Chapter 45: Final Resort

"We're going to want to finish that today," Kunzite said, watching as Princess Venus twirled the mostly-empty glass bottle around in her fingers, the relatively-small amount of drink still within sloshing about at the bottom.

"You sure you'll be alright to drive home?" she asked sarcastically. "What's the rush?"

Kunzite swallowed down hard, the lump in his throat pushing downward. "Venus, um...well, there's no easy way to put this. Today will be our last meeting. At least, in this capacity."

Her playful smile disappeared quickly at that proclamation. "And I have no say in that? That doesn't seem in line with the arrangement that we had."

"It's out of my hands," Kunzite insisted. The two of them were rendezvousing in a random hotel room, as was their standard, this one in the wealthier half of Wagnenian City. The Princess was well-prepared, already changed into a lavender bathrobe and half-reclined back on the large four-poster bed. The curtains blocked most of the sunlight that otherwise would have easily illuminated the room, allowing the muted color scheme to thrive in giving the room a slightly ominous feel. "I'm afraid things have come to an end between the Prince and Cronus. This is the last shipment."

She tilted her head slightly, still frowning. Even though she probably weighed about as much as Kunzite's torso, didn't even come close to reaching his chin with the top of her head, and was wearing nothing but a thin robe, he was actually a little intimidated by her. In fact, he was even rather disappointed in himself, having to let her down like this and give her bad news. It didn't affect him as much as delivering unfavorable information to Prince Endymion, sure, but to care so much about how someone outside his immediate circle felt was something that Kunzite didn't expect would ever happen, and he didn't particularly like it.

"We've had this conversation before," Venus continued. "I told you, if the day came when you could no longer work with Cronus, we'd figure it out. I have needs, and they haven't been sated yet." She tilted her head. "I'm not just doing this to line my pockets."

"I think you misunderstand me," Kunzite countered, trying to remain confident under her harsh tone. "The end of our business relationship with Cronus is anything but amicable."

"What of it?" Venus asked. "Come on, enough with the evasive language, this affects me."

Kunzite hesitated, glancing around the darkened room.

"Kunzite," Venus said warningly.

"This is all, obviously, very, very secret. If what I'm about to say were to—"

"Oh come on!" Venus interrupted sharply. "I've kept your secrets this long! What do you think is going to change now?"

Kunzite winced. "Cronus is going to move to sever loose ends any day now. We can't afford to wait any longer. We're out of options, and my attempts to get to Cronus first have failed. So, we're going on the run. Until this situation is resolved, one way or another, the Prince has to go into hiding."

Venus bit her cheek. "On the run? The Crown Prince of Earth, on the run? How's that supposed to work?"

Kunzite finally relaxed a bit, his back curving ever so slightly as he felt the tension ease. He paced over towards the bottom left corner of the bed. "It's the only way. We're not the only loose ends. The High King is onto his double life and is very close to obtaining proof of it."

Venus made a little discouraged noise with her mouth, a sharp click with her tongue. "He's going on the run too, then? We're all in this together now?"

Kunzite cracked a tiny smile. "I actually wish it was that simple." He shook his head. "Venus, I don't want to pull you into this any more than I need to. The more you know, the more dangerous this becomes for you. And it's already going to be dangerous enough." He grimaced. "You're going to want to be safe for the next few days, by the way. Cronus certainly views you as a liability now. Stay in the palace, in secure locations. Don't think for a second you can hide somewhere that he can't find you."

Venus pursed her lips, visibly unhappy. "I don't do well with being confined to the palace."

"I know, but there's no other choice right now," Kunzite insisted, sitting down on the bottom corner of the bed, his weight enough to get Venus to shift a bit. "Just keep your head down and stay around people who can protect you at all times. Hopefully, it won't be long."

"What's the plan, here?" Venus asked. "Because the Crown Prince of Earth going on the run indefinitely and waiting for Cronus to die of old age or choke on a pretzel doesn't strike me as viable."

Kunzite absentmindedly started playing with his collar. "When this is over, only one of them will still be alive. That's all I can say."

