A/N: Again, sorry for the delay...work has been working me very hard in recent weeks.
Chapter 57: A Good Year
Aphrodite jolted, her heavy chain rattling abrasively against the heavy metal table as her arms instinctively came up to protect her face. The door into her makeshift prison cell aboard Kunzite's secret ship had zipped open to admit her primary captor, the white-haired elder general of Earth. The once-attractive blonde fought between fear and elation, as she had already suffered quite a bit at the hands of Kunzite after her capture, but also knew that he may very well be there to free her.
"Y-you did it?!" she asked, heartbeat accelerating at an unhealthy pace.
Kunzite didn't answer, simply closing the distance between the captor and prisoner.
"I-I know I gave you the right information!" she said, hairs on the back of her neck standing up at his angered and serious expression. "I'm sure I did! If something went wrong, it wasn't because of me!"
"Miss Aphrodite of Venus," Kunzite said, hitching his right leg up a bit to sit down on the far corner of the steel table she was chained to, still staring right at her. "It seems your end of the deal has been completed."
Despite his words, she found herself entirely incapable of feeling any comfort. Theoretically, those words should have been a prelude to her release, but his mere aura and presence made it impossible for her to have genuine optimism. Nevertheless, she pressed the point.
"Then I want to leave!" she said quickly, unable to not sound terrified. "I did what I said I would, now let me go! I'll...I'll disappear in the outer regions, on...on Jupiter, or Neptune. You won't see me again!" She edged away from him as much as she could.
He just kept levelling that piercing glare right at her, putting her on edge like nothing she had ever experienced before. Nevertheless, she could think of nothing else to do but keep trying to push for him to uphold his end, so she kept talking.
"That was the deal! That's what you said would happen!"
"You are truly a fool if you thought that your sins could be forgiven by anything that you could possibly do," Kunzite said sternly.
"No, NO!" she shouted. "We had a deal!" She jerked her arms against the chain keeping her leashed to the table, rattling it heavily.
"You can consider yourself absolved for your betrayal of Princess Venus to the Galactic Imperium Agency, if it makes you feel better." Kunzite pushed off the corner of the table, crouching down to grab a heavy mallet off the floor next to the table. "But having her killed to save yourself, there's nothing you can do to avoid retribution from that."
"W-what?!" she snapped, desperately trying to work the chain against the bar it was looped around, at the same time attempting and failing to stand up from the chair she was tied to. "What?!"
"Aphrodite, you're about to die, there's no point in lying to someone who won't believe you in your final moments," Kunzite said flatly.
"I didn't...no, I didn't! I didn't kill her!" she snapped, sounding a little angry even in her panicked terror. "I...I wouldn't!"
"You'd just condemn her to a life of imprisonment," Kunzite deadpanned.
"T-there's a l-line!" she said defensively. "I had nothing to do with having her killed, I would never go that far."
Kunzite sighed. "Is this really how you want to spend this time?"
"I...I didn't!" she insisted, eyes glued to that mallet in Kunzite's hand. "Whatever you think of me, I wouldn't do that! I…" she could see Kunzite losing interest in the conversation, and she knew exactly what that would lead to. She racked her brain for something she could say that might at least buy her some time. "He did it!"
Kunzite's face suddenly hardened, marking a sudden interest in what she had to say. "He?"
"Your...your boss! The High King!" She nodded rapidly, desperately clinging onto the mild bit of interest she had seemingly managed to get from him. "Yeah, I...I didn't have the connections or resources to do anything like that! I was in custody!"
For the first time since Kunzite had entered the room, his gaze averted from her, looking over at the wall, mind cranking through what Aphrodite had just suggested to him.
"He never liked her! Couldn't stand her, I'm sure you saw it!" Aphrodite was still very much frantic, on the verge of a complete breakdown. "He hated her, he'd...he'd do it! He had the connections, the resources! He didn't want to pay her, so he...he did it!"
Kunzite let the suggestion wash over him, allowing himself just a moment to genuinely consider, without bias, the possibility that her accusation had merit. Just a few beats where he forgot that Endymion was the man he served and obeyed in all regards, without limitation or restriction.
"He...it was him. He's the only one who could have done it and would have wanted to do it," she said in a meek voice.
And just like that, the moment had passed. Firming his grip on the mallet, he took a powerful, long step towards her, his posture and expression clearly indicating his malicious intent. Aphrodite tried to back away from the menacing Earth general, but with a sharp rattle from her chain, it was clear there was nowhere for her to go.
Kunzite raised the mallet up above his head.
"
"Kunzite's ship just called in a hangar request, he'll be back at the palace any moment now," Zoisite's voice informed Endymion, the audio feed coming clearly through the High King's earpiece. "You should be ready to leave as soon as he arrives, Your Highness."
Endymion was standing in the corner of his bedroom, the one furthest from the door, hands clasped together in front of him as he listened to his earpiece intently.
"I'll be ready," he answered.
"This meeting is extremely important if we're going to continue operating in this galaxy, Your Highness. There are very few people alive who have the means and desire to do what we need. This needs to go well," Zoisite continued.
