Chapter Four
Lake Serenitatis was too far a trek to make on foot, so Endymion and Zoisite borrowed a couple of gray horses from the palace stables, following the map Hermione had provided for them. When they arrived, she and the crown princess were already there, waiting for them. Serenity gathered her skirts and ran over to greet them, throwing her arms around Endymion as soon as he dismounted the stallion.
"Endymion, you came!"
"Of course I did, my darling," Endymion said, placing his hands on her cheeks and chastely kissing the moon sigil on her forehead. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything."
Zoisite raised an eyebrow. The two of them seemed surprisingly close considering they had only met the day before. Not that he was one to judge, but he had never known Endymion to be so affectionate toward a woman aside from his late mother.
Hermione was slower in joining them, but she smiled as she assisted Zoisite in tying the two horses to a nearby tree. "Good evening, Lord Zoisite. I'm glad you and Prince Endymion could make it. Princess Serenity has greatly been looking forward to it."
"Yes, good evening." He frowned, staring out at the vastness of Lake Serenitatis. The crystal clear water was as calm as its name indicated, but very much not frozen. "I was led to believe there would be 'frozen water'," he said. "Isn't that necessary for skating?"
Overhearing, Serenity giggled, pulling away from Endymion's embrace and coming over to wrap an arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Hermione is going to freeze the water for us with her powers. Go ahead, show them," she said, lightly shoving Hermione forward like a mother showing off a talented child.
"As you wish, Your Highness."
From some sort of subspace pocket, Hermione pulled out what appeared to be a miniature staff topped with the sigil of Mercury. She held the staff above her head and shouted, "Mercury Power, make-up!" At the command, her flowing blue dress dissolved away and ribbons of water burst forth, wrapping around Hermione's limbs and torso in one of the most stunning displays Zoisite had ever seen. He stood, transfixed, unable to take his eyes off of her during the transformation. When the ribbons finally faded away, she was dressed in her Sailor Mercury uniform as she was when they first met.
Hermione then turned to face the lake, kneeling down at the water's edge. She held her hands flat above the water, palms facing downward, and recited an incantation Zoisite couldn't quite hear. Her hands began glowing a soft blue, the water underneath them freezing in almost an instant. It didn't stop there, however. The ice continued to spread out to cover the entire lake, the surface of the water becoming flat and smooth like a mirror before their very eyes.
"Incredible," Zoisite murmured to himself.
Grabbing Endymion's arm, an overly excited Serenity started pulling him toward the frozen lake. "Come on!"
"Wait, don't we need...skates? Is that what they are called?" Endymion asked.
"Oh, right! I forgot."
Since Endymion and Zoisite didn't have skates of their own, Hermione had brought along a couple of pairs for them to borrow. As she had to guess at their sizes, the pair she gave to Zoisite were slightly too tight, pinching his toes, but he could live with the discomfort for an hour or so. He watched Princess Serenity lead Endymion out onto the ice, the prince taking short, hesitant strokes forward as she held both his hands to help with his balance.
"Is it safe?" he asked Hermione, who was sitting on the bench next to him, tying her skates. She was still transformed, claiming that her uniform was easier to move around in than her dress.
"If you're worried about the ice, it should remain solid for at least six hours or so, and it's very thick," Hermione said. "There's very little chance of it cracking while we skate."
That was good to know, although it was more the "dancing on ice" part that concerned him. Endymion had already fallen once, laughing as Serenity helped him back to his feet and brushed off some of the tiny ice shards that clung to the back of his clothes.
Well, he had suffered through more difficult exercises during his military training; how hard could skating possibly be? Even Princess Serenity, whom he had witnessed tripping over her own feet no less than five times since their arrival on the Moon – if not more – skated with ease, somehow much more graceful on the ice than she was on land. After he finished tying his boots, Zoisite stood and took a hesitant step onto the icy surface. His legs shook at first, struggling to find his balance over the thin blades, but after bringing his arms out to his sides, he felt a little more stable.
"Would you like me to teach you?" Hermione asked, joining him on the ice.
"Thank you, but I think I have the general idea," Zoisite said. "You can go ahead."
The look on her face indicated she didn't quite believe him, but as she was too polite to argue, Hermione skated a few feet away and began spinning in place, one leg lifted elegantly behind her as she arched her back and held her arms aloft. Mesmerized by the sight, Zoisite momentarily forgot where he was, sliding forward only to find himself wobbling and flailing his arms around before ultimately falling to the ice.
Hearing his shouted curse, Hermione stopped her spinning and gasped. "Are you all right, Lord Zoisite?" she asked, skating over to help him stand back up. To her credit, she didn't laugh, even though he wouldn't have blamed her in the least after he brushed off her earlier offer to help teach him.
"Yes, I think so." He rubbed at his hip bone. It would probably leave a bruise, but nothing appeared to be broken at least. "Perhaps a lesson wouldn't be such a bad idea," he admitted sheepishly. "If the offer is still open?"
She smiled, holding out her gloved hand. "Of course, my lord."
He took the offered hand, letting Hermione teach him the proper way to skate. She was an excellent teacher. After only fifteen minutes of her instruction, Zoisite had learned enough to feel confident stroking around the ice on his own, although Hermione stayed nearby, skating beside him in case he needed a balance check.
"So, this is a popular pastime for those on the Moon?" he asked. "You're quite good at it. That spin maneuver you did earlier was beautiful."
A faint blush colored her cheeks. "Oh, no, my skill level is only average. Princess Serenity and Zenobia are much better skaters than I, especially Zenobia. She can even do revolving jumps on the ice."