"I'm just dying to know how you plan on pulling all this off," Venus goaded. "How does this not end with the Prince in a prison cell anyway?"

"I harbor very few illusions of actually being able to pull this off," Kunzite admitted. "We have a plan. That plan actually working is something different entirely, but we still have to try following it."

Venus squinted, making a couple over-animated movements of her mouth as she digested what she was being told. "So. If I'm hearing you right, your expectation is that this ends with you and the Prince dead."

"Well, don't say it out loud. Makes it sound like I'm bad at my job," Kunzite grumbled. "Just...keep out of trouble until Cronus is gone."

Quickly, Venus scooted up the bed, towards the table right by the pillow. A couple of empty, clear shot glasses were standing up next to each other, just waiting to be filled. She uncorked the mouth of the largely-empty bottle and began pouring it out into the glasses.

"I'm not saying anyone is condemned to death right now. It's not over. But, we should be prepared for every possibility. And bottom line, Cronus has access to a nearly-infinite amount of resources. He's possibly the wealthiest man in the galaxy, and he's at the very top of the food chain in the criminal underworld to boot. Meanwhile, our resources are extremely limited, due to the heavy secrecy of Prince Endymion being involved in this operation."

"Come find me, after you get out of this," Venus said suddenly, getting to her feet and grabbing a full glass in each hand, taking them over towards Kunzite. "As soon as you possibly can. Once you handle this Cronus business, once he's no longer a threat to you, and after you bury this, you come meet with me, and we'll figure this out."

Kunzite sighed, reaching down to grab at one of the tiny glasses. "Venus, I—"

"I know you. I know your works. And I know that you're going to find a way to get to Cronus first, and then make all of this go away. It's what you were born to do, what you've trained your whole life to do. Someway, somehow, you'll figure this out. I just want to make sure you don't think our business is done after you do." She raised her glass up towards him a bit. "I'm not done with you yet. You or Endymion. You understand me?"

Kunzite sighed heavily, looking down at the small glass. "Very well. But I think you overestimate me."

"I guess we'll see," she said.

Satisfied that her point had been made, she silently tilted the glass back up against her lips. Kunzite copied her, trying to harvest some degree of comfort in how much confidence Princess Venus seemed to have in him.

"

Chibiusa set the round orange ball down on the carpet, large eyes trained on the small mechanical cat currently standing on all fours maybe fifteen paces away. It was a complicated piece of machinery, hundreds of little moving pieces coming together to simulate the movements of an actual domesticated feline. Chibiusa reached down and gave the orange ball a squeeze, and the cat sprung to life.

Quickly, with deliberate movements that quite clearly separated the robot from actual living, breathing creatures, the cat stalked over towards the ball, obeying it's programming and advancing on the simple toy.

Prince Endymion, sitting on the floor, watched her reactions as the cat closed in on her. She was thrilled by it, mouth opening in happy surprise as the robotic feline approached the ball. After several beats, it was close enough, and slowly crouched down. With a powerful push, it launched itself towards the ball, mimicking a pounce right on top of it. Chibiusa gave a loud squeal on watching the impact.

"See? Isn't that fun?" Endymion asked, happy that his daughter had an appreciation for the toy. She grabbed the ball, putting all her strength into pushing it over towards her father, rolling it into his leg. He leaned over to grab it, waiting for his daughter to prop the cat back up into a standing position. He squeezed the ball as soon as she did, and the toy dutifully began it's march.

The bedroom door opened just as Chibiusa began to follow the cat back towards the Prince. Endymion didn't even look up, instead keeping focus on his daughter, but eventually could not ignore the hulking figure that was now looming over him. Slowly, his head rotated around and tilted back, finding Kunzite towering up above.

"Where's Serenity?" he asked.

"Meeting with her contacts in Oberon Jewelers," Endymion answered. "She should be back in a minuta. No more than two." He smiled as Chibiusa again cheered the mechanical cat pouncing on the ball. "I actually got her, of all people, to be put in charge of overseeing finance for a large corporation. That's an accomplishment, right?"