"I assure you, I know that better than you," Endymion said, reaching down towards his waist. "See you shortly." He pressed a button on his communicator that was clipped to his belt, ending the short-distance call.
Knowing he only had a few secundas left before he would have to depart, he turned his attention to his wife, who was sitting on the bed, staring down at her tablet, wearing her anxiety on her face.
"When I'm done today, things are going to be a lot easier from here on out," he said conversationally. "There's nothing left for us to do but count money, sweetie. It wasn't easy to get here, I'm...I've done things I'm not proud of, but we're finally here."
Serenity didn't look any happier by Endymion's proclamation. She glanced up at him, a flicker of her eyes, before she was right back down to her tablet screen.
"I mean it this time. Really, it's...from now on, it's just a business. We provide goods and services in exchange for money." He went up next to her, trying to say something that might make her feel better. She reached up to rub the back of her head with her right hand absentmindedly.
He leaned over, peeking at her tablet screen, trying to see what had completely taken control of her attention and had left none of it for him. She was reading a news story, the headline just large enough for him to make out from the short distance away.
TWO DEAD IN VIOLENT PRISON RIOT ON BOARD THE SAVERY, ASSASSINATIONS TO SILENCE POTENTIAL WITNESSES LIKELY
Serenity sighed, glancing over at Endymion out of the corner of her eyes, the implication clear. Endymion thought about trying to deny it, but quickly abandoned the thought and simply straightened back up, giving her a disappointed look.
"You know, I liked you better stupid," Endymion said resignedly.
"Me too," Serenity mumbled to herself quietly. Her suspicions effectively confirmed, she tossed the tablet down on the top of the bed blanket. He waited for her to say something further to shame him or at least insult him, but nothing came. She just sat there, resigned to the fact that her husband was who she thought he was, not needing any words to hammer that point home further.
"Like I said. I'm not proud of it," Endymion said, sounding far too casual for Serenity's tastes. "But there was no choice."
A knock at the door saved the High King from any further need to defend his actions, and Endymion quickly exited the conversation, acknowledging it was a lost cause. He closed the distance between him and the door, opening it to find Kunzite standing there.
"It's done," Kunzite said in a low voice.
Endymion wordlessly clapped him on the left shoulder with his right hand, nodding before gently pushing him back into the main hallway. Kunzite stepped back, allowing Endymion out of his room. As soon as the High King shut the door behind him, the two moved briskly down the hallway.
"You got what you needed?" Endymion asked him, looking empathetically at his general.
Kunzite thought for a moment before shrugging. "I...it doesn't undo anything she did."
"Nothing can do that," Endymion said. "But it's all we can do sometimes."
Kunzite smirked a bit. "You know, she tried to pin it on you at the end."
Endymion could almost feel the violent beat his heart suddenly gave, although he was able to not break his stride down the hallway. "Oh?"
"She swore she had nothing to do with having Venus killed, and...I don't really know what she was thinking, but, she tried to say you had done it."
Endymion chuckled. "If I thought you were about to kill me, I'd be saying a lot of pathetic things to try to get you to stop as well."
"Mm," Kunzite said thoughtfully. "W-well, at least she didn't get away with it. That's the best I can say. It's not much, but...but we do what we can."
"You're prepared for this meeting, I hope?" Endymion asked, eager to change the subject.
Kunzite nodded. "If this goes well, Your Majesty, this may be the last time we have to get our hands dirty."
"Don't tell me you're getting squeamish now," Endymion said teasingly. "Come on, nobody's happier than you that there's a little excitement around the palace these last couple years. You've gotten to use your talents. I know you've loved it."
Kunzite grimaced briefly. "I, uh, I don't know, Your Highness. I'll be happy when this can just be a business."
"Then you're going to love today," Endymion said confidently.
"
"You're really not going to let me see what you look like?" the raven-haired man in the grey pinstriped suit said, although his tone was playful and amused more than actually upset. "How can I enter a pact with a man who won't even let me see his face?"
Endymion, once again wearing his Tuxedo Mask disguise, lifted the small white cup of tea to his lips. "It's better this way, Your Majesty. I don't want you to know me, and you don't want to know me. The only thing that matters is the money we're going to be making."
The outdoor dining area just outside the former King Mars's retirement mansion befit the man of wealth and status who resided there, a table made of glass with gold trimmings next to a massive pool of clear water and several imported palm trees from Earth. It was a far cry from the kind of things you typically saw on Mars, arguably the polar opposite of the minimalism you'd find there.
But that made perfect sense, as the recently-retired King Mars could not possibly have cared less about his former planet's dogma around things like materialism and showiness. It was a very poorly kept secret that the former King saw his rule as nothing more than a venue for him to amass as much personal wealth as he could, at the expense of everything that made Mars unique. The strong spiritual beliefs of the planet's populace took a hit thanks to his complete indifference to it, and by the end of his reign he was wildly unpopular. After retiring, which he had done the moment his only daughter was old enough to take the crown, he had run off to enjoy life on Neptune, basking in the wealth and status he had created for himself while serving as King.
His retirement mansion was massive, built on a plot of land a few leugas in size, with a giant wall bordering it on all sides, making it so Endymion felt comfortable wearing his Tuxedo Mask disguise without being indoors. Ex-King Mars was seated on the west side of the glass dining table, two bodyguards right behind him, with Endymion sitting opposite, similarly flanked by Kunzite and Nephrite.
"So." The former royal squeezed a fat brown cigar between his teeth for a moment, sucking down some of the entrails before pulling it out. "Tuxedo Mask exists after all, does he?"
"Appears that way," Endymion said. "So, do you want a piece of the biggest pie in galactic history?"
"Hmm." He leaned back, still looking like he was enjoying himself, and giving every indication that he was very interested. "I've got a controlling share of Meglomo Markets, selling food products on every planet in the solar system, I'm sure you did your research and knew that. You could probably fit a nice little distribution network inside that."
"Great minds think alike, Your Highness," Endymion responded.
"Ah, enough with that Highness thing," he said, waving his hand dismissively towards the disguised High King. "Solon, my name is good enough, I'm no Highness anymore."
"Once a Highness, always a Highness," Endymion countered. "But if you insist, Solon."
"But what makes you think I need the money?" He put his arms out towards his sides, indicating his surroundings.
"I think you want the money," the disguised High King suggested. "You've spent your whole life trying to make more money, why should you abandon that now that you can make billions per cycle by using infrastructure you already have?"
Solon shrugged, but nodded all the same. "I can't deny that. But I have to ask, how many billions are we talking about here?"
Endymion smiled. "It really depends on your capacity." He pointed across the table as Solon took the cigar back into his mouth. "But I'll give you thirty percent of the take. If you put enough work into the network, you'll be making...three, four billion creds a cycle."
"Hm," Solon muttered. "I don't think I have it in me to turn you down." He laughed. "Why even pretend I'm having a hard time thinking about it? Obviously, I'm in."
Endymion could almost feel everything clicking into place inside his head as Solon didn't even waste time negotiation of feigning lack of interest. It felt incredibly satisfying, after so many things over the last two years having been drawn out and difficult, often to the point of threatening Endymion's life, it felt very good to have something just work. Particularly in that, had Solon not been interested, it was very unlikely they could have found another person in this universe who had the proper combination of wealth, resources, and hunger for more power.
"You'll have to give me some time to put the network together, but...for something like this, I'll only need about ten or twenty days at most."
Endymion smiled, slowly rising to his feet. "So. Hope you're ready to count a lot of money."
He slowly paced around the table, happy to see that the former King's bodyguards weren't even visibly reacting as he got closer to him. He took in a deep, filling breath, the afterglow of such an easy deal made empowering him all the more.
"I have practice," Solon said, turning his body to the right to face Endymion.
"I can tell just looking at you, you're the kind of man who places value in a handshake." Endymion extended his gloved hand out towards Solon. "So, I'll take this as a confirmation."
Solon wasted no time, putting his own right hand out towards the disguised High King, sealing the accord between the two.
"
ONE CYCLE LATER
"Looks like a perfect match to me," Endymion said, clapping his hands together in front of him. He was surrounded by a large set of laboratory equipment, things that he was intimately familiar with after the last couple years.
The demand from Solon's distribution network and Seiya's crew had been rapidly accelerating since their respective deals, both sides hungry to keep pumping more and more of Endymion's exclusive imperium through. The former King had indeed managed to quickly put together a solid and reliable distribution network in a matter of days, moving with the kind of efficiency that only billions of creds could buy, concealing it all underneath the shield of a respected and highly-profitable foodstuffs operation. It was as if Endymion had revived Cronus and completely flipped the power dynamics between supplier and distributor, now in control and taking a large majority of the money.
Meanwhile, Seiya had a bottomless stomach for imperium, absolutely no limit to the amount of gold he was willing to fork over in exchange for saving his home galaxy. It was truly a gift from above, having a client like Seiya drop into his lap, a brazenly desperate and phenomenally well-funded partner. Put it all together, and Endymion needed to find a way to drastically increase supply to fully capitalize.
One space yacht was no longer cutting it. They needed two. So, the High King had commissioned another one, under the guise of believing in the technology behind it and giving it to his loyal Earth generals as a gift. And, just as The Luise had a secret imperium laboratory, so too did The Meiste.
Zoisite looked down at the protective helmet in his hands, shifting it around to look at it from all angles. "Your Highness, I want you to know that I spent all evening last night going over Kunzite's instructions, and I have supreme confidence we'll be able to maintain our quality with just us."
"I know everything Kunzite knows," Endymion said, maybe a tiny bit pridefully. "We'll maintain our quality."
Endymion and Kunzite had to split up now, with two laboratories running, so the High King was now paired off with Zoisite, while Kunzite had borrowed Nephrite as a laboratory assistant.
"I...I have to ask, Your Majesty, was it truly necessary to get a second ship?" Zoisite asked. "There were things we could have done to increase the output of the first lab a little, I just...how much longer do we plan on doing this?"
Endymion smirked to himself, running his right hand against the stainless steel exterior of the main laboratory vat.
"It'll be a few cycles before this ship justifies the expense in commissioning it, and...well, I just can't help but wonder. Are we going to get to that point?"
"We should get started," Endymion said, going over to where the protective uniforms were hanging up on the wall by the laboratory door, undoubtedly ignoring the question intentionally. "We'll start with the catalyst bed preparations."
"
TWO CYCLES LATER
"We're starting to run out of places to hide all this," Serenity said in a monotone, looking lifelessly at the large pallet of paper money in front of her, unimpressed. "I don't know if you know that."
"That's a very, very good problem to have," Endymion said, sounding amused by his wife's concern.
The two were standing in one of Kunzite's safehouses, a small cabin out in the rural part of the western hemisphere of Earth, just a four-room cottage out in the middle of roughly nowhere. The latest bounty of payment for Endymion's precious power was sitting there, although the two had seen similar collections of money so much in recent cycles, it was very much business as usual. Money was flooding in like an absolute tsunami, while the process of laundering it into the treasury remained at a small trickle.
"You speak as if it's not your problem," Serenity said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I assure you, it is."
"You're the Queen of Earth, Serenity, I'm sure you can figure it out," Endymion responded. "You have resources. Use them."
She rolled her eyes. "Can we load this and leave, please?"
Endymion nodded, turning to look at Serenity as she approached the bed of paper money. "Don't you have something you should do first?"
Serenity stopped mid-step, turning back to her estranged husband with a wrinkled face, blinking wordlessly towards him.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten," Endymion said, sounding lighthearted and at ease. "Come on, I know we've had our issues, but this only happens once a year."
Serenity rolled her eyes and turned back to the money, clearly having lost whatever little interest she had.
"Oh come on!" Endymion went up behind Serenity, placing his hand gently on her shoulder. "I only turn twenty-two once! Just acknowledge it!"
"Congratulations," Serenity said stiffly.
"You can do better than that," Endymion goaded, having fun with annoying her. "Look, if you say it, I'll leave you alone the rest of the day. I promise."
Serenity almost laughed. "Can we just get on with this?"
"I mean it!" Endymion said. "I'm not asking for a party or present, just...acknowledge it. Really, I'll leave you alone the rest of the day."
The young Queen sighed. "Happy birthday," she muttered.
"See?" Endymion said with a grin. "Not so bad."
"
FOUR CYCLES LATER
"There's no need for you to come out here, you know," Kunzite said warily, watching as a half dozen giant black barrels were moved via levitating anti-gravity pads through the docking bay of the massive freighter, passing into the cargo bay of the docked Falconeri. "You're spending enough time outside the palace for this as is."
"Sometimes I just like to...drop by and take it all in," Endymion said, looking all across the massive storage bay at the seemingly never ending rows of stacked barrels, each one filled to the brim with ultra-valuable raw imperium. Even after all the imperium they had synthesized over the last two years, it still seemed like they were never going to run out. "I like to remind myself how much work there's still to do."
"Your Majesty," Kunzite started. "I...I think we should revisit some things, while we're here."
Endymion nodded knowingly, already fully aware of what his most esteemed general was likely about to say.
"We've been working with Solon for over half a year now, he's made tens of billions of creds. If our arrangement were to end tomorrow, he would have nothing to complain about," Kunzite began. "It's time to consider an exit strategy."
"Why do we keep having this same conversation?" Endymion asked. "I've told you what my goals are. Have we achieved them yet?"
"Your Majesty, every time we do this, every single day we continue to participate in this business, is another opportunity to get caught. The odds might be tiny, but we face them every single day, you must realize that it's just a matter of time. Haven't we made enough money?"
"I've told you, this ceased to be just about money a long time ago," Endymion said confidently. "We are nowhere close to reaching our potential from this."
"Your father is still hunting you," Kunzite said. "You know he's not incompetent. The agency isn't incompetent. We have been extraordinarily lucky in the last half-year, barely any dealer arrests, how much longer can we push this?"
Endymion chuckled, slowly meandering over towards Kunzite and giving him a couple of light taps on the chest. "I do so appreciate having you around, Kunzite. Even a flawless operation needs a pessimist."
"I'm not a pessimist, Your Highness," Kunzite insisted, trying to sound as serious and strong as he could to offset Endymion clearly not taking him particularly seriously.
"Kunzite. Relax." Endymion gave him a slightly condescending clap on the shoulder before stepping around him. "You're going to be remembered as the top general of the most prolific ruler in galactic history. You just have to let it happen. That's all there is to it. Don't take that away from yourself out of paranoia."
Kunzite sighed as Endymion made it clear he was no longer interested in hearing what he had to say.
"Let's go spin our straw into gold!" Endymion said jovially, following the collection of barrels into The Falconeri, leaving Kunzite behind with little consideration. The general could only press his fingers to his forehead in frustration, forced to be concerned in silence.
