Chapter 61: The Last Temptation

A/N: Not going into details on why this chapter took so long to get posted, just understand that I was delayed for a couple months on writing. Hope to accelerate back to a somewhat reasonable schedule soon. Sorry to anyone who was waiting.

"

The Lambia was about as high-class a location as you could get for a facility that was specifically designed to be covered in tobacco smoke at all times. Tremendously well ventilated and cleaned multiple times a day, denizens of the lounge could freely enjoy the rich flavor and taste of their expensive cigars, without being overwhelmed by the acrid remnants of prior patrons. It was about the only cigar lounge you could find on the planet that a former High King would dare be seen in. So Kasios didn't look entirely out-of-place as he went down the hallway towards the VIP lounge.

Not that he looked all that happy to be there. His visible irritation, clenched jaw and facial wrinkles, were enough to prevent the lounge staff from attempting to approach him or engage him in conversation, or even really gawk at his appearance for more than a moment. Clearly a man on a mission, and a mission that he didn't seem very happy about, Kasios was thankfully unbothered as he made his way towards the deluxe wing of the facility.

Opening the heavy door on the side of the end of the hallway by gripping the handle, giving it a small tug, and letting the automated hinges swing it outward, his already dark expression only tightened on spotting Kunzite in the far end of the sparsely-populated lounge.

The former High King stood in the door's threshold for a few beats, sizing up the room, unable to resist considering the possibility he was walking into his own execution. It was ridiculous to even consider, but Kasios had experienced far too many ridiculous things in recent cycles for him to dismiss it. There were ten booth-like areas in the lounge, along the walls, Kunzite sitting in the one directly across from the door, and both ones immediately flanking him unoccupied, with the other seven hosting anywhere from one to six patrons. Those patrons were huddled around large grey tables, large thick plumes of white smoke rising from each, up into a ventilation fan in the ceiling.

Private enough for a sensitive conversation, yet public enough to make both parties feel comfortable that the other couldn't try to kill the other. Yet, Kasios could not bring himself to be entirely at ease, knowing all too well that nothing was ever what it seemed when dealing with Endymion. And he had no doubts that, even if it was Kunzite in front of him, he was dealing with Endymion in some form or fashion.

Unless...well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Subconsciously puffing his chest out, Kasios digested the risk and left it behind him as he moved forward towards his son's most trusted advisor.

Kunzite was chewing on a thick brown cigar, prepping to light it as he observed the former High King make his way across the room. Kasios didn't even bother wasting time trying to read him, knowing no one in the galaxy was better equipped to disguise his intentions. He just stepped up next to him, planting his feet down, a stern and disapproving look leveled at Kunzite.

"Sit down," Kunzite finally said after several beats, withdrawing the cigar from his mouth for a moment to give the simple order.

"I don't plan on being here long," Kasios said sternly. "Because if the next words out of your mouth aren't, 'I'm offering my witness testimony against High King Endymion', I'm leaving."

"Sit down," Kunzite repeated. "And turn that thing off."

Kasios bared his teeth for a moment, considering making good on his threat. Finally, he swung into the seat opposite Kunzite in the large booth, doing everything as violently as possible to express his displeasure. He then reached inside his coat pocket, withdrawing a rectangular audio recorder, clicking the button on the side off before setting it down in front of him.

"I'm insulted that you think that something like that might actually work," Kunzite admonished.

"Well, I'm insulted that Endymion thinks he can intimidate me into backing off by sending you to negotiate with me because he doesn't have the guts to face me himself," Kasios snapped.

"He didn't send me," Kunzite said quietly, glancing around the room briefly to make sure they were still in relative privacy. "I'm here of my own accord. At no small risk to myself."

"I'm sure," Kasios said dismissively. "Now, hurry up and threaten me so I can go."

"That's not why I'm here," Kunzite said, lighting the tip of his cigar and puffing through it a couple times to make sure it ignited. "And I'm telling the truth. His Majesty doesn't even know I'm here."

Kasios sighed. "So, are you here to turn witness then? If you are, I don't appreciate you wasting time."

"You know I can't do that," Kunzite replied. "You know how this works, Your Highness." He leaned in a bit closer to Kasios. "I serve him, not anyone or anything else. I work in his interests. That's what it means to be an Earth General. Those are my orders. The ones you yourself gave me."

"Since when have you given a damn about your orders?!" Kasios hissed. "You've already proven how little regard you give them, you completely ignored the first order I ever gave you! Remember?!"

Kunzite's eyes went down slightly. "Of course I remember, Your Highness. That order has weighed on my mind every day since you gave it to me, I even mentioned it during our call yesterday."

"And yet, here we are," Kasios retorted, spreading his arms to his sides. "Endymion's covered the entire galaxy in a web of black market imperium, all to make money he never needed, leaving dead bodies in his wake all the while, and you just watched it all happen without a word to me! He's put not just his own Kingdom, but the entire solar system, at risk, and for what?!" He narrowed his eyes on Kunzite. "None of this struck you as signs of mental illness? None of this concerned you enough to think that, maybe, someone like that shouldn't sit on the throne?"

Kunzite hesitated in answering, taking the time to blow some cigar smoke up towards the ventilation shaft above his head, watching it swirl around before getting sucked in.

"Well?!" Kasios prompted. "And don't you dare try to tell me that you weren't aware of his activities!"

"I weighed the possibility more than once. Contemplated invoking Order One. I kept a close eye on his behavior, through everything he's done. Every decision, every reaction, I filtered through that order. But I remind you that that order was related specifically to the issue of his late mother's mental illness, and was to be activated only if I believed he was showing signs of having inherited it."

"How many damn signs did you need?!" Kasios pounded his fists down on the table in front of him, attracting far too much attention from surrounding patrons. Kunzite winced, then glanced around with a hard stare, trying to intimidate the many eyes now drawn his way into going back to their business. After several beats, they did.