"We're expected at the lab in a minuta and a half," Kunzite said, folding his arms across his chest. "If—"

"Hold on," Endymion interrupted, grabbing the orange ball and gently tossing it across the room. Chibiusa, as if she was taking cues from the toy cat, turned around and began crawling after it. As she chased the orb down, Endymion gathered his legs underneath him and stood up slowly.

"Alright," Endymion said, keeping his voice obviously hushed, an eye on Chibiusa. "You'd be amazed at how fast she's learning words, don't need her listening to this. Go ahead, be quick."

"If we leave now, we'll only be a little late. We can call ahead, let them know we're running behind. So it's not too late to change your mind, and do this another day."

Endymion smile faded, face clouding with conflict. "No. No, we...today's the day. It has to be. We can't wait any longer."

"I just wanted you to know that this is the point of no return," Kunzite explained. "But if we're not going to leave for the lab now, then I need to have Nephrite make the calls. Obviously, at that point, there's no turning back."

"Good," Endymion said, voice getting a little weaker. He nodded, turning to look at his daughter as she struggled to get to her feet, deciding she'd rather pursue the ball bipedally. "It's probably the only way I'll be able to actually go through with this."

Chibiusa closed the final short distance between her and the orange ball with a waddling series of steps, coming down on it hard with her palm as she fell down on her behind next to it. The cat, once again, sprung to life and began to patrol over towards the toddler.

"Make the call as soon as Serenity gets back," Endymion said throatily. "I'll explain it to her. Somehow, I'll get through it."

Kunzite nodded. "Be ready to leave, then. Everything is going to have to be slotted into narrow windows if we're going to make this work."

Endymion re-trained his focus back on his daughter, who was once again reacting quite colorfully to the sight of the robotic cat leaping on top of the ball.

"Hey, Kunzite," Endymion rasped. "What if, instead of a ball, it was a toy mouse?"

"Huh?" Kunzite looked over at the royal toddler. "W-what?"

"No, I mean...cats chase mice, right? Cats pounce on mice? That'd make more sense, if it was a mouse. I don't even know, do...do cats pounce on balls? You wouldn't think so. But a mouse, they'd definitely pounce on a mouse. We should get something like that made."

"Are you okay, Your Majesty?" Kunzite asked. "We really don't have to do this today, if you're not feeling up to it."

"No, no, trust me, don't try to give me a choice, or we'll never do this." Endymion gave his head a vigorous shake. "Just...go do what you have to do. I'll be ready."

"

"Understood, sir." The blond-haired man slapped his finger down on the center of the communicator disc, then immediately grabbed a screwdriver on the table next to him and began prying the shell open. A series of little wires and glowing-blue pebbles inside were quickly discombobulated by the metallic tool, stabbed haphazardly in dozens of places to render it completely unusable. "We've gotten the affirmative."

"Oh, Gods." A much shorter man with long brown hair swung around the corner of the hallway, poking his head out into the main room of the small apartment, as if he was afraid of what he might find in the sparsely-equipped, cheap room. "Whatever they're paying us to do this, it can't possibly be enough."

"It is enough. Trust me, Vitus, twenty thousand creds for a call that should last less than two secundas. That's more than enough." Satisfied with the state of the broken communicator after snapping several more of the delicate circuitry within, he swept the pieces up into a cloth handkerchief and folded it up.

"You can't honestly think it's the duration of the call that's the problem here," Vitus growled. "Come on, Alexandros, do you have any idea what happens if anyone ever finds out about this? We'll never see the sun again."

"Nobody is going to find out we did this," Alexandros countered simply. "How could they? Unless we tell somebody, which we won't. Come on, if we're not the ones who do this, Nephrite will just get someone else to do it and we'll be spending the rest of our lives thinking about what we WOULD have done with that twenty grand."