"
SIX CYCLES LATER
Chibiusa propped the stuffed bunny up on the tiny wooden chair, putting the final touches on the scene. A robust collection of stuffed animals were arranged around a tiny circular table in the middle of the room, looking only more comical due to how massive the room was. Nevertheless, as far as the young girl was concerned, this could not have been more serious.
Each stuffed animal had a blue or pink teacup in front of them, clearly marking this as an imaginary tea party, the large fake teapot in the middle of the table completing the picture. Chibiusa was more than happy to do all the work in setting this event up, propping her toys up one by one, a task that could not help but seem silly to any adult, but in the mind of a toddler it seemed like the most important thing in the world.
"She's started putting on these little plays with her toys," the elder Serenity said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the side of the wall opening between rooms. Her daughter was standing right next to her, keeping their distance from Chibiusa, as if the sudden entrance of an adult would break the illusion of the imaginary tea party. It was more fun to watch the toddler working by herself. "Surprisingly elaborate. I recorded some of it, you should watch it later."
"I will," the young Queen said. "Definitely."
"You wouldn't believe what happens when you're not here," she added, sounding a little wistful. "You wouldn't believe what you miss. Every day, she does something amazing, and...you can come here every other day, every day, it doesn't matter. You miss so much."
"I know, I know," Serenity replied, sounding distracted now, eager to change the subject.
"No, no I don't think you do," her mother continued, turning to face her daughter. "Sweetie, I love her, but she's your daughter. She's been living with me for over a year now, and...I know she loves being around me and Kasios, but she's growing up with her mother working part-time right now!"
The Queen sighed, putting her palm up on her face. "I don't like it either, but there are things worse than...growing up without your mother around all the time."
"But it's not good!" she kept pressing. "I just...you know I said, I'd support you through this as long as you needed it. But I have to ask. Whatever's going on down on Earth, is it really so terrible that your only daughter can't even be under the same roof?"
The Queen swallowed down a lump in her throat, the enjoyment of watching her daughter gone in a matter of secundas thanks to this conversation. "I'm afraid so."
"I can't make you do anything, and I'll let her stay here until she's eighty if you want me to," she said. "But, I don't think this is what you want. And I don't know if it's what she wants either. So...I'm sorry, I just have to ask. If there's anything you think you can do to bring you and Endymion together a little, then...I think it's worth trying."
Serenity frowned, looking down at the carpet in front of her.
"She's an amazing little girl, I just...I just want you to be able to see all the reasons why that is."
The young Queen sighed, privately admitting to herself that her mother's advice was having an impact on her. She turned her thoughts to her husband, back on Earth.
"
High King Endymion leaned back on the velvet chaise, holding a large white tablet up in front of his face, staring at the screen. He had a tiny little pellet in each ear, providing audio directly to him. He was very clearly looking to settle down for the evening.
Until, out of the corner of his vision, he saw his wife, standing there, looking right at him, clearly waiting for him to notice her. This wasn't something that had happened very much, especially over the last year, so Endymion nearly jumped in surprise. He instead opted for immediately ripping out his earpieces and sitting up.
"Are you doing anything tonight?" she asked, sounding remarkably neutral in tone.
"You're looking at it," Endymion answered aloofly.
"I want to show you something," she explained. "Is your ship ready?"
"Uh…" Endymion got to his feet, almost intimidated at this question, like she posed some sort of threat to him. "Sure, where...where are we going?"
"Moon palace," she answered, turning away from him and marching off towards the bedroom door. "Won't be long."
Endymion shrugged to himself, no idea how to interpret this, but far too curious to even consider resisting. He went in pursuit of his wife.
"
The High King felt very uncomfortable, surrounded on all sides by stone and metal, creating an almost nauseating, yet dull, blend of grey. There was so little to aptly describe the giant chamber Serenity had taken him to, he wasn't even really sure how to do it besides that one color. Grey.
The two had taken a short, silent trip up to the currently-unoccupied Moon Palace, presently manned by only a skeleton crew of maintenance people with no ruler who used the place as a residence. To his surprise, she had taken him to a place he was quite sure he had never been before, a hidden elevator locked underneath the master staircase. A quick trip down, deeper past the moon surface, took them underground, Endymion almost having half a mind to stop and demand an explanation from Serenity first. But, trusting that she didn't have it in her to do anything overly malicious, he held his tongue.
And now, they were down in a giant underground chamber, dark and dusty. There were half a dozen heavy steel doors on either side wall of the giant room, each one looking like it might have been protecting a vault full of gold or diamonds. A large control panel was at the front of the room, three rows of four buttons, each button with a keyhole right next to it.
"Didn't see this place in any of the tours," Endymion muttered, wondering if perhaps the Moon had hidden something from him all this time that she was finally choosing now to reveal.
"There wasn't anything to see," Serenity said, her voice clipped and cold. "Not until a few cycles ago."
"What is this place?" Endymion asked, crossing his arms over his chest, looking over the simple control panel.
