Chapter 29: Call to Ancestors

A/N: Sorry for the slight delay in this chapter, I had a mildly traumatic experience last week (my tooth cracked out of nowhere) and dealing with that took some time out of my schedule.

"

Cassini delicately tipped the tabled over, Princess Saturn's body stiffening as she was tilted upside down, head dropping down towards the carpeted floor and her feet rising up towards the ceiling.

"You alright, Your Highness?" he asked. Slowly, she relaxed her muscles, exhaling. The thick cuffs around her ankles kept her from sliding off, and her body gradually stretched out.

"I'm fine," she replied quietly, flexing her stomach muscles as her spine was stretched out slightly. She gave a little groan as she allowed the forces of gravity to extend her torso out.

"If it starts to hurt, make sure you tell me, it's not supposed to," he said sternly. She began to slowly rotate her torso around.

"It doesn't hurt," she assured him, craning her body over to the right, twisting as much as she could.

"Alright. Now, Your Highness, I have some news," Cassini began.

"I assume there's a reason why you made sure I was tied to a table before telling me?" she said dryly, her black hair comically drooping down towards the ground, away from her head.

He gave a wry smile. "Actually, not the case. The news is good, if a bit curious."

"I'm listening," she said, blinking rapidly as the blood started to rush to her head.

"There's been a significant breakthrough on Pandora. In fact, we're currently in the process of securing the moon. We're waiting for official word, but it seems reasonable to say that we've taken it."

"Overnight?" Saturn questioned, looking up at her advisor. "How is that even possible?"

"We detected that their atmospheric shielding went down last night, and the generals immediately put together an offensive to take advantage. It seems as if The Rings were completely unprepared and unable to put together an effective defense in time, since the actual battle is already over. All that's left is for us to put up our own shielding and establish some forces to defend it." Cassini pulled his thin clear tablet out of his pocket and tapped his fingers on the front of it a few times. "It's an important piece of territory, as soon as we've locked it up we'll start trying to salvage the weapon platforms and start to outfit it for our use."

Saturn began flexing her back. "All this happened while I was asleep?"

"I know, it's quite something," Cassini admitted. "Losses were minimal, the moon is small enough for us to quickly cover and make sure we've secured it. Really, the news is all good."

"Why did the shield go down?" Saturn asked, running her fingers through her thick mane of black hair.

"That's the curious part," Cassini said. "We had no active operations on Pandora, it wasn't anything we did. The shield just went down."

"Some sort of accident?" she wondered aloud, twisting her torso to the left. "Power outage?"

"That was the initial assumption," he said. "Until our forces found the shield generator completely destroyed."

"Still could be an accident," Saturn pointed out.

"According to the initial reports, it looked as if the dome that was protecting the generator was destroyed by explosive ballistics, from the outside," Cassini explained.

Saturn exhaled out a large breath, eyes wide and alert as she considered this new information. "We didn't have any sleeper agents posted on Pandora? We're sure?" she inquired.

"Yes," he affirmed, nodding. "I feel very confident in saying that the shield sabotage wasn't us. Perhaps someone posted there decided to turn of their own volition. Or maybe someone out there really likes us."

Hotaru gave a tiny, sour little frown. "If that was the case, this war would have been over years ago." She sighed.

"Well, let's appreciate the breaks we get. This was definitely a break. A big one. Pandora is significant enough territory to potentially start to turn momentum in this war."

Saturn continued to stretch her back out, extending her spine as far as she could. "If there's someone out there in the galaxy who wants to help us win this war, I sure wish they'd come forward. Because we could really use their help on a more consistent basis."

"

Endymion had his elbow propped up on the right armrest of the large couch, resting his chin in his hand, a tired, frustrated scowl clouding his features as he stared across the room. Kunzite pensively glanced over at his charge from his seat in the middle of the couch, arms crossed over his chest.

"If she had had sex with you, I wouldn't have cared," Endymion grumbled.

"...I'm sorry, what was that?" Kunzite asked, blinking rapidly in response to Endymion's rather bizarre statement.