"If they have the slightest inkling of a suspicion that we did this, we're going to have law enforcement surgically attached to our hip for the rest of our lives, best case scenario. Don't tell me it's just a call, you're smarter than that." Vitus, nevertheless, marched over to a cabinet against the wall right by the hallway entrance and ripped it open. "Alright, just...be ready to destroy this thing as soon as I hang up. I want to be on the first shuttle out of this city as soon as humanly possible."

"Calm down, everything's going to be fine." Alexandros grabbed a cardboard tube off the table next to him and tossed it across the room, Vitus managing to catch it in his right hand. His left hand was quickly spinning the dials around the edge of the communicator he had just pulled out of the cabinet drawer. "Think it through logically, it's almost impossible for us to get caught."

"Almost," Vitus agreed. "But the consequences for getting caught are astronomical, so excuse me for being concerned." With a deep breath, he put one end of the tube up to his mouth and pointed the other at the communicator disc. "Alright, here we go. Give me a signal if I'm going too long."

He pressed the center button on the disc, and a connection was patched through. He waited several seconds as the holographic soundwave trilled a gentle tune. And then, with a click that made Vitus's gut clench, he was connected.

"Capitol City Services, how may I direct your call?"

Vitus cleared his throat, then began speaking through the tube, distorting his voice. "King Kasios is in danger! Secure him immediately!"

"...I'm sorry, sir?"

Vitus grimaced, almost feeling silly, but quickly plowed on through the script he had written in his mind. "King Kasios is being targeted by the Atlantic Independent Federation, they have a mole in the palace!"

"...sir, what are you talking about? What are you saying?"

"I'm a member of the Federation, they've gone too far! I'm calling as a warning, the attempt on the High King's life will be made in the next few days! I can't just sit by while my colleagues cross the line like this!"

"Who is this? Where are you?"

"I'm not going to tell you where I am, I'm a member of the Atlantic Independent Federation! This is an anonymous tip!" With that, Vitus slammed his thumb down on the center button, cutting the call off. Quickly, he tossed the device over to Alexandros, who immediately started prying the case off to expose the delicate insides. He also dropped the tube to the floor.

"Destroy that thing fast," Vitus said. "The sooner we're far away from here, the better."

"You think they'll take it seriously?" Alexandros asked.

"Maybe not yet," Vitus said, running over to the room's sole window to the outside and pulling the curtain back to peek out. "But they're about to get flooded with too many calls to not take seriously."

"

"If you're not sure, then pack it," Kunzite said firmly as a half-dozen tin cans floated right in front of him before landing in a large black luggage container, nestling right up next to a trio of long rectangular cases. "What we're packing is all we're going to have."

Jadeite, standing a few steps inside the opened storage room, constantly spinning around to look at the contents of the various shelves, was quickly escorting most of the stored items out to the large box. Pushing his psychic abilities close to their limits, Jadeite was able to move around dozens of different objects at once using only his mind.

"Get plenty of the Kittle Clay," Kunzite reminded his younger counterpart. "I have a feeling that whatever we end up coming up with, it'll involve some explosions."

Jadeite did not verbally reply, too focused on the task of leveraging his abilities to quickly load up the container, but did indeed add several large brown bundles to the collection of items he was withdrawing.

"What kind of missions are we going to be conducting here?" Nephrite asked, coming up from behind Kunzite, getting the eldest Earth general to spin around. Nephrite had a container identical to the one in front of Kunzite right behind him, this one sealed up and hovering just a touch above the ground. "It would really help if we had some idea of what we might end up doing once we're out there."

"There's no way of knowing," Kunzite said simply, rounding Nephrite and crouching down towards his luggage receptacle and popping the lid open. "We have to be prepared for every possibility. And we have to assume that whatever we end up needing to do, we'll only be able to use what we load onto the ship."

Nephrite's case was half loaded with bundled stacks of paper money, enough to account for several million creds worth, and the other half consisted of large piles of assorted gemstones. Satisfied, Kunzite locked the case up again.

"Stealth, sabotage, all-out war, infiltration, negotiation...it could be anything. We're not hard-pressed for storage space, so don't be shy about taking anything with you."