"It was a prison," Serenity answered. "The King had this place built a thousand years ago to house the most high-value prisoners of war. Underneath the Palace, deep underground, made with massive amounts of stone and steel. Escape was impossible, being rescued from the outside slightly less impossible. Mechanisms to get food inside the cells without having to actually open the doors. You could keep the doors sealed for decades with someone inside and still be able to keep them alive."
Endymion raised an eyebrow as Serenity removed a large heavy ring of keys from underneath her dress, hanging from her neck. "If your plan is to try to get me in one of those cells, you're going about it the wrong way."
"The thought crossed my mind," Serenity said bitterly. "It hasn't been used in six hundred years. The Moon hasn't exactly found ourselves in any armed conflicts that produced prisoners worth keeping down here. So we just ignored it, basically forgot it existed."
She shoved one of the large metal keys into the matching hole, twisting a knob and hitting a button right next to the hole as she did so. With a great creak and groan, the closest door on the left-side wall started to slide to the left, gradually revealing the room behind it.
Endymion stared at the chamber as it was opened, feeling the sudden burst of air and slight change in atmosphere, slightly surprised as the room was revealed to be packed full of something covered in layers of plastic wrap. He took a few cautious steps towards the room, trying to figure out what filled it.
He was a couple steps short of actually going past the door before he realized that the entire cell had been packed to capacity with wrapped-up paper money, neatly put into stacks all the way up to the ceiling. Even though the High King had tremendous experience with looking at massive shows of wealth and large sums of money, the sheer monetary value in front of him was enough to draw a clear reaction of shock from him.
"So, nobody comes down here anymore," Serenity continued. "And now that mom isn't even living here, there's really no chance that anybody would ever even get this far, much less inside the cells." She stuck another key into the next hole, twisting it before going through the same process with another knob and button combination. The door on the other side of the room from Endymion, directly across from him, started to slide open.
This time, Endymion needed no close inspection to see that the room was filled with bars of gold bullion, once again stacked to the ceiling and filling the cell practically to bursting capacity. Immediately, the cell full of paper money seemed unimpressive all of a sudden.
"Trust me, that whole cell is full," Serenity added as the door finished opening all the way.
Endymion had nothing to say in response, just watching as his wife continued to repeat the process of opening each cell door, one by one, a new key unlocking another knob and button in turn.
Another cell full of riches revealed.
And another.
And another.
And another.
Each heavy door slid open, revealing either a comical amount of creds or a comical amount of gold bullion, Endymion finding himself more and more shocked with each room reveal. Even though he had been making massive sums of money for a very long time, and somewhere deep down understood that the amount he had collected over the years had to have been huge, it was still an entirely different experience to see all of it at once.
Finally, several secundas after she had started unlocking the many cells, the final one opened, the only one of the twelve to not be completely full. However, this cell housed a collection of precious gems, and was probably still more valuable than any of the others even at half-capacity.
"I thought you might want to see what you've been working for," Serenity said, finally setting the ring of keys down. "This isn't all of it, either. Not even close. Every little bit of secure space in Kunzite's safehouses is full too."
Endymion's mouth was now hanging open slightly, as he had wandered out to the center of the room, slowly spinning about to take it all in.
"I don't know if you had an understanding of what you've earned, but...this gives you a decent idea," she continued. "I don't know much it's worth exactly. Trillions, I'm sure. You could run the whole planet for a year with this. Not that you'd ever be able to. Not right now."
"Serenity," Endymion said, sounding just a little throaty. "Why isn't this getting laundered into the treasury?"
"It is," Serenity said. "Don't you understand? You're making money a hundred times faster than we can legally explain having it. I...I'm sure you've been told this by Zoisite, but...look at all this. Look at how backlogged we are. Zoisite is pulling every trick in the book, including some tricks he invented himself, and it's…" she gestured around at the riches around her.
Endymion just nodded slowly, not indicating he was really understanding what his wife was trying to say to him.
"Endymion, don't you get it?" Serenity asked. "Look around you. This...this idea that you're going to make enough money to buy the whole universe, it doesn't work in practice. It's going to take centuries to launder this money. Our great-grandchildren will be laundering this money. The money that you're bringing to me now, it's just going to sit down here or down in a basement somewhere for two hundred years."
Endymion blinked a few times, the cogs in his brain turning as he processed what she was telling him.
"You already won, Endymion," Serenity continued. "You've won as much as you can win. You could rule the Earth Kingdom until you're a hundred and fifty years old, and every single year, you'll have billions of creds dumped into the treasury from nothing. Billions of creds that required no taxation or exports. Money that may as well have fallen from the sky. You. Your successor. And your successor's successor. All going to rule with a big advantage that no other Earth King has had. You've already won. But you won't live to see the benefit of anything you're bringing in now." She swept her arm out towards the cells on the left. "We're all going to be dead and buried before all of this gets washed."
"Okay," Endymion said softly, seemingly accepting her premise.