Kunzite cleared his throat. "His decisions in recent years have been irregular, and often against my own recommendations. And yet, they follow a certain logic, that he can always justify. His reasonings can sometimes be rooted in stubbornness and pride, but were never made out of sheer randomness. So, time after time, I deduced that Endymion, while behaving unexpectedly and displaying a code of ethics far beneath what you would expect of someone of his upbringing, had no mental illness at play."

Kasios scoffed. "I see. So if he had just decided to synthesize imperium while not wearing any pants, that would have clinched it for you!" He rolled his eyes. "Death, destruction, a galaxy-threatening level of smuggling, that's all just...indicative of an interesting personality to you?!"

"I made my decision," Kunzite said sternly. "And I stand by it. Endymion did not inherit his mother's illness. And I think, deep down, you agree with me. Through everything he's done in the last few years, he's been of sound mind, and had control of his actions."

"Well, that makes me feel a lot better," Kasios said dryly. "And I suppose you feel justified in your part in all this, then? Endymion probably doesn't get out of the starting blocks without your help. Without you, this is all just a passing idea that he forgets about almost immediately."

"That's the job, isn't it?" Kunzite asked. "You follow orders, no matter what. You serve your charge above all else. I did what I was supposed to do as Endymion's General, per your own instructions."

Kasios pointed his right index finger across the table at Kunzite. "If you called me here so I could ease your guilty conscience and resolve you of guilt for what you've helped do to this galaxy, I promise you, I will reach across this table and punch you in the face."

Kunzite blew more smoke up out of his cigar, towards the ceiling. "Of course not. I know better than to expect your forgiveness, nor do I need it."

"Then what, exactly, am I doing here?" Kasios asked, clearly losing patience.

"I called you here to make a deal," Kunzite answered.

Kasios wasted no time in utilizing an irritated facial expression to indicate what he thought of whatever Kunzite's 'deal' was. "I'm not interested in making a deal with Endymion, I thought I made that very clear."

"Not with him," Kunzite corrected. "With me. And before you storm off, you should know that I'm the only reason why you know about Endymion at all."

Kasios was indeed heavily contemplating getting up and walking away, starting to suspect this was some ploy on Endymion's part to get him out of his home on Mercury. But his curiosity was finally piqued. He took a deep breath. "Go on."

"That day, I'm sure you remember it well," Kunzite said. "Endymion's room, that pile of clothes by the open closet door that got your attention. The Tuxedo Mask outfit, front and center inside the closet for no explicable reason. You going into his room right during the exact moment when the royal couple was occupied in the bath. Did you think any of those things were coincidences?"

"So you're telling me that was you," Kasios stated, still not sounding convinced.

"You didn't find it odd that Endymion never followed up on inviting you to his room in the first place?" Kunzite asked. "He never did. That was me."

"Why?" Kasios asked. "

Kunzite sighed. "Because I wanted him to quit. And he wouldn't."

"So you went behind his back?" Kasios said, almost sounding amused now. "What happened to serving your charge above all else?"

"I did what I did in service to him," Kunzite said flatly. "He was putting himself at risk, continuing to involve himself in such business, far beyond the point of it being of any benefit to him. It was consuming his life, robbing him of the time and energy he needed to serve effectively as High King. I know Endymion better than anyone, and I believe he possesses all the traits necessary to be an effective ruler. But on this issue, he had a blindspot. On this issue, he could not be convinced to quit. So, I did what I needed to do to protect him."

"Well, you're just full of loopholes, aren't you," Kasios said snidely. "If what you say is true, then you accomplished the exact opposite of your intentions. You'll forgive me if I doubt that you're capable of that degree of incompetence."

Kunzite puffed a powerful breath out of his nostrils. "I had limited options. Things didn't go quite according to plan."

"Well, I can't help but be curious, what, exactly, was the plan?" Kasios asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kunzite grimaced, giving his head a quick tilt to the right. "I thought to plant the seed of suspicion in your mind. Make you think it was possible that Endymion was Tuxedo Mask. Give you something to get you suspicious. That's it. I wanted you to start looking into him personally, I...I knew you wouldn't be able to get the agency to help, so it would just be you." He shrugged. "I'd warn His Majesty that you were on his tail and watching him, so he'd be forced to quit. Eventually, you'd be unable to uncover anything of substance on him, and you'd move on, assuming that it was just a coincidence. Maybe you'd give him odd looks for the rest of your life, but that would be the end of it. I didn't expect him to go over there and effectively confess to your face."

"And yet you still won't admit he's mentally unstable," Kasios said. "You're right. If he just kept his head down and stayed away from me, I would have wasted a few cycles watching him, then shrugged and moved on. You knew that. But he didn't. What does that tell you?"

"If you want to spend our precious time revisiting decisions that have already been made and are already in the past, I suppose I can't stop you. But I don't think that's particularly useful." Kunzite glanced around again, checking to be sure their conversation was private.

"I don't see any use in you rubbing in that I'm never going to be able to bring Endymion to justice," Kasios growled. "Nor is there any use in you telling me to back off and drop it, which I am never going to do, under any circumstance. So, if you're not here to turn witness against him, then either kill me, or leave."

Kunzite sighed, looking down at the table in front of him, blinking rapidly.

"Well? Are you trying to decide?" Kasios asked, losing his patience yet again. "You said you came here to offer me a deal. You tell me that I can either drop it or you'll kill me, I'll tell you to shove it, and we'll go our separate ways, let's get it over with."

"I won't turn witness," Kunzite said. "I can't do that. And you know that. But I'll give you something."

"What, is this whole thing a game to you?" Kasios asked. "Either help me or don't."

"Hear me out," Kunzite said. "Before His Highness took the throne, he used various businesses under his name to slowly launder his money. Nothing big enough to raise red flags, but the inconsistencies will be clear if the accounting statements are gone over. I can give you the books. The consistent flow of excess money combined with the timing will be enough to give the agency reason to suspect that he was at least involved. Enough to want to question him."

Kasios looked less than impressed, tapping his fingers on the table, lips pursed. "And then he responds to every question with 'I don't know', he pays some fines to the treasury that his administration currently runs anyway, and that's that."