"No, really, if it was...if it had been you, I wouldn't have gotten upset," he continued, the bitterness soaking every syllable that came out of his mouth. "Zoisite, Nephrite, I could have gotten over it. But...Jadeite?! Really? It just had to be Jadeite?!"

Kunzite pursed his lips, looking down at the tiled floor. "...thank you, I suppose."

Endymion rolled his eyes.

"But, um, really, how are you doing? That's why we're having these meetings, I...you've been keeping everything under control? Anything you want to vent?" Kunzite asked, shifting around slightly on the couch cushion.

"Kunzite, you don't need to keep me on a leash!" Endymion growled. "I...I've said it several times already, I know I have to keep a lid on things. I'm not going to...to go over to Jadeite's room in the middle of the night with a katana. I'm past that. I know he wasn't the primary instigator."

Kunzite nodded. "A-alright, that's good." He sized the Prince up, eyes scanning his huddled-up form. "Anything else you'd like to say? Again, the things you can't vent to anyone else, you can vent to me."

The bridge of Endymion's nose wrinkled. "She can't stay mad forever, that's...that's what I keep telling myself. But every day that goes by, I wonder, more and more, what if she does? She moved back in ten days ago, and I can't get her to budge even a little bit!" He buried his head into his propped-up palm, grimacing. "Ten days, and nothing!" He chewed on his cheek. "Well, for whatever it's worth, she hasn't had sex with anyone. That I know of."

Kunzite held his tongue for a moment, silently waiting out the Prince, giving him free reign to blast off whatever was on his mind.

"Certainly not me, of course," he murmured. "I, I really feel like there's some way, something I can say or do, that would get her to understand, but I can't figure out what it is!" He shook his head. "She doesn't even like it when I'm near Chibiusa! You'd think my criminal activity somehow involved hurting children!"

"Alright," Kunzite said quietly. "Just stay patient, try to stay calm and even-keeled."

"Starting to wonder," he admitted. "Maybe it's not just that simple. Maybe it really is just damaged beyond repair. Maybe I am just...keeping her hostage at this point."

"Well, like you've already said, it's not as if there's anything else you two can do without destroying the merger agreement and plunging the Moon into ruin," Kunzite pointed out. "She has to realize that by now. There's literally no other option other than staying together and keeping quiet."

Endymion steepled his fingers in front of him. "Maybe." His face wrinkled as if he had just bitten something sour. "Maybe. I'm wondering about that. I don't...Kunzite, I don't want to make her miserable all the time. I don't want her to hate waking up every morning because she knows I'm going to be right there next to her."

"Well, in the grand scheme, everything happened rather recently," Kunzite pointed out. "Let's just keep waiting."

After a moment, the communicator on Endymion's belt began to buzz. Absentmindedly, the Prince reached down towards his hip and yanked it off, pulling it up towards his mouth. "Yes?"

"Your Highness, we just received a package marked for you. Specific instructions that the contents should be viewed only by you."

Endymion seemed to snap out of his melancholy just a little bit at this statement. "It's been scanned?"

"We've run every scan on it, nothing came up. Of course, you know how technology can be."

Kunzite leaned over towards the communicator in Endymion's hand. "Set up one of the sealed rooms for use and put the package inside. Me and the Prince will be down shortly."

"Yes, that," Endymion agreed.

"Will do."

Endymion tapped the center button on the device, standing to his feet. "Thanks, Kunzite. I don't know if it comes across, but it does help a lot to have someone I can discuss these things with."

The two young men went over to the sliding metal door to Kunzite's private chambers, Kunzite reaching over to tap the panel that prompted it to slide open. The two had taken maybe a couple steps out into the hallway when Kunzite glanced over to his left. Out of the corner of his vision, he just barely made out one of the other doors, identical-looking to his, sliding closed.

"Why don't you head on over to the control room?" Kunzite asked. "I just remembered, Jadeite wanted to show me something."

Endymion smacked Kunzite on the shoulder a couple times. "See you soon, buddy." He walked off in the opposite direction, Kunzite happy to see that he seemed to have no overtly negative reaction to Jadeite's name being mentioned.

"

The steel door to Jadeite's room slapped shut, prompting the thin blonde general to immediately begin aggressively questioning his elder colleague.