"I...I want my daughter back," Serenity said, a bit of emotion starting to creep into her voice. "I want my life back." She shook her head. "I've spent so much time wrapping all this money, moving it. And at this point, it's all for stuff that won't matter until after I'm long gone. I don't want to do it anymore." She looked over at Endymion, staring straight at him. "And I don't want you to do it anymore, either."
The High King had his guard back up now, looking neutral and giving away nothing.
"I'm not...I'm not even going to pretend that things can go back to the way they were. Because they can't. No matter what, things can never go back to the way they were. I'm sure you know that. But...over time, maybe things can get better. Put some time between us and all this, eventually, I'll start to forget some of it. Get our daughter back, start doing things a King and Queen should be doing full-time...who knows? Maybe we can even...have more children, eventually." She shrugged. "But never like this. Not as long as we keep doing this."
She started tearing up a bit, emotions starting to hit a little harder as she mentioned her daughter, not to mention the relationship she once had with Endymion.
"So...just...just tell me," she said shakily, pointing over towards the nearest cell full of paper money. "Either...tell me you're done. Or tell me, how many more of these cells do I have to fill to make you happy. Just so I can know w-what I have to do to get my daughter back."
Slowly, Endymion turned towards her pointing finger, gaze falling on the enormous amount of money, now genuinely deep in thought.
"
The High King had barely had a mind for any of his responsibilities as a ruler for the last two days now. Even though he had been asked to leave the imperium smuggling business in dozens of different ways before, and typically shrugged them all off, Serenity's plea to his judgement had hit him differently.
He was crouched on the edge of his chaise in his room, looking down at the floor, the swirling white of the carpet beneath him giving him maximum thought cycles to consider her words. Through it all, he couldn't get the image of all those filled cells out of his mind, as well as her verifiable promise that a good portion of it would never mean a thing for him. It felt like much more than just numbers on a tablet screen or piece of paper, or a math equation in his head.
But even more than that, he thought about his toddler-aged daughter, who he saw several times a cycle and could easily go see her every day if he desired, but still growing up elsewhere. Those two thoughts, in tandem, weighed heavy on his mind.
He glanced up, gaze falling on his lavatory door. He could just barely make out the sound of running water, filling the large tub.
He rose to his feet.
"
The moment Endymion swung the lavatory door open, Serenity looked up, making an annoyed grunting sound on seeing he was wearing nothing but a lavender bathrobe. She was sitting in the ground-level tub, right in the middle of the clean, bright, tiled room, water up to her neck and soap suds covering her.
"Hey," he said softly, eyeing the empty seat in the tub right next to her, approaching.
"Really?" she said, narrowing her gaze at him as he went over to the lip of the sunken tub and starting to shed his robe. With a roll of her eyes, she started to stand up.
"Wait, wait, please," Endymion said, holding his hand out towards her, palm open. "Just...there's room for two."
She ignored him, lifting her right leg up to the lip of the tub and preparing to get out.
"Serenity, please, just...just for a little bit. A couple secundas. Please?" he asked. "Just a little bit. It won't hurt you, I promise."
She stared up at him, looking very much not thrilled at the prospect of sharing a bath tub with him, but after weighing in her head if she thought it was worth the fight, she threw herself back down under the water with a splash.
Endymion slowly entered the heated water, his nude body gradually setting down right next to his wife, his tall frame just barely able to fit comfortably.
"How long?" she asked.
He didn't answer, instead settling down next to her, looking around the steam-filled room for a few beats.
"How long?" she repeated, now getting more annoyed.
"I'm done," he said, turning towards her, looking at her earnestly.
She flinched back a bit, lips parting a tiny fraction of a finger-length.
"I'm...I'm done," he repeated cautiously.
She jerked her head towards the lavatory door. "Then go."
"No, no, uh...the thing we talked about," Endymion said quietly. "I'm done."
Slowly, Serenity's brazen annoyance melted away from her face, staring at her husband, tilting her head slightly to the right.
"I mean it," he said. "I'm out."
"You're out?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, voice just a little low, but his expression light and eased. "It's...it's over."
Serenity took a second to weigh his words, still not looking like she was really believing it. Eventually however, she tilted her head back, unleashing a soft little groan, as if a great tension was being taken off her shoulders all of a sudden.
Satisfied he had done what he needed to do," Endymion turned away from her, leaning back in the tub as well.
"
"I don't know, Your Highness, I can assure you he didn't tell me," Kunzite said, opening the door to Endymion's bedroom and throwing it open to admit Kasios through.
"Oh, like there's anything he doesn't tell you," Kasios said playfully, grinning as he looked around his former room briefly. "Alright, what's this all about, son?"
"U-uh, hm," Kunzite said, glancing around the room, finding it empty, High King and Queen both not immediately present. "Where'd he, uh...ah." He was able to barely discern the sound of water splashing in the connected lavatory. "Maybe we're a little early, he's in the bath."
"Alright, well, I guess it falls onto you, what's this about?" Kasios asked, sitting down on the desk chair by the primary desk near the bed.
"I honestly don't know, Your Highness. Endymion said he had something he wanted to show you, he...he sounded excited about it. P-Probably some family thing that I wouldn't know about, but he didn't tell me. He just told me to bring you here." Kunzite bowed slightly towards the former High King.