Kunzite shook his head. "The agency won't just roll over like that. Press the issue, and they'll be willing to at least open an investigation."

"That will turn up nothing," Kasios said dryly. "And that's that."

"It won't need to, all it needs to do is spook His Highness into a confession, which it will," Kunzite countered. "I'll see to it."

Kasios blanched, face wrinkling up. "You can't possibly think that'll work."

"All he needs to believe is that there's a chance. No matter how small. If he thinks that the agency is on to him, then he'll confess to his involvement in order to get in front of it," Kunzite insisted.

"If you think he'd go for that, then you think he's more mentally unstable than even I do," Kasios said. "He's got the longest criminal record in the history of the galaxy, illegal possession, illegal distribution on a galactic level, murder, robbery, and that's just off the top of my head. If the agency believes him to be guilty of all that, he's spending the rest of his life in a cell, confession or not."

Kunzite rubbed his upper lip a couple times, taking another drag out of his cigar. "He won't be confessing to that. Just the parts that will explain the financial fraud."

Kasios leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He'll admit to working with Tuxedo Mask and his organization over the last several years, offering financial assistance to him when he was first starting out in exchange for a percentage of the operation, and using his political power to help direct him from time to time," Kunzite explained. "And that will explain where the money came from. No murder, no possession, no distribution, no robbery. Just an accessory."

Kasios smiled thinly. "If I wanted fiction, I'd go to a bookstore. Endymion is Tuxedo Mask, he is guilty of murder, and possession, and distribution, and robbery, and probably about everything else in the book, and I intend to hold him accountable for every last one of those crimes." He leaned forward towards Kunzite. "Let me guess, he buys his way out of prison time or any actual repercussions, that's the next chapter of your little story here?"

"Of course," Kunzite said. "But he'll be leaving the agency with a peace offering that'll make them more than happy to forgive and forget. And frankly, if you're being objective and weighing the value to the universe, you should be as well."

Kasios rolled his eyes.

"Enough raw imperium to run the galaxy for over a century," Kunzite said. "He's the only one who knows where it is right now, and I assure you, the agency would take ten thousand years to find it without him. I really think that's worth swallowing your pride."

"You think this is about my pride?!" Kasios spat. "This is about justice!" He smacked his fist on the table surface as hard as he thought he could get away with. "You know what he's done, dammit, and you know he doesn't deserve to get away with it! That's not even a slap on the wrist, that's...that's nothing! You think I'd accept that?!"

"It's not nothing," Kunzite insisted. "You'll get his involvement in black market imperium smuggling and the criminal underworld on the official record, and force him to give up his raw materials so he can never do it again."

"The official record that never gets released to the public and the agency is told to pretend doesn't exist," Kasios groused. "So in effect, no record at all. And those raw materials shouldn't even be his in the first place. Endymion just gets to go back to his throne and serve as High King, doesn't even lose that for so much as a day."

"He'll hand over enough imperium to keep the agency going until everyone currently alive is long dead. And at least a few people will know. If this is truly about justice, then I should remind you that some justice is better than no justice, which is what you get if you don't accept this offer. He's retired, and you've got nothing on him. I assure you, you could spend every waking moment for the next fifty years trying to find something, and you'll come up empty handed. I'm the one who cleaned up after him. You think I left any loose ends?"

Kasios sighed, jaw clenched as he looked Kunzite over. "It's a pretty weak deal you're offering me, you know."

"Debatable," Kunzite countered. "It's both the best and only offer you're going to get, so relatively speaking, it's actually quite good." He started to scoot out of the booth. "I'll remind you that His Highness won't be open to making the deal unless I convince him that he's in danger. So feel free to try to get the agency to look at his finances without my help, it ends with a few meaningless questions and a few meaningless fines, as you said. If you can even convince the agency those matters are of any relevance to them." He stood up. "I don't expect you to be able to make a decision right now." He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "So here's a frequency. It'll be open for two days. You have until then to agree to my terms, and send a message to that frequency indicating such. I'll send the financial data to you, and you can deliver it to the agency in the manner you find most appropriate."

"Why are you doing this?" Kasios asked. "If you're right, and...I have no hope of finding anything I could use against Endymion, then why not just leave me to it?" He shrugged. "You serve him, don't you? You serve his interests? Wouldn't it be in his interests to just let me waste my time? It's almost enough to make me wonder if I'm on the verge of uncovering a bombshell, and you're just trying to head me off."

Kunzite glanced behind him one more time, checking the rest of the room, then turned back to the former High King. "Because I respect you. You were a good ruler, and you're a good man. And you deserve better than to spend the second half of your life chasing evidence that doesn't exist. And I know you will."

"So you do know how to break your rules," Kasios said wryly.

"I wouldn't count on it happening again." Kunzite turned away and walked off briskly.

Kasios watched him leave, hoping that he might suddenly have a change of heart, turn around, and come over to agree to turn witness. It was absurd to even bother hoping, of course, but he had to cling onto it for a few beats before the Earth general slipped through the door to the lounge. Short of a miracle, it was his only chance of actually being able to actually take Endymion off the throne and into a cell. After all, deal or no deal, the agency would never abide by the worst criminal in galactic history sitting on the throne of one of the most powerful Kingdoms in the galaxy. Even if it took a war, Endymion would answer for his crimes.

The former High King sighed, looking down at the folded piece of paper in front of him. He wanted, more than anything, to get up and leave without touching it. Treat this proposed deal with the disgust and dismissal it deserved.

After several beats, with a loud slap that drew far too much attention from neighboring patrons, he smacked his palm down on the table over the slip, dragging it towards him.

"

Endymion unfolded the bundle of cloth that he had just been handed, revealing a haphazard collection of black rocks, some the size of a pebble and a couple maybe the size of his thumbnail. He gently poked one of the bigger ones.

"They actually work?" he asked.

"I've seen it with my own eyes," Zoisite answered, standing at attention right in front of the High King. "And I've had the entire process of the handling of it closely monitored, there's no way it was switched out. It's identical to the graphite found in this galaxy."

Endymion pushed out a large exhale. "I can't believe those probes worked."

"Why wouldn't they work?" Zoisite asked. "I helped create and program them, you know."

"I just...I couldn't shake the feeling that they'd just end up sending back barrels full of dirt or rocks," he admitted, shrugging. "Or empty."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty," Nephrite said, standing off to the side of the throne, Zoisite right in front of it. "The first fruits of the deep space program."

"Trillions of units for a handful of graphite," Endymion said. "Not sure it's been proven to be a successful investment yet."

"This is just a tiny piece," Zoisite assured him. "A sample, collected by a robot following a loose set of protocols."

The entire deep space program felt like a longshot, so it seemed appropriate that there would be many other longshots baked within it. Whenever the large probes passed close to a planet or moon, they would fire off a smaller probe towards it. That probe would traverse the surface of the planet, scanning for any materials or substances that would be of interest and value. Should something be detected in a location that was close enough to the surface to actually excavate, the probe would attempt it, and then send whatever it managed to collect back towards the Milky Way. It was like trying to win a galactic-wide lottery to get it all to work, but it had. A few days ago, one of the containers was picked up on scanners by Uranus, and it was soon collected by Earth's military.

No matter how confident Zoisite was in his own abilities, there were so many obvious places where it could go wrong. The launch of the small probe and the material container had to be perfect, the angle not off by so much as one-one thousandth of the length of a finger, or else they'd miss their targets. The scanners on the big probes and small probes had to work perfectly, or they'd miss whatever valuables they happened across. And even after all that, the material containers had to actually be picked up once they passed through Pluto's orbital sphere. When Kasios had suggested the idea, it was largely dismissed as unwieldy, only implemented because the cost of the program had been so big already it was a drop in the bucket.

"If we can get real mining equipment over to this planet, the whole program might be justified," Kunzite said, flanking the throne on Endymion's right side. "Graphite practically on the surface, common sense indicates the planet has to be flush with the stuff."

"We should start putting together a mission immediately," Zoisite said. "We could get automated mining ships over to that planet in a couple years, and a manned mission in less than ten if we felt it appropriate, now that we know exactly where it is."

Endymion nodded. "The sooner that program starts to pay clear and undisputed dividends, the better. And now that we've seen one of those probes return a payload, we should make sure to be watching everywhere in the galaxy for others. The snowball effect on the economy will be huge if people start believing that massive amounts of precious metals and materials are about to be pulled in from deep space." He stood up from the throne, straightening the front of his uniform out. "See? This is what being the High King should be about. We're entering a golden age for the Earth Kingdom, we should be celebrating that and thinking about how to encourage it."

The throne room of the Earth Palace was mostly ceremonial, just a big room with a pair of ornate chairs near the back. It simply wouldn't have been a royal palace without appropriate thrones, but they weren't used more than a few times a year for assorted events and gatherings, perhaps the occasional greeting of a ambassador or diplomat. Zoisite's announcement, however, was so significant, they decided to make use of it for a minuta or two.

"That's all well and good, but how much longer can we be expected to hang around in the palace like this?" Zoisite asked. "It's not what's expected of a royal who sits on the throne. At a certain point, we need to start resuming business as usual."

"Oh, I don't think there's anything to be worried about now," Endymion insisted, mood dimming just a tiny bit at the reminder of the current state of his relationship with his father. "We'll slowly go back to the way things were. My father has nothing, and there's nothing to find, so he can just waste the rest of his life chasing ghosts if he wants to."

Kunzite slipped into the conversation. "Though...if there was a way to close that door, that would obviously be welcome."

Endymion sneered. "Door's already closed. And locked."

"Your Highness, I understand that odds are long. But I think anything higher than zero should be taken seriously," Kunzite continued. "We're on the verge of something special in the Earth Kingdom once the deep space program starts producing actual goods. You're looking at decades of prosperity. Your daughter is getting to the age where she can actually start forming long-term memories and developing a more defined personality. A lot of amazing things are about to happen, to you personally and to the Kingdom. It'd be nice to not have anything hanging over our heads."

Endymion looked as if he was about to reply with something sharp and dismissive, but whatever he was planning on saying died in his mouth as he sheathed his tongue, thinking about what Kunzite had just said.

"It's just...when you really think about it, it's the one thing that could ruin the golden era that's about to start," Kunzite continued. "If there was a way to make sure that we'd never have to think about it again, we should try to find it. No matter how remote the chances are, it won't be fun, letting something like that hang around in the back of your mind forever."

"N-naturally," Endymion admitted. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but after a few beats, he settled for walking off towards the exit to the throne room, striding away from his generals in what seemed to be a slightly hurried manner.

"

"So, that's the game," Kasios said, looking like he wanted to sink down into the couch he was sitting on as he stared at the piece of paper in his hands. "Either I take a crumb of justice and go sit in the corner with it, or I try to find a needle on a planet full of haystacks for the rest of my life."

"You can't honestly be thinking about taking this!" Serenity said, visibly fired up. "This may as well be nothing, not so much as a day in prison or a cred in fines! I don't see how this constitutes a deal at all!"

"It's all they have to give up in order to constitute a deal," Kasios admitted ruefully. "They know I have nothing, it's obvious by now. And whatever they did to clean up after themselves, they clearly have confidence in it."

"No. No, I don't believe that," the former queen protested. "Why else would they offer you a deal? They know you're on the verge of breaking it open! They're trying to force you to stop looking by taking some terrible unfair deal, ignore it and keep digging!"

Kasios slowly shook his head. "I...I don't know, Serenity. If there is something out there, I doubt I can find it anytime soon working by myself like this. Kunzite said he did it so I could feel like I accomplished something, and...I don't know, I believe him."

"You don't...you don't actually buy that he's not acting on Endymion's behalf, do you?" Serenity asked. "D-don't let him trick you! He was probably the brains behind everything Endymion did the last few years, anything that he suggests must be in Endymion's best interests, or else he wouldn't suggest it."

"It can be in Endymion's best interests without Endymion himself being capable of acknowledging it," Kasios pointed out, clapping his palms against his kneecaps. "And Kunzite is smart enough to realize when that might be the case."

"He's spent the last few years helping Endymion run a black market imperium smuggling ring out of the Earth Palace because Endymion ordered him to, he's not capable of doing something without being ordered to!" Serenity shook her head. "Kasios, you can't take this deal! Or, if you do, you better have some...Plan B, or a trick up your sleeve. T-The way you described it, the agency would come away thinking Endymion was just...some naive and greedy kid. Like what he did wasn't that bad. And you and I both know that's not the case!"

"You think I like it?" Kasios asked. "Hell, part of me wishes Kunzite didn't bring this to me in the first place. If I didn't know a deal was on the table, it'd be easy, I'd just be...married to beating my head into a brick wall forever, and that'd be that. But, if I have a chance to at least do something, knowing that this deal is out there...part of me knows that I have to take it. There just isn't anything out there, and this is the only chance I'll have to admit that to myself."

"Kasios, if...if I understand you, then the only thing that Endymion would have to do would be...hand over something that shouldn't be his in the first place," Serenity continued. "That imperium isn't his, he shouldn't be able to negotiate with it!"

"But he has it!" Kasios grunted. "He has it, and...and I don't need to give Kunzite any benefit of the doubt to know that it's hidden as well as anything in the universe. And this is what it'll take to get it in the right hands, and I know I have to do it, but...believe me, I know. It's disgusting."

"You're...you're saying you're going to do it, then?! You can't!" Serenity insisted. "It's obviously a trick, they...why else would they offer it?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I tried, believe me. I wanted to put Endymion down more than anything, but...no, I don't think so. I don't think Kunzite is trying to head me off, I...I think he just wants to give me something. As much as he can give without feeling like he's completely betraying his duty to the High King. And I think I just have to take it."

"S-So...he just wins?" Serenity asked. "He just wins, and we have to sit around for the next however many years knowing that the High King of Earth is a violent narcissist? That's how this ends?"

"Or hope he slips up when the agency confronts him, I suppose," Kasios said, his weary voice indicating exactly how likely he thought this scenario was. "If I don't take this, I'll spend the rest of my life knowing that I had a chance to secure the existence of this galaxy for the next hundred years and didn't do it. There's a reason why I said I almost wish Kunzite didn't make the offer, because I know I have to take it."

"And then what? What do we do?" Serenity continued, not sounding as if she was conceding anything. "We both just have to sit here and know who he really is, forever? How do we live with that? What do we do?"

Kasios twisted his head back and forth for a bit, then shrugged. "Just...fade away, I guess."

"

"I'm...I'm sorry, Kasios. I'm just really confused, w-why were you even looking at any of this? What made you want to look at a bunch of profit slips from businesses your son had a controlling stake in over a year ago?"

The main conference room on board The Savery, often occupied by all twelve members of the high council, currently played host to only three of them, gathered by one of the corners of the rectangular table, a stack of red binders between them. Kasios, Naxos, and Grandmaster Orion.

"I had reason to be suspicious, I'm...I'd rather not get into it beyond that," Kasios said, one of the red binders open in front of him. "It doesn't matter at this point, all that matters is what I found."

"Okay, your son...under-reported profits on his business holdings," Orion said. "Um, where do I start, Kasios? I don't mean to sound like an apologist for tax evasion, but most businesses do things like that whenever they feel like they can get away with it. And I know you know that."

"This isn't over a few thousand creds, Grandmaster," Kasios insisted. "My son, uh, Endymion, owned controlling stakes in some very large, and very successful, corporations during his last few years as Prince, and he certainly didn't need to."

"Not exactly uncommon for young adult royalty to try to get some real world experience that way," Naxos pointed out. "Princess Mercury has plenty of her own business holdings as we speak, just off the top of my head."

"But, what if Endymion didn't do it to 'get some real world experience'?" Kasios asked, flipping a few pages in the binder. "What if he did it because he had a lot of money that he had obtained illicitly, and needed a way to wash it?"

"I...sure," Orion admitted. "Maybe. But that doesn't have anything to do with us. And honestly, given that Endymion now reigns as High King, it doesn't have anything to do with anybody. What, his own treasury is going to demand he pay them?"

"It's the timing," Kasios said. "Endymion's interest in owning various business holdings started just around the time Tuxedo Mask started operating. I've been through these numbers, the under-reporting started immediately, like he had money to wash first, before he owned anything. And it's a lot of money. Not quite enough to get anyone's attention unless they were looking for it, but it's there."

"A lot of money to the average person, but not a lot of money to a royal," Naxos countered. "And nowhere near the amount of money that was made by the Tuxedo Mask operation. Orders of magnitude off."

"You can't tell me that it isn't suspicious," Kasios insisted. "I can't account for every cred, obviously, but something happened. Why would the Crown Prince of Earth evade paying taxes to the very treasury that he's heir to? That doesn't even make sense, and the amounts are too big for it to have been done underneath him by his employees or managers."

"Okay." Orion slowly nodded, lips tightly pursed. "That's...well, that's all that out of the way. But, you...you do realize the weight of the implication you're making. You're accusing your son, and the current High King of Earth, of being involved in the Tuxedo Mask operation."

"Believe me, I know what I'm implying," Kasios said, fighting the urge to make the retort more biting, knowing he was talking to the Grandmaster. "It's not fun to think about, but if it's true, then it's true."

"Um…" Naxos rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. "Kasios, uh...how do I put this?" He glanced over towards Orion nervously.

"Put it," Orion said. "Trust me, I'm already thinking about it too."

"Well, then all three of us are thinking about it, so maybe it doesn't need to be said," Kasios interjected. "I know what happens if I end up being right."

"Do you?" Naxos asked. "Because however much good will you might have around here, I promise you, you won't survive something like that. If your son was involved with Tuxedo Mask, then you're off the council."