"Jumps?" Zoisite could barely manage gliding across the ice on two feet; he couldn't even imagine performing any kind of jump.
"Yes, they're really spectacular." Suddenly, Hermione clapped her hands together. "You should visit again during our Winter Games. You'd be able to see all the best skaters there. Zenobia always wins the skating competition."
"An invitation? Do you want to see me again that badly?" He grinned, playing it off as a light flirtation.
Her cheeks grew pinker as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, but Hermione didn't respond, looking away to watch Endymion and Princess Serenity.
Zoisite frowned, wondering why he had asked that in the first place. He was supposed to be seducing Hermione for information, yet the more time they spent together, the more he felt like she was the one unwittingly seducing him.
"The prince and princess have certainly grown close in such a short period of time," he said, nodding to the two in question in an attempt to change the subject. The princess was currently skating on one foot in what appeared to be a figure-eight pattern on the ice, Endymion unsuccessfully trying to imitate her moves.
Hermione abruptly came to a stop, Zoisite moving ahead of her.
"Princess Hermione?" He looked back at her over his shoulder.
"Sorry." She caught up to him, linking her arm through his. "I-I feel like I should tell you something, but..."
"What is it?"
After a long pause, she said, "It's about Princess Serenity and your prince... The truth is, they've met before. Many times, in fact."
"What do you mean?" Zoisite didn't see how that was possible. Endymion had never set foot on the Moon until they arrived yesterday.
"I've only recently learned of it, but Her Highness confessed to me that she has been sneaking down to Earth for the past year with the aid of Princess Ishtar."
It was Zoisite's turn to stop that time, his eyes widening. "What? But how?" Turning to face her, he grabbed Hermione's upper arms. "When was the last time they visited?" He hated to suspect Princess Serenity or Princess Ishtar of foul play, but if they were in Elysion the night the king fell ill...
Hermione shook her head. "I-I don't know all the details. She didn't tell me much. She's in love with Prince Endymion, though. Very much so."
Zoisite loosened his grip on her, his hands falling back down to his side. He had suspected, but... "In love, huh?"
"My heart breaks for her...for them," she admitted. "Once Earth joins Silver Millennium, Prince Endymion will be forbidden from ever marrying her."
His mind rewound back to earlier that evening, when he had arrived at Endymion's bedchambers for guard duty. That must have been why the prince was brooding. "So, tonight is their farewell?"
"Yes, Princess Serenity promised she would break things off with Prince Endymion if I granted her this one wish."
Sighing, he glanced once again at Princess Serenity and Endymion. They had also stopped skating, embracing and kissing as if their very lives depended on it.
"That's probably for the best," he said. Even if the marriage wasn't forbidden, he doubted an engagement between Endymion and Silver Millennium's crown princess would go over well with the populace, even those who were otherwise in favor of the alliance. Endymion was expected to marry an Earthian girl of noble blood, not the powerful heir to a galactic empire.
"Yes, I suppose..." She began rubbing her bare arms, visibly shuddering.
"Are you cold?"
"There seems to be a chill in the air," she said, frowning. "Strange, I don't recall there being a temperature drop scheduled this evening. It was supposed to be warm and temperate."
"Might it be because of the ice?"
"It shouldn't have an effect on the weather. It's magical ice, created to withstand warm temperatures."
"Well, here." Zoisite unbuttoned his jacket and wrapped it around her shivering shoulders. Without the extra layer, he started to feel the chill as well, but that was fine. Hermione, in her skimpy uniform, needed it much more than he did. "That should help."
"No, I couldn't –"
He smiled, still holding onto the jacket. "You can. I insist."
"Thank you."
She craned her neck to look up at him, Zoisite struck once again by her beauty. The cold had caused her face to flush, streaks of pink coloring her pale cheeks and the very tip of her nose. The temperature continued to rapidly drop, their breath visible in the freezing air, yet Zoisite barely noticed, his body heat rising. As if a moth drawn by a flame, he bent down for a kiss, but before their lips met, he noticed a snowflake landing in Hermione's dark blue hair.
"What the –" He looked up at the sky.
"Something is definitely wrong," Hermione said. "It should not be snowing!"
They both went on high alert, moving back-to-back as they looked around the vicinity. Nothing unusual caught Zoisite's eye, other than the strange snow.
"There!"
Zoisite turned back around, just in time to see a large icicle barrelling toward Endymion and Serenity. The two lovebirds were still so wrapped in each other that they hadn't even noticed the out-of-season snow.
Zoisite shouted Endymion's name at the same time Hermione called for her princess.
Endymion broke off the kiss, their shouts alerting him to the presence of the icicle. He abruptly pushed Serenity backwards, himself falling back on his posterior as the icicle zoomed by where they had stood. Only a second later, and the icicle would have hit them straight on.
"Endymion!" Princess Serenity screamed, skating over to him.
Relieved, Zoisite looked toward the origin of the icicle.
It was a woman – or at least, it had the shape of a human female. Zoisite had never seen someone with such pale skin before, though, so white that it glowed in the darkness. Its hair was jet black, as were its eyes, and it wore robes that almost matched its skintone. The only hint of color were its blood-red lips, deadly seductive. Fog hovered near its feet, making it difficult to tell if it was standing on the ice or floating above it, but it moved quickly, sending out another icicle in what appeared to be Princess Serenity's direction.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
A blast of water spewed forth from Hermione's hands, knocking the icicle off its intended course as Endymion yanked Serenity down on the ