some sweat off of his face, before realizing that the tree sap was still on his hands. Moaning in annoyance, he tried to wipe the fluid off, to no avail. He tugged his clothes around, trying to find and remove all the bits of plant life that had latched onto him during his journey.

It quickly became obvious that there would be no fixing his appearance right now, and soon, the exhausted Crown Prince simply laid down on the floor of the deck, rolled over, and closed his eyes.