"I know," Kasios said. "Believe me, if I'm right, you won't even need to ask me for a resignation, I'll have my office cleared out by the end of the day! And I don't enjoy saying that, I love working here, it means everything to me. But the truth is the truth. And I honestly believe that Endymion was...involved, in some way, with Tuxedo Mask. And I believe these books are evidence enough for the agency to at least ask questions."

"Okay, that's the first...part, but, you do understand we're talking about High King Endymion, right? The most powerful ruler in the galaxy, arguably. You want to go after him over tax evasion?" Naxos continued.

"If that tax evasion is connected to him assisting the biggest black market imperium ring in the history of the galaxy," Kasios countered. "And he's not more powerful than the Galactic Imperium Agency, that's the point of this agency in the first place. If we need to take on a planetary Kingdom, we can."

"That's great to say, but...actually doing it, Kasios, think about the long-term ramifications. And for what? All he has to do is shrug his shoulders, and we can't do anything. We can't charge him with anything imperium-related because of timing." Orion looked unconvinced. "There's a lot of places where this can go wrong. And if it goes right, I mean...is that really good for anyone?"

"Well, I guess we have to make a decision. Do we care about the truth, or...uh…" he trailed off weakly, glancing over towards the far wall of the room.

"Kasios?" Naxos finally prompted after several beats.

"Um, look. These books are pretty conclusive, my son committed massive tax fraud. The timing, combined with the amount of the fraud, makes a connection to the Tuxedo Mask imperium smuggling conceivable. I want the agency to look into this. Obviously, since Endymion sold all his business interests when he took the throne last year, at this point, the only thing that can be done is pulling him in for questioning. That's why I'm here, that's what I'm looking for." Kasios straightened himself up.

"To what end? Again, all he has to do is deny knowledge, and that'll be that," Naxos asked. "Is this really worth getting the High King of Earth angry at us?"

"We still don't know very much about the Tuxedo Mask operation, if I'm right this is the only link we have to it," Kasios said. "For all we know, they still have loads of the pure stuff somewhere, enough to bridge this galaxy to the point where the deep space program starts producing imperium or alternative energy sources. If we have a lead, we have to chase it. So, we go to Endymion with the evidence of fraud, and we put him through the wringer. He spends a few days on The Savery listening to us allude to some sort of connection, and see what he gives up."

"You want to arrest the High King of Earth?" Orion even gave a sharp chuckle at that. "Kasios, I don't even really know how to respond to this, it's like...it's like you think your son is just another person."

"As far as this agency is concerned, he should be," Kasios said sternly. "But no, not arrest. Just bring him in for questioning. Obviously, we won't have anything solid and he'll know that, but it'll make him nervous. Once he realizes that we've got our radar trained on him, he'll give up whatever he has in exchange for making it go away. Might break the case again, give us another shot."

"Maybe," Orion muttered. "Or maybe he just sits there, repeats the words 'I don't know' eight hundred times, then leaves The Savery after a couple days with a lifelong grudge against the agency."

"Kasios, you know we love your commitment to trying to do the right thing," Naxos said. "But I've got to say, before we go any further. This might be a time to walk away, even if you're right."

"Well. That's certainly a valid point of view," Kasios admitted. "And I'm not the one who gets to make the final decision here. However, if I was, I feel like the choice is clear. If we can't go after the High King just because he's the High King, then what's the point of any of this?"

Orion and Naxos both stared at him for several beats, as if expecting him to suddenly admit he was joking, or at least concede that he was probably overreaching.

It didn't come.

"Um…" Orion grunted, scratching the side of his face. "Well…"

"

Endymion's face wrinkled as he stared down at the long sheet of paper, written in exceptionally-small font, trying to decide if he was going to bother reading it. His eyes flashed up to the grey-uniformed man standing right in front of him, then back down to the document.

"Any chance of an abridged version?" Endymion asked, giving him a wry smile, trying to lighten the mood, as this palace visitor seemed to carry a very drab and dour aura around with him. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work, as he had no reaction to the sarcastic comment.

"I'd strongly recommend reading the entire thing, Your Highness," he said flatly. Endymion wasn't quite sure how to deal with this thin, wiry, tan-skinned, self-proclaimed 'enforcer' of the Galactic Imperium Agency. He had never interacted with someone quite like this before. He was at the minimum-acceptable level of respect towards Endymion, but there was no fear or trepidation in how he interacted with him. It was as if he was anybody else in the galaxy, and this was just another task he had been handed. He couldn't have called it disrespectful, but it wasn't exactly...respectful either.

"Just tell me what I'm invited to and when I need to be there," Endymion said. "I'm always happy to support the Galactic Imperium Agency, I consider us allies." He half-heartedly thrusted the document back over towards the enforcer.

"It's not exactly an invitation," he replied curtly. "Your presence on The Savery is required for questioning immediately." He bobbed his head towards the letter in Endymion's hands. "The details are all there."

"Questioning? Um, look." Endymion said, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Just give me the short version first, please, I don't know if you think I know what this is about, but I assure you, I don't."

"We've found a series of discrepancies in the accounting of some businesses you held a controlling interest during the time before you took the throne, Your Highness," he explained, still sounding bizarrely at-ease with throwing such weighty words around in front of one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. "The Galactic Imperium Agency has questions for you about these inconsistencies, and what might have caused them."

Endymion couldn't stop himself from giving a grin and dismissive chuckle, as well as an incredulous look. "Uh...I'm sorry, this isn't my mind of humor, and frankly seems beneath an organization like the Galactic Imperium Agency."

"No humor, Your Highness." He blinked a few times.

"O-Okay, look, even if this wasn't...a completely ridiculous thing to charge me with given the circumstances, what does this have to do with...you did say you were here on behalf of the agency, right?" Endymion looked far more confused than he should ever look to someone outside his immediate circle of trust, something that he knew all too well, but found himself unable to stop himself.

"We have reason to believe that you may have been connected to the black market imperium organization, referred to by some as the 'Tuxedo Mask' empire," he said matter-of-factly.