"Ah, alright, I can wait," Kasios said, clapping his hand together in front of him. "I got nothing but time."
"Somewhat strange that he'd...jump in the bath when he knows you're almost here," Kunzite admitted. "Sorry, Your Majesty."
"Ah, no, I don't mind—" Kasios spun around in the desk chair, pausing mid-sentence as he noticed something irregular on the far other side of the room. The closet door was wide open and a few items of clothing were scattered on the floor haphazardly. "What the…"
He stood up, craning his neck up. "Now, how does that happen in the King's bedroom?" Kasios asked. "I've barely been off the throne for a year, and this is how this place gets—"
He turned back to his right, only now realizing that Kunzite was no longer standing there.
He had vanished, faster and quieter than a man his size should have been able to. He stared dimly at the spot the general had just been for a couple beats, then looked at the door back out to the main hallway. Kunzite was still nowhere to be seen.
"Uh, Kunzite?" he called out, leaning a couple steps out towards the hall, still not able to pick up so much as a trace of his presence. "Huh." He shrugged, forgetting the odd disappearance and instead marching over towards the collection of discarded clothes. "Weird."
The mess of garments was so strange and inexplicable, Kasios half expected to be something more sinister at play than just a simple mess, so he approached the closet carefully. However, nothing gave itself away as being dangerous even as he got just a few steps away, so he crouched down by the assorted random garments and poked through the pile.
"Going easy on the servants?" Kasios wondered to himself. "This stuff never would have flown when I was—"
He picked his head up, looking inside the actual walk-in closet, staring right at an arranged outfit on a humanoid frame. Just one of the many dozen arranged outfits the High King had on dozens of humanoid frames. Yet, it was curious that this particular outfit would be right front and center in the closet.
Black pants and a black, three-button jacket with a white, three button undershirt. A black necktie right above the undershirt. White gloves hanging from the front jacket pocket, with a white eye mask shoved in as well. A black cape hanging from the shoulders. And a black top hat up above.
"Huh." Kasios stood back up straight, stepping over the pile of clothes and looking the curious outfit over. "Hm." He pursed his lips, wondering why such a niche fashion style would be front and center in Endymion's closet.
His right hand reached forward, plucking the eye mask out of the pocket, giving it a quick inspection. His left hand grabbed the large, tall top hat, giving it a similar overview, trying to recall if he had ever seen his son wearing anything like this.
His face wrinkled and the amused smile on his face slowly dropped off his face as he studied the two accessories. His long-term memory booted up, searching back in the depths of his mind, one particular recollection popping up as he looked the two items over.
Gradually, revelations hitting him in waves, his mouth started to fall open, one particular interaction with his son sticking in his brain like a splinter.
"
He sighed, staring down at the drawing. "You know, if you're willing to give this eidetic memory guy a bit of credit, then one thing you could say is, this guy must have been doing pretty well for himself beforehand."
"How do you figure that?" Endymion asked.
"Ornstein hat, Sterling tuxedo and cape, Asus shoes, you don't find that stuff on the discount rack. Those are high-end, tailored clothing brands, expensive. Even by the standards of a tuxedo, Sterling is about as good as it gets. You know, my tuxedos are Sterlings. Some of them, anyway. Yours too."
Endymion, mouth going slightly dry, nodded.
"So, i guess we could add that to the character profile. Was rich before entering imperium smuggling."
"Or maybe he stole some nice clothes," Endymion said, casually shrugging.
With a wry smile, Kasios shook his head. "You see how complicated this shit is? You try to make one assumption, one educated guess, to narrow it down a bit, and it takes about two beats to rip it to shreds."
"S-sorry. Just saying," the Prince said sheepishly.
"But hey, here's what I figure. I convince the agency to devote all their resources to doing a search of every single closet in the entire galaxy, trying to find people who have Ornstein hats, Sterling tuxedos and capes, and Asus shoes. Should take about four hundred years, and when we're done, we might have the suspect list down to three million people." Kasios bit down on his lower lip. "What do you think, huh? You think the Grandmaster would go for that?" he asked with a laugh.
Endymion was able to produce a thin smile.
"How about we start with your closet?" Kasios said with a playful smirk. "Hey, you've got a pretty big head, don't you? Twenty-four and a half around sounds about right."
Endymion, with a sarcastic roll of his eyes, released Kasios's shoulder and put both of his hands up in the air above his head, palms out. "Oh boy, looks like you're on to me," he said jokingly.
"
Kasios's mouth fell all the way open, taking a staggering step away from the outfit, looking absolutely horrified as the final pieces of the puzzle suddenly slotted together in his mind. He stared right at the tuxedo jacket, his brain almost hurting as he started to allow himself to think thoughts that had not once crossed his mind seriously in the last few years.
He didn't even notice the mask slipping from his fingers, his limbs going slack as he continued to process this, the mask silently hitting the carpet and falling over to rest atop the former High King's shoe.