"So, how about now?!" he hissed, leaning forward over his desk chair, hands gripping tightly on the top of the backrest.

"I trust that you'll accept my decision, whatever it may be, and abide by my ruling," Kunzite said sternly.

Jadeite rolled his eyes. "So, no, then."

"Jadeite, put your personal biases away for a moment," Kunzite admonished.

"I could say the same thing to you!" Jadeite snapped. "What about your personal biases?"

"I have put them away, whatever they might be," Kunzite said. "I know how to do that."

Jadeite sighed. "Kunzite, I'm not just joking around right now, believe it or not!" He pointed over at the white-haired general. "I care about the Prince, a lot! I know the consequences of enacting Order One, but it might be saving his life! That's more important than anything else!"

"I've been closely examining him for the last several days, Jadeite. I have no reason to believe, based off anything he's shown me, that we have any need to enact Order One," Kunzite said slowly. "Now, you need to tell me that you accept my decision."

Jadeite squeezed his eyes shut. "Kunzite. I know you remember what the High King told us, when we were first brought into the palace. He told it to all of us. And what he told us supersedes everything else, including the wills and wishes of the Prince himself. You can't think about what he would want us to do, not in this instance. This order comes first."

"Do you remember what he told us?" Kunzite asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning up against the near wall. "Our instructions were clear. If, at any time, Prince Endymion gave us reason to believe that he had inherited his mother's dementia to a severity that would cripple his ability to rule one day, we would inform him so that he could be placed in cryogenic stasis until a cure could be developed, and so that High King Kasios could explore options on how to keep the Kingdom in the family in his absence."

Jadeite put his arms out to his sides. "Okay, what am I missing?"

"I spend more time with the Prince than anyone. Ever since I got here, Order One has been in the back of my head constantly. I've been monitoring his mental health, always. And I know what dementia is. He doesn't have it. That's my ruling, and I expect you to respect it."

"Kunzite, he...he chased me around the palace with a knife!" Jadeite protested. "He tried to shoot me! Actually, he did shoot me, I just blocked it!"

"The wording of Order One, Jadeite. There's nothing in there that said we needed to report to the High King in the event that the Prince...occasionally showed substandard judgement, or acted irrationally, or got angry and acted out because of it. It was only in the specific event that he was showing signs of dementia, and it was significant enough to where he would not be able to effectively serve as King. That's it." Kunzite nodded with finality. "I have not seen any of that."

"What, exactly, do you need to see?!" Jadeite questioned. "Would it have been enough had he actually killed me? Because, I assure you, he almost did! You didn't see it, you weren't there! Just trust me on that!"

"Well, Jadeite, you should consider the possibility that you may have...done some things that provoked him into doing that," Kunzite said dryly.

"Okay, sure, but...he fired a plasma pistol in the palace hallways!" Jadeite defended himself. "I get it, he had a right to be angry, I made a mistake, but...there was more there than just righteous anger, Kunzite! I need you to see that!"

"Jadeite, you had sex with his wife," Kunzite said, pushing up away from the wall a half-step. "Order One does not dictate that we have to report to his father in the event that he becomes irrationally angry for a couple minutas because his wife cheated on him with his general. Now, we are not reporting anything to his father, and you are going to drop this. My answer is final, and I expect you to accept that my answer is based on impartial observation of the Prince."

Jadeite scowled, glancing over towards his bed. He looked back over to Kunzite. "A year from now, when he's chasing you around the palace with a knife because you...left a bootmark on his floor or ate his dessert, I'm going to remember we had this conversation."

"

Kunzite slowly manipulated a few joysticks on the console in front of him, both him and Endymion watching a small screen in front of them. The screen showed the inside of a small, cube-shaped room, all surfaces made out of solid steel, with a square wooden crate set on the floor right in the middle of it. With Kunzite's manipulations of the joysticks, metal arms were descending from the walls down towards the crate.

"It's not anywhere close to my birthday, obviously everyone should be aware of that," Endymion said quietly, nibbling on the tip of his left thumb. "I suppose you don't necessarily need a reason to send someone a gift."