Endymion just stared dumbfounded at him for some time, shocked equally by the weight of the accusation and the flat frankness of the way in which he said it.

"Okay, I...you can't expect me to take this seriously," Endymion said. "What, someone who was working for me messed up their math a little bit, so therefore I must be involved in one of the biggest criminal organizations ever? What is this, really?"

"The finer details of the discrepancies we found suggest a potential connection. If you want to know exactly what led us to this, that will be part of the discussion we have on board The Savery. Now, I don't know what arrangements you need to make when you're going to be gone for a few days, but I ask that you make them immediately, as fast as possible."

"Gone for a few days," Endymion repeated, quickly losing his attempted veneer of humor and light-heartedness. "What are you talking about?"

"Standard practice," he responded. "We have a long list of inquiries to make about your books, it's going to take quite some time to get through everything. For obvious reasons, given the nature of what you're being connected to, we prefer to keep as much of the situation in our control as possible. So, in these circumstances, we ask that you stay on board The Savery until our questions have been answered."

"Oh, so, I'm under arrest? You're arresting me?" Endymion pointed over towards the connected hall on the right side of the room. "That's why you've got a dozen men out in the hallway backing you up? In case I don't want to come? You think a dozen men would help you accomplish that?"

"It's standard practice for situations like these," he answered.

"Does this look like a standard practice situation to you?!" Endymion questioned.

"Um, uh," Kunzite stammered, quickly forcing his way into the conversation, coming in from five steps away hurriedly. He positioned himself right next to the High King. "Your Highness, uh, I'm sure they're not here to arrest you, that would be...over-reach." He gave the enforcer a quick glare. "Correct?"

"You're not under arrest," he agreed. "In fact, I think you'll find our accommodations for you to be on par with the finest hotels in the galaxy. We just want to ask some questions about your financial activities, and get some explanations on where some of the money came from. We're not charging you with anything yet."

"So, what if I say no?" Endymion asked, becoming visibly incensed.

The enforcer paused, clearly giving his next words some thought before delivering them, perhaps aware of the building tension in the room. "You are free to do so. A luxury that you have thanks to your sizable royal guard, Your Highness. I will leave. However, I will report your refusal to submit to questioning to my superiors, and while I can not know what they will do, I can assure you that it will only make them more suspicious of you, and may lead to them taking more drastic measures to get answers."

Endymion threw his right arm out to his side, almost whacking Kunzite in the chest as he did so, gesturing out to the near wall of the palace throne room. "Do you actually understand who you're talking to?! Do you know where you are right now?!"

Kunzite tried to subtly pull Endymion's arm back down to his side. "Um, Your Highness, we should—"

"I have more luxuries than just my royal guard," Endymion continued, refusing to back down to this small, wiry man, simply taking a step forward past Kunzite. "I'm the most powerful person in this galaxy, so your attempts at intimidation are doomed to fail. Don't think for one second you can scare me into compliance!"

"Um, sir," Kunzite said, again forcing himself in front of his charge. "Could we have a moment alone?" he asked the enforcer.

He shrugged. "I ask you not to use any more time than absolutely necessary, but feel free."

"Okay, we'll be...right back," Kunzite said awkwardly.

"I don't have anything to say that I feel the need to say privately," Endymion said gruffly. "In fact, I'm prepared to give an answer right this moment."

"Your Highness, please, let's think this through first!" Kunzite pleaded. "Just...let's go somewhere private, please."

Endymion sighed, glance dancing back and forth between his general and the agency enforcer. "Very well, if you'll excuse us," he said curtly, spinning away and half-storming off. Kunzite quickly hurried to fall behind him, eager to get him as far away from the enforcer as possible.

"

"I can't believe he'd actually do something this pathetic!" Endymion spat, squeezing his fingers down hard onto the backrest of the chair in front of him, scowling from behind it over at his four generals, who were gathered in a semi-circle around him. "He can't actually do anything, so he just embarrasses me!"

"Yes, that's exactly what's happening here!" Kunzite said, trying to placate the High King, putting his palms out towards him. "He's just trying to embarrass you, anger you, provoke you into doing something that might actually give him something to work with! So we can't do that!"

Endymion seethed, looking like he might rip the entire backrest off the red leather chair. The five had gathered in one of the many studies scattered about the palace, a small room with several filled bookshelves and focused lighting over a small collection of chairs. A healthy distance away from the throne room where Endymion had greeted the agency enforcer, it provided a good opportunity for Kunzite to attempt to persuade Endymion of the seemingly impossible.

"I had respect for him, even after all this. But this is just, he should have the decency to know when he's lost," Endymion hissed. "And frankly, the agency should know better than to enable him! Treating me like I'm just another civilian, actually expecting me to...submit myself to a soft arrest, expecting me to believe that nonsense about…" he scoffed. "Don't they realize what a powerful enemy they're making today?!"

"Okay, okay," Kunzite said. "It's certainly out of line, and you're certainly right that this is your father's doing. But, let's focus on what we're going to do about it, because we need to be very careful about our next move."

"What move?" Endymion asked. "There's only one thing to do, I can't...I can't possibly submit to this, you can't…" he gave an annoyed glance over to his right. "Kunzite. There's no way this stays a secret. If I go spend a few days on board The Savery answering questions about involvement in the black market, it will get out. What's that going to do for my reputation? How does that make me look, us look?"

"What happens if you decline?" Kunzite pointed out. "What will the agency's next move be? They're not used to being told no by anyone in any official position of power."

"Their army isn't just for show," Zoisite acknowledged. "Nor are the many alliances and agreements with the Kingdoms of this galaxy that they have."

"And what precedence does that set?" Endymion asked, practically snarling as he finally let go of the leather-covered chair back, the imprints of his long fingers clearly visible in it. "They can do whatever they want to us, for any reason, at any time?!"