"I give us less than a minuta before the alarms start getting raised, by the way," Nephrite added, glancing over at Jadeite.

"We're on schedule," Kunzite grunted. "Zoisite's down in the garage hooking The Bastion with the remote controls. We'll be out of here in time."

"Ugh!" Jadeite grunted, a final few packs of adhesive bandages falling into place inside the container, finally filling it to capacity. "Alright, I think that's everything."

Kunzite kneeled down to close up the filled container. "Let's lock this place up good before we leave," he added. "Last thing we need is someone looking in here and wondering why our armory is so sparse." With a push of his palm against the side of the box, the lid was locked down.

"

The high degree of tension in the room was weighing down on both Tellu and Ptilol, each of them standing on either side of where Cronus was seated. The interior of Cronus's most recent personal craft carried only superficial and largely irrelevant differences from the previous ones, both of the young women finding the recent cycles a blur in terms of which ship Cronus was using at any given time. He took every opportunity to switch to a new one, taking every imaginable precaution against potential attempts on his life by the Prince.

Cronus was seated at a small makeshift desk, just a simple end table in front of a plain stool, staring down at an active communicator disc right in front of him. A very quiet throat-clearing signalled that there was a person on the other side of the call, just enough to get the holographic soundwave to vibrate.

Tellu and Ptilol exchanged a glance above Cronus's head.

"Nothing."

Eudial's voice was distinctive enough to be clearly identified over the crystal-clear connection, despite the great distance between the two communicators, and tremendous speed at which the ship was moving at.

"The Prince and Kunzite are now a full minuta late. They've never been nearly this late before and they always call ahead when they are," Eudial continued.

Cronus couldn't stop himself from a physical outburst of frustration, slamming his right palm down on the desk, scowling deeply.

"H-how could they possibly have known?" Ptilol mumbled, as much to herself as anything else.

"They didn't," Cronus hissed, getting to his feet. "We lost the game of chicken. Obviously, they knew this was coming, they've simply guessed well."

"Now what?" Tellu asked hurriedly, eager to get her boss to start thinking about potential solutions to this problem instead of the problem itself. He had already proven himself capable of offing an underling in a moment of anger and disappointment.

"We have to be prepared for anything," Cronus said quickly. "I seriously doubt that he'll try to turn me in to his father or the agency, but we should go into full-time off the grid mode just in case. And we need to keep on the move, I'm sure the Prince at least has a plan to try to get me, he can't believe that all this just goes away if he stops showing up to the lab." He bent down over the communicator. "Eudial, invest all resources into assassination attempts on High King Kasios and Prince Endymion. They're the ones who are capable of ruining everything for us if they're left alive long enough. Get to them as soon as possible, once they're gone things can go back to normal for us."

"Yes, boss," Eudial replied. "What about the lab?"

"Leave it," Cronus ordered. "I want to leave open the possibility that this ends with us in possession of Endymion's raw supply after we kill him. And remember, take every precaution. Obviously, we are infinitely better-equipped to survive this war than the Prince, but that does not make us invincible."

"Understood, boss," Eudial said.

As the communicator switched off as the connection ended, Cronus again frowned.

"We were just a couple days too late," he muttered. "I give that order two days earlier and there's nothing to be concerned about."

"Boss, will you be wanting us to work with Eudial on the assassinations?" Ptilol asked.

Cronus shook his head. "No, I...I need additional security around me right now. The Prince is desperate now, he and his generals will be throwing everything they have at me. I need...I need you two watching my back at all times. Helping me look at things from different angles. It's the only way to guarantee survival."

"Got it," Tellu said quickly. "The Prince won't be getting anywhere near you, whatever we have to do to guarantee that."

"

Endymion leaned up against the ornate, white wall of the palace hallway, right next to his bedroom door, face warring between multiple expressions. Ones of sadness, anger, despair, frustration...you name a negative emotion, and Endymion was trying to display it. His hands went up to cover his face, and he slowly pushed his long fingers through his thick black hair, inhaling and exhaling slowly to try to settle himself physically.