"Gift is likely," Kunzite agreed, getting one of the arms to hold the crate down, while the second one pried into the wooden crease on the lid. With the press of a button, it jerked upward, opening the wooden container with a sharp crack and knocking the lid off onto the floor. Kunzite immediately turned his focus to a second screen, right next to the first one, this one displaying numbers and colored bars.

"All readings normals. No change in the makeup of the atmosphere inside the room. No dangerous substances detected," Kunzite said slowly. "Looks safe."

Endymion leaned in towards the main screen. "Looks like...bags?"

Kunzite began to move the metal arms around again, maneuvering them up so that the long, thin arms stuck into the mouth of one of the bags.

"You're good at that," Endymion mused. "You must be amazing at the arcades."

"I wouldn't know," Kunzite said, managing to force the mouth of one of the sacks open, then moving the camera in closer to get a look at the contents.

Endymion flinched back a bit as the screen was steered up close to the open mouth of the bag, the contents sparkling and twinkling up at him. The sizable sack was loaded with emeralds of assorted sizes, some pebble-sized crystals, others nearly the size of Endymion's thumb.

"What the…" Endymion muttered.

"Well. That is quite the gift," Kunzite said.

"

Endymion got down onto his knees right next to the wooden crate and stuck his hand into the filled sack that was laying open right in front of him, running his fingers through the green crystals, sifting through them, finding nothing but more expensive gems underneath.

"It's a little tacky as a present," Kunzite muttered, standing up next to the crate, hands on his hips as his charge went through the sack.

After a moment, the Prince lifted the bag out of the crate, then moved to a second identical one underneath it. He lifted the mouth of the back up and yanked it open, somehow not entirely surprised to find this one filled with bright red rubies.

"Who would give a gift like this?" Endymion gasped. "And...who, who would send something like this anonymously?"

In short order, Endymion moved on from the second sack, towing it out of the crate to find a third. He didn't even bother having a reaction when he opened this one and found it filled with sapphires, light blue little crystals twinkling up at him.

"To you, specifically," Kunzite recounted. "Not to the High King, not to the palace...you. For your eyes only."

Endymion pushed the third bag out of the way, finding that it was indeed the last one, but a small folded slip of paper sat at the very bottom of the container. He picked it up eagerly, hoping it would shed some light on this mystery. He straightened it out, finding a simple sentence written down in a bold, blocky text.

"To the first of many, I hope," Endymion read. His face wrinkled a bit, then he looked around him at the three sacks. "The first of many…"

"Does that help? Is that a clue?" Kunzite asked, looking over Endymion's shoulder at the note, then reaching down to pull it out of his fingers. He began to examine it.

"Kunzite, these...all these gemstones, what would you say the total value is? All three of the bags? Give me an estimate."

Kunzite quickly lifted the bag of rubies up, judging its weight, quickly jerking it up and down. "Well, going just off weight, and assuming a balance of quality in accordance with what I've seen so far..."

He needed only a secunda or two to estimate the weight of all three bags, lifting each one up in turn and feeling them out.

"Initial guess would be two and a half billion creds. Maybe slightly more," Kunzite reported.

"Two billion six hundred thousand," Endymion said under his breath, giving a little disbelieving grin.

"Something like that, yes," Kunzite agreed. "Does that mean something to you?"

"Oh, wow, I…" he slowly nodded. "Wow, he must not think much of me. I mean, Gods, that's kind of pathetic."

"Who?" Kunzite questioned.

With a crooked little grin, Endymion got to his feet. "It would seem that a certain pharmaceutical tycoon thinks that I'm an easily-manipulated fool."

Kunzite stared down at the bags, each loaded with sizable wealth. "Cronus sent this?"

Endymion bobbed his head up and down. "Talk about desperate," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Kunzite, could you have these bags loaded into my ship? I'm going to make some calls, try to figure out where Cronus is today." He turned around and went over towards the sealed door in the wall, grabbing the large wheel and spinning it to the left. "He'll be needing these back."

"

"Your Highness, you have my deepest apologies," Cronus said, spinning his chair around from the left corner of the room, momentarily taking his attention off the microscope at the table in front of him. Prince Endymion and Kunzite stood a few steps behind him, Endymion still having a bit of a caustic grin on his face.