"Okay, okay, let's think this through," Kunzite said. "Your father obviously caused this, but he's not the agency Grandmaster. The Grandmaster has no reason to think that you had anything to do with the Tuxedo Mask operation, he's clearly doing this because your father decided to put up a prayer after digging around in our finances. You go in there, give the right answers, and don't give anything away, and it's over. That's all there is to it."

"Why did I know that this ends with you telling me I should go through with this?" Endymion said, a little louder than necessary. "What are we so afraid of, exactly? What, they're going to declare war on us because I didn't want to answer questions about the chain of bookstores I owned last year? As if the other Kingdoms would be interested in backing the agency up over something that petty, you think they'd go to war?"

"Maybe not," Kunzite admitted. "But, what he said in the throne room was true, refusing to accept their terms will give the rest of the high council at least some reason to believe that your father is on to something. And who knows what happens at that point. I know it's humiliating, but our priority should be doing whatever it takes to get past all of this and bury it so it can never surface again."

Endymion snorted derisively. "Unbelievable."

"Your Highness, all you have to do is go up there, spend a few days, and keep telling them that you don't know why the numbers don't balance. You were just the majority owner, you didn't involve yourself in the day-to-day. Just say you don't know, and that'll be the end of it. Calling in the High King of Earth for questioning once is risky, but doing it a second time is political suicide unless they have enough for an actual arrest. Just don't give them enough, and that'll be that."

"Clearly, nothing is beneath my father," Endymion snapped. "If he's capable of pulling a stunt like this once, what stops him from doing it every year just to annoy me?"

Kunzite squeezed his eyes shut for a half-beat. "I'll...we'll come up with a way to make sure that can't happen, then. You're...you're right, but after this is over, we'll get some leverage over the agency so they don't try this again. Just, please, just go listen to their questions for a few days, and it'll be over. The Kingdom can survive a few days, I can promise you that."

Endymion gave a bitter smile. "Interested in feeling what that throne feels like, Kunzite?"

Kunzite flinched back a bit. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, of course that's how it would work, right?" Endymion asked, his right temple practically twitching. "You sit on the throne while I'm unable to? That's got to be exciting for you."

"Your Majesty, I can promise you, my advice here has nothing to do with any of that!" Kunzite insisted defensively, shaking his arms back and forth in front of him. "I...we're about to have an economic boom that could last decades. Amazing things are going to happen for this Kingdom. The last thing we need is a war, even if it was one we could win. That's my only interest here. I believe it's worth it, if it means protecting the fruits of our labor to come."

"Well, don't get too comfortable," Endymion said, a cold grin on his face.

"S-So, you'll do it?" Kunzite asked hopefully.

Endymion shrugged. "I guess there's no choice."

Kunzite nodded. "Y-You're going to be High King for decades. There will be ample opportunity to try weakening the agency to make sure something like this can't happen again to anyone. Believe me, I'm just as aware as anyone else that the agency has too much power and something needs to be done about it. But this isn't the time to make that stand. Just, take it for the time being, and we'll make sure that this can't happen again. In a few cycles, the agency will know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that they can't pull something like this again."

"Wow." Endymion put his hands on his hips. "Any bright ideas, anyone?" He looked back and forth between his four generals. "Anyone? Maybe some stroke of genius that might save me and the Earth Kingdom a lot of embarrassment? You know, basically your jobs?"

Despite the obvious verbal challenge from the irate High King, none of the four had anything to reply with.

"I guess that's it then!" He turned back to Kunzite. "If I'm not back in the Earth Palace in three days, then I expect you'll send every single ship in our armada to blockade The Savery until I'm released."

"We won't let them hold you indefinitely for this," Kunzite assured him. "Just...please. Stay calm, and give them nothing. I'll visit tomorrow, we'll discuss our long-term plan to make this go away for good. But the only thing that matters right now is not giving them anything."

"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself," Endymion menaced. "You don't want to come up there tomorrow without something good to tell me. Trust me." With that, he stomped past Kunzite, brushing past him with more force than was probably necessary. Kunzite just sidestepped as much as he could, very purposefully not saying anything as Endymion departed the room, slamming the door behind him. Thankfully, the other three generals said nothing either.

"I can't believe he went for that," Jadeite said as soon as the heavy oak panel had clicked shut. "I really thought we were about to declare war."

"Oh, you just wait until I give him my idea to get the agency off our backs forever," Kunzite said dryly.

Zoisite turned to Kunzite. "You already know how to do that?"

"Yes," Kunzite answered. "And I can guarantee he'll like it less than he likes this," he warned.

"

There weren't many things in the galaxy more intimidating than an angry royal, marching right towards you, as you stood inside his palace, which was filled with a battalion of his loyal guards. That it was the High King, perhaps the second most powerful individual in the galaxy right now, only increased that intimidation factor. But, true to his title, the agency enforcer showed not a hint of concern as Endymion approached. He could have been dealing with a working-class sanitation worker who had bought a couple uncias of black market imperium a cycle ago to try to make ends meet, or a teenage girl who was dating a small-time dealer, for all the non-reaction he had to Endymion.

He didn't flinch, nor blink, even when Endymion got up right in front of him, then raised his hands up in front of him as if he was able to slug him in the face. Whether it was faked bravado or a genuine lack of concern, it was an impressive display. And Endymion, for his part, was not raising his hands to punch him, but was instead sarcastically placing his wrists together in front of him and shoving them in his face.

"That won't be necessary," the enforcer said, voice clipped and cool.

"You sure?" Endymion asked abrasively.

"Again, you're not under arrest. We just have some questions," he insisted.

"Could have fooled me," he answered.

"If you'll follow me down to the palace hangar, we'll have you on board The Savery in a handful of minutas," he said, entirely ignoring how combative Endymion was, focusing entirely on the fact that, nominally, he was compliant.

"Savor this moment," Endymion said, sounding very testy. "I can assure you, it won't repeat itself ever again."

The High King fell into line a couple steps behind the agency enforcer as the two of them marched off towards the far hallway, beginning a long trek down to the hangar, a heated and fiery aura emanating from Endymion, the battle between the enforcer's dour one practically filling the air around the two.