Somehow, this seemed like the hardest part of it all. He was about to embark on a million-to-one mission of trying to kill a man who was both the most successful business C.E.O. and the most powerful criminal Kingpin in the galaxy, with nothing more than four skilled assistants and a B-class ship luggage compartment worth of equipment, but that seemed almost easy compared to this.

And that was just for him. He could only imagine what he was about to put his wife through in the next seven or eight secundas, and how she would force herself to simply deal with it since she would have no other choice. If he could even convince her that she had no other choice, of course, which was no guarantee.

After doing this, he thought to himself, killing Cronus and burying his participation in his business might even seem easy in comparison.

Conscious of someone possibly seeing him in the hallway and raising more questions, he steeled himself, then spun around and ripped the bedroom door open. It almost physically hurt for him to see Serenity, leaning over the crib and observing Chibiusa's sleeping form. He almost hoped that she might suddenly cease to exist and there would be no need for him to explain himself.

"Sweetie?" Endymion said, shutting the door securely behind him and locking it. The blonde Princess turned towards him, an eased smile on her face that wasn't going to be around much longer. "We need to talk."

"Something wrong?" she asked, taking a few steps away from the crib. Endymion gestured for her to keep coming towards him, desiring to keep this discussion far away from their child.

"Um...well, yes," he admitted. That was enough to knock the smile off her face. "Just, just come here. I need to listen to me, very carefully. I won't be able to repeat myself, and we won't get another chance."

Serenity, now starting to pick up on the seriousness of the situation, crossed the room as quick as she could. "W-what's that supposed to mean?"

"Um...okay, Serenity. Any moment now, maybe in a minuta, there's going to be an palace-wide alarm raised, and the palace guard is going to be collecting everyone. They're going to...they're going to say that they have reason to believe that my dad has been targeted for an assassination by the Atlantic Independent...F-federation."

Serenity somehow managed to look even more mystified, shoulders drooping as she was halfway convinced that her husband was going mad.

"They're an organization, they opposed my father's rule, committed some terrorist attacks three years ago in the eastern hemisphere. S-so, they're going to escort everyone down into the bunker. It's safe down there, nobody can get in there, you can stay down there for a year if need be, it's...it's safe. You, Chibiusa, your mother, you'll all be moved down there."

"W...I...Endy, where do I even start?!" Serenity asked. "Um, well...you'll be down there too, of course, right?"

"No, no, I'm...Serenity, I'm leaving," Endymion said, starting to waver and falter, the conversation breaking him down. It was somehow harder, him having to verbalize his plan, instead of simply thinking about it. "I'm leaving with my generals, and...I don't know when I'm going to be back."

"What?!" Serenity gasped. "W-why would you...and...how do you know about any of this anyway? Endy, this doesn't make any sense!"

"Wait, wait!" Endymion begged. "Just let me finish. Serenity, the...the assassination attempt isn't coming from the Atlantic Independent Federation, it's...it's a false flag. I had a series of fake tips called in warning about it."

Serenity only didn't interrupt because she was too much in shock to manage a response, her mouth dropping open as far as it could.

"W-well, no, there...there IS an assassination attempt. There WILL be. But, it's…" he swallowed down hard. "The man I've been working with. Cronus. He's going to try to kill him. I don't know how he'll do it, but he's out to kill all of us."

"...what?" Serenity said. "Endymion, you said—"

"I know! I know, I...I know what I said!" Endymion said, voice wavering with emotion. At the very least, there wouldn't be enough time for her to get mad at him right now, but this confession was very difficult for him. "I know what I said, and...what I said was true at the time, but...things have changed. Things changed, and I've done everything I could to try to handle it before it got out of control, but...the truth is, Serenity, I've been living under the threat of death for the last several cycles. And time's run out. Cronus means to kill me, my dad, and...anyone else who he thinks could pose a threat to him or expose him."

"Several cycles?" Serenity repeated. "Endymion, you told me that everything was safe! You told me that there wasn't any danger!"