The Deimos installation of Galen Laboratories was an impressive facility, a dome-shaped construction of massive amounts of concrete and steel. All in all, it wasn't nearly as big as the primary labs under Cronus's control, but made up for it due to the impeccable design. Copious amounts of glass, which could transform from transparent to opaque in an instant, made up a lot of the walls and surfaces inside, giving the entire building a customizable and cutting-edge feel. During the walk from the front lobby to Cronus's office, Endymion and Kunzite had taken the time to appreciate the building, both of them able to see the beauty of such things in light of their familiarity with high-end locations.

Cronus's office was rather simple, a desk in the middle of the room, and a small workstation in the left corner, which made sense given it was unlikely Cronus would spend much time here.

"What, exactly, are you apologizing for?" Endymion asked. "I'm just a little confused, w-what exactly happened here?"

"Well, you've had to take time out of your day to come here and sort out this mistake, and the mistake was entirely on me and my organization, so I apologize for that," Cronus stated, putting his hands on his knees, a friendly smile on his face.

"What was the mistake?" Endymion grilled, crossing his arms over his chest, looking almost bemused.

Cronus thought for a moment. "News of you declining my offer was not well-communicated by me, so it would seem. The people working for me who are in charge of making sure you receive your payment were under the impression that you had started working for me. They merely believed that you were being compensated for goods and services rendered. Again, I apologize."

"That's the story you're going with?" Endymion said. "Come on, Cronus, I can already tell you don't think too much of me, but now you're just being insulting! You think I'm supposed to believe that?"

Cronus's face flinched just a bit. "I do not think poorly of you at all, Your Highness. I actually have the utmost respect for you."

"Then stop expecting me to believe any of that," he admonished. "Let's just be honest with each other. I'll make it easy for you. You knew exactly what you were doing, you wanted those jewels to be sent to me, and you think that, somehow, the sight of a large collection of valuable gems is going to...overwhelm me, and I'm suddenly going to change my mind! You think that two and a half billion creds in gemstones will just leave me starstruck, and I'll forget my ethical and personal objections and come synthesize imperium for you!"

Cronus sighed, glancing over his shoulder at the microscope on his workstation. "I'm sorry if you've taken offense to my methodology," he said, giving a resigned shrug.

Endymion ran his hand over his mouth. "Cronus, I...I've spent my whole life living in the Earth Palace, have you ever been there? The whole place is covered in gems, I'm as familiar with gemstones as I am wood or steel or concrete. I'm not some...academy instructor or baker who can be bought with wealth and shiny things. Come on. Give me some kind of credit."

"You're right," Cronus admitted. "It was immature and disrespectful to think that something like that would change your mind. Please, forgive me, Your Highness. I meant no offense."

"Yes, well, I've brought your package here with me, it's on my ship, and I want you to take it. All of it. It belongs to you, and I've done nothing to earn it." Endymion glanced over to Kunzite.

"Very well," Cronus conceded. "Although, perhaps, you should keep it, as a token of apology from me?"

Endymion rolled his eyes. "Absolutely not. You're taking every bit of it back."

"It's a bit of a clerical mess, since the paperwork regarding the transaction has already been submitted. It really would be easier for me if you just kept it," Cronus said.

Endymion gave a hissing little sigh, putting his arms out wide to his sides. "Cronus, come on. I see what you're doing, and it's not going to work."

Cronus stood to his feet. "Your Highness, before you leave today, I'd like to show you something."

"Cronus, I really—"

"Your Highness, please. You've come all the way out here already, there's something I'd really like you to see. It won't take long. And after we're done, I'll take the gems back if you'd still like me to."

"People know we're here," Kunzite said gruffly. "And if we don't return to the Earth Palace later today, they'll know where to look."

Cronus gave a little laugh. "You two have nothing to worry about. You'll be leaving this facility in less than two minutas if you desire it. I just really would like the Prince to have a look at something." He began moving towards the lone door out of the office. "Your Highness?"

Endymion looked at Kunzite, who had a conflicted little frown on his face. After several moments, he gave a couple of curt nods.

"You've got one minuta," Endymion said, turning around as Cronus opened his office door. "And then we're leaving, and you're taking the gems back if I have to leave them on the tarmac before I take off."

"

With a sharp crack, the massive powerful lights activated all throughout the large, high-ceilinged room. Endymion blinked a couple times rapidly, eyes watering, before he began to take measure of the hidden chamber.

Accessible via a stairwell that was concealed behind a food dispenser machine, the room was defined mainly by the colors red, black, and white, with some grey for the large vats and machines set up at intervals throughout the room. The entry point to the room led out onto a steel catwalk that spanned the length of the room, and ended with a spiral staircase that led down to the floor. Shelves of materials, stacks of black barrels, and large tubing that trailed up to the ceiling defined most of the actual contents of the room, along with the large vats.

Each step noisy thanks to the catwalk, Endymion slowly meandered down the path, head tilted downward to examine the large laboratory. He could feel Kunzite right behind him, and then Cronus right behind him. Tellu had joined the trio on their way to the chamber, looming behind her boss, silently observing.

"A secret laboratory?" Endymion questioned, turning around to look at Cronus.

"Your secret laboratory," Cronus corrected.

Endymion bristled a bit. "Cronus, if you continue to believe that there's a future for me here, then you're only going to end up disappointed."

"We'll see," Cronus said defiantly. "Viluy has been utilizing this chamber in recent cycles to synthesize imperium. We'll obviously have to refit some of the equipment to suit your needs, depending on your process. Just tell me what you need, and I can have the new equipment installed in a matter of days."

Slowly, Endymion turned out towards the lab again, then began slowly walking down the path again, heading over towards the spiral stairs.

"Whatever substances and materials you require, it will be no issue for me to acquire, in any amount needed. This laboratory receives large shipments of dozens of different chemicals and substances every few days. No one will look twice at our orders, it's understood that we conduct many experiments to try to create new medicines," Cronus boasted, Endymion quickly spinning his way down the steps, following closely by his bodyguard. Cronus and Tellu followed, as Endymion went over to a nearby silver table surface, looking it over.

"Whatever exhaust and waste is created in the process of synthesization will get put through our filtration system, and will never be detected after leaving the facility. Very few people know that this room even exists, and even fewer know what it's being used for. You could spend the rest of your life searching every corner of the universe for a situation as good as this one and not find it. You will make enough money to have a significant impact on the financial state of your Kingdom, and you will never need to spend so much as a beat thinking about how your product is being sold. Your only concern will be synthesization. You will never be caught. You will never have to worry about equipment or materials."

"It's quite a setup," Endymion said, running his right hand along the side of a giant silver vat in the middle of the room. "I can see why you've managed to stay alive and free in this business for so long."

Cronus paused a few steps away from the Prince. "I feel like there's a 'but' somewhere in there?"

Endymion gave a quick jerk of his head. "I'm afraid so. This doesn't change anything for me. I can't help you. My involvement in this business is over."

Cronus paused for a moment. "I have a new offer for you."

"It's not a matter of money," Endymion reiterated, slowly turning to look at the pharmaceutical kingpin.

"I'll give you a percentage of the business this time," Cronus said, rubbing his hands together right in front of his chest. "Twenty-five percent of gross revenue from selling the imperium. That's three and a quarter billion creds every ten days as a baseline, with the opportunity for growth as time goes by. The street price of the product will increase as we corner the market, and we may be able to take on even more at a time. You'll have the opportunity to clear a hundred and fifty billion creds a year. Maybe two hundred billion. That's the best offer I can make. You should accept it, Your Highness."

Endymion wistfully regarded the vat next to him for a moment. "You could offer me a hundred percent, and I'd still turn it down. There are things in my life more important than money."

"And those things somehow prevent you from pursuing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enrich the Kingdom you stand to inherit?" Cronus asked.

Endymion nodded slowly. "I...Cronus, you and I both got into this business for the same reasons. Family. That's what you told me. You started doing this for the sake of your family. So did I, and...well, now, my involvement in this has cost me my family. So, why would I even consider returning to it? There's no value in it for me. My wife is disgusted with me, Cronus, and I'm trying to earn her trust back right now. If I put so much as a finger back in imperium smuggling, whatever chance I have of mending things with her will be gone forever. Please, understand, that is my priority right now."