"I did, I did, I...I was afraid to say it!" Endymion admitted, putting his hands up in front of him in a slightly defensive pose. "I'm sorry, I should have...I've been lying to myself for awhile now. I believed that I could fix this, that I could make it go away before it involved anyone else, but...he's coming now. And I'm sorry. I should never have let it go this far, I should have...I should have done so many things differently. But...all I can do now is make sure that everyone else is safe. So just go down into the bunker when the guards come to collect you. And stay down there, it'll be safe. C-Cronus might be powerful, but he won't be able to get in there."

"W...well, if...you should be down there too, then!" Serenity said, tears forming in her eyes.

The selfish part of Endymion was relieved that she hadn't swung right into berating him for lying about his work. He didn't have the time nor the mental fortitude to deal with that right now, even if it was only for a second.

"No, no, I can't be down there," Endymion said, shaking his head and glancing away from his wife.

"You said he's coming to kill you!" Serenity shouted. "You...if he's coming to kill you, then you need to be protected as well! Why wouldn't you be down in the bunker as well!"

"Serenity, you...this man, he will stop at nothing to kill me. If I go down into that bunker, I may as well stay down there for the rest of my life. The moment I stick my head out of the palace, my life will be in danger. This only ends with Cronus dead and buried, the only chance I have is going out there to end this."

"W...wait, no! You're a father! Endymion, you have a young daughter, you're...you're the lone heir to the Earth Kingdom, you can't just—"

"Serenity," Endymion interrupted, feeling precious time ticking off, knowing he had to resolve this quickly. "Serenity, listen. I'm sorry, I know...I'm asking you to accept a lot in a very short time, I know this isn't fun to listen to, but...I have made choices over this last year. And it has to be me who faces the consequences of those choices. Not you, not our daughter, not my father or your mother, me. So, I'm going to go out there, and I'm going to fight like hell to survive, I'm going to do everything I can to...to come back, but the reality is, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen out there, and I don't know how it's going to end. The only thing that matters now, the only thing that I care about, is that I'm far away from you and our daughter if the worst happens. I have to face the consequences, nobody else."

Serenity blinked rapidly, clearly starting to panic as her husband all but admitted that he was likely heading off to his death. "W-well, no! You, we...we can tell your father! We can tell him the truth, he can take your testimony to the agency, Cronus won't be able to hurt you from prison! I've said before—"

"No, no, it doesn't matter now!" Endymion said. "It's too late, he already knows!"

Serenity's face scrunched up. "W-what do you mean he knows?!" She just barely managed to keep her voice low enough to avoid waking up Chibiusa. "No he doesn't, if he knew—"

"He knows about Cronus, he...he's figured it out somehow, he just can't prove it!" Endymion grimaced. "And Cronus has already gone dark by now, telling my father won't help anything! The only thing he doesn't know is about my involvement! No, this...it's the only way. I'm sorry that it's come to this, and I'm sorry to put all this on you like this, but this is the only way this plays out. I can't have...I won't have assassins coming here to kill me in my sleep with you lying next to me!"

Serenity's eyes downcast slightly towards the carpeted floor.

"Serenity, really, I'm sorry, it's not fair. But this is the only thing to do now. If I tell my father everything, the only thing that changes is that he'll know about me. As far as he knows, I'll be running around Earth putting the final touches on paying off the people who invested in the deep space program and making diplomatic visits to prepare for taking the throne. If it comes up, that's the story. Okay?"

Serenity sighed, wearing a pained expression. "I-it's the only way? You're sure?" A few tears leaked down her cheeks now.

"I...this is it." Endymion swung his arms out to his sides. "This is all I can do to keep the people I care about safe. If the worst happens, then it needs to happen on the other side of the galaxy, while you're in the most secure location in the universe."

"If...if the worst happens," Serenity repeated under her breath. "It...it almost sounds like you're expecting for this to end with you dead, how can I just be okay with that?! The way you're talking it's like...as if this is the last time we'll ever talk!"