He could vaguely feel Kunzite's disapproving glare on the back of his skull at bringing up his wife, but ignored it. He couldn't help but have an informal feeling of trust with Cronus, despite his involvement in the criminal underworld and perfectly-cut double life.

"You got involved in imperium smuggling for the sake of her?" he asked.

Endymion's right temple twitched a bit as he considered how to navigate this conversation. "I was...I was trying to protect her, to advance her interests. But it was a mistake. All of it." He put his right arm out towards Cronus. "N-no offense to you, I appreciate our previous work together, but I should have never gotten involved in any of this. Again, what I did, I did for her. So why would I continue doing it, knowing that she disapproves?"

Cronus tilted his head to the right a bit, smile fading from his face as he regarded Endymion. "I have a daughter. She's twelve now. I haven't seen her since she was a toddler. She wouldn't want to see me, actually, she hates me. She's been raised to hate me. She has no choice but to hate me. All things considered, she's right to hate me. I do not expect I'll ever see her again. And yet, everything I do, I do for her. The money I make, the empires that I've built, all for her benefit, all to ensure her future is safe and secure. Because, no matter what, she is still my daughter. Even if she hates me and will never see me again, I still have a duty to protect her. That's what it is to be a man, Your Highness. Just the same, you will always be a husband to Princess Serenity, even if she hates you and disapproves of what you do. You will always have that duty to protect her, even if you have to upset her to do it."

Endymion sighed, face weakening just a bit, tilting his head down to squint at the reflective shiny table surface. "Cronus, she made herself very clear in recent times, she doesn't want me to do this."

"Because she can't see past the legality of it," Cronus stated, putting his hands behind his back and standing up as tall as he could. "Because to her, life is nothing more than a series of black and white choices, and good people choose white and bad people choose black. But you know better than that. Just like I know better than that. We both know things are always more complicated, we see the shades of grey between. So, both of us, we have to be strong, so that the women in our lives can afford to be weak. That's the deal that comes with being a man, Your Highness. Women and children, they can be weak sometimes, and we accept that, and must always be strong to protect them in their weakness. And sometimes being strong means working in your family's best interests, even if your family doesn't understand it."

Endymion bit down on his cheek, slowly turning to put his palms down flat on the shiny table in front of him. He glanced to his left, at Kunzite, then looked back down at his reflection. "Even with all that, I...Kronus, I'm sorry, but it is illegal. I don't think this life suits me, I truly don't. Again, this isn't meant to be an indictment of your involvement, but I don't believe I have the...mental makeup, I suppose you'd call it, to continue. Not now."

"Illegal?" Cronus gave a little smile. "That's your hangup, now?"

"Is it really advancing her, or my, interests for me to become one of the most wanted men in the galaxy?" he asked. "There has to be a way for me to be strong and an effective husband without breaking the law."

"Oh, Your Highness, I have to confess, I'm disappointed. I thought that you, of all people, would understand the nature of the world," Cronus said in a quiet rasp.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Endymion asked, now looking just a little curious as he raised his eyebrow over at Cronus.

"I mean, I completely understand why normal, average, everyday people don't get it, they're fighting on a daily basis just to stay alive. But you, Your Highness, heir to one of the strongest Kingdoms in the galaxy, growing up in a palace, I just thought you might get it." Cronus shrugged.

"C-Cronus, what do you think I'm not getting?" Endymion pulled away from the reflective table surface, standing up as straight as he could, hands down straight at his sides.

"That there are no rules, other than the ones that we allow ourselves to believe are there," Cronus explained patiently. "It goes for every single person in this galaxy, but it should be obvious to people like you and me. I thought maybe you had already figured that part out."

Endymion gave a crooked, incredulous little grin, looking up towards the catwalk above his head. "I don't know what I was expecting when I agreed to come down here. It definitely wasn't a philosophy lesson."

"What did you used to be, Your Highness?" Cronus asked, slowly approaching the Prince.

"...u-uh...I'm sorry?" Endymion asked, visibly confused, whipping his head back down to look over at Cronus. "What does that mean? What are you talking about?"