"Serenity, I'm done lying to you. I'm just...I have to be honest right now. It really might be my last chance to be honest. Cronus, he's...the things he's done, the resources he has, what he's capable of, I don't know what's going to happen. And I, I promise, I'm going to fight like hell to stay alive out there, but the truth is...I don't know if I'm coming back. I really don't. But whatever happens, I just want to know that you'll be safe."

Serenity closed her eyes, a couple more tears leaking out of the inside corners of them. Finally, she nodded. "Okay, I...come back. Please, just...find a way to come back, I don't...just, come back."

"I'll do everything that I can," Endymion said, stepping in towards her and grabbing her head in both hands, pulling her in to kiss her on the forehead. "But just know, I love you. And whatever mistakes I've made, and I'm sure there are too many to count, just know, it was always you in my heart."

Serenity wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Okay, okay. I won't tell your father anything, just...be careful out there."

"If it goes badly, tell him everything, he'll...he'll understand the gravity of the threat if he knows it's coming from Cronus. But until then, say nothing, he's safe as long as he's down in the bunker." He pulled away from her. "I have to go now, the alarm will be raised very soon, I need to be out by then."

"Hey," Serenity said as Endymion started backing up towards the glass balcony doors. "Endy, we'll...we'll have to have a real talk about this after it's over, but...stay alive, okay? Make it back. Please."

Endymion hesitated, feeling the urge once again to drop everything, wait to be escorted down into the bunker, and hope things would work out another way. Perhaps Cronus would drop dead of some deadly disease or trip and hit his head on a staircase. For the briefest of moments, hoping for something like that seemed more appetizing than leaving his family to embark on what felt like a suicide mission. But then, it was gone, and the reality of the situation forced him to simply nod and then turn around, breaking into a run towards the balcony.

"

"Are you sure she understands?" Kunzite asked, staring right at Endymion as the two young men quickly took the handful of steps up the ramp into Endymion's personal ship. The sound of their boots clacking at the metal surface got Endymion's other three generals, already seated up close to the cockpit, to turn around and look.

"Kunzite, I just told her that an extremely powerful man is trying to kill all of us and that I'm going to try to stop him at great risk to myself, there's...I'm sure she understands, but of course she absolutely hates it!" Endymion grunted, quickly pushing through the rows of chairs to make his way up to the control console at the front of the ship.

"I know, Your Highness, but the important part is that she keeps quiet. Even if this works, even if we somehow survive the next few days, it will all mean very little if she lets something slip to your father," Kunzite replied, sliding into one of the empty seats behind Nephrite.

"She said she'd keep quiet, that's the best I can do," Endymion said. "I don't doubt she's emotional and could potentially do something she immediately regrets, but...we've done all we can." With a couple of frantic button presses on the center console, the ramp behind them swung up and the ship was closed.

"We've rigged this ship up so we can control it remotely," Kunzite explained. "We've set up a second ship a hundred haplouns to the south, so we'll go there first and make the switch. As far as the palace will be concerned, we'll all be in here, going around, conducting some final touches before the transfer of power." Kunzite explained, glancing over towards Zoisite behind him, as he nodded to confirm the remote controls had been successfully set up.

Everyone waited for Endymion to power the ship up and engage the engines, but his hands had stopped, resting on the edges of the console. For several beats, the cabin of the ship was silent, only the urgency of the situation getting Jadeite to prod the Prince out of his momentary stupor.

"Your Highness? The alarm will go up in a matter of secundas," Jadeite reminded him.

"It'll be safe down in that bunker," Endymion said, eyes straight forward, looking out the front window of the ship. "If any of you would rather wait this out down there, now's the time to say."

More silence. None of his four generals stirred or made a sound.

"I wouldn't judge any of you too harshly for it. Nothing good is waiting out there for us."

Again, he waited, giving all of them every opportunity to back out at the final moment. You could have heard a pin drop in the cabin.

"Alright, then," he finally declared, reaching forward to tap the console awake, the muted roar of the engines coming to life finally breaking the tension as he guided the ship out of the docking port.