"I mean millions of years ago, Your Highness. Before civilization, before law and order. Before humans. You used to be gorillas. And when a gorilla decided he wanted something, he only had to ask two questions. Could he take it, and could he defend it from being taken from him? If the answer to those questions was yes, then he could have it. Could have been food, territory, a mate, whatever. The strongest thrived, for no other reason than that they were strong. That's all there was to it. So, Your Highness, by breaking the law, defying the agency, and living a double life to make money over the last several cycles, the truth is, you're more of a man. You're more of a man now than you would be had you just spent all your time in the Earth Palace with your wife and child."

Endymion jerked his head back a bit, sizing up Cronus. "I...I'm not a gorilla, Cronus. None of us are. I'm a human."

"You've got more in common with one than you realize," Cronus countered calmly. "Or, if you'd prefer, just look back at your ancestors. Aethnos lived just over a thousand years ago, if I recall. Eleven hundred years, maybe. Every bit as 'human' as you are. And what was he, but a man who one day realized he was stronger and smarter than everyone around him? Realized that he had the attributes to rise to power, unify the many nations of Earth under his rule, strike down anyone who stood in his way, and take the title of King of Earth for himself. There was no rule, no law, that told him he could do any of that. He merely realized that he could do it. And he did. And because of that, the men in your family have been ruling over the Earth Kingdom for over a millennium. You owe your birthright, your wealth, and your power to the decisions that Aethnos made all those generations ago. You think the people he cut through on his way up thought what he was doing was 'fair'? That he was justified in doing any of it?" He gave a tiny little smile. "But he did it. Because he understood. And now, it's your turn to understand."

Endymion, who had been vacillating between bemusement, sadness, and confusion throughout Cronus's pitch, couldn't help but be rather obviously transfixed by him now. Of course, he knew very well the story of his ancestors, but Cronus gave it a certain captivating flavor.

"Life is a tide, Your Highness. Beating down on all of us, trying to shape us, pound us into submission, until we all look like and act like it wants us to. To some people, it's a boss, a parent, a wife, the law. You might be a Prince, but it beats on you too. And this, right here, this is your opportunity to stand up to it. So, stand up to it, and let it know that deep down, where it counts, you're still an ape." He took a quick couple of steps back, away from Endymion. "Or else, you might just get washed away."

Endymion stared down Cronus as he backed away. The scientist gave a sharp little palm slap to the surface of the silver table, prompting Endymion to startle out of his intensely focused trance.

"Think about it," Cronus said, backing towards the spiral stairs. "Tellu will escort you out whenever you're ready. I'll make sure you have my personally communicator frequency, call me any time." With that, he spun around, taking the metal steps two at a time up to the catwalk.

Endymion looked down at the impeccably clean floor, forehead furrowed deeply, putting his hand up over his mouth as he mulled over Cronus's words. He felt Kunzite step up right next to him, patiently waiting for him to prompt a course of action, which he was not yet capable of offering.

"

Endymion laid back flat on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, atop his sheets, still fully dressed. His mind raced as his body laid relatively dormant, eyes flickering from one spot on the high-above ceiling to the next.

He lifted his head up at the sound of a door sliding open. Serenity emerged from the bathroom, hurriedly heading towards the door out into the palace hallways, a blank and unreadable expression on her face, not giving any indication she was even aware of Endymion's presence.

"Um, Serenity," Endymion said, sitting up. He waited for her to stop, to look over at him, or at least say something to let him know that she had heard him, but she did none of these things. Within a matter of beats, she was slipping out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Endymion sighed, shaking his head as he looked down at the carpet. He steepled his hands and pressed them to his mouth, then found his gaze being pulled over to the communicator on his bedside desk.

He took some time to slowly scan the room, as if he might find someone else in there. But, with Serenity's departure, he was alone. He swallowed down hard, then scrambled up the bed, reaching over to grab his communicator.

He fiddled with the dials for a moment, then pressed the center button on the disc. Slowly, he plugged the earpiece into his ear canal, then waited.

"Evening, Cronus?" he said, speaking into the disc. "I, uh, I hope I didn't wake you." He nodded. "Alright, good. So, um, the offer you made me earlier. Is it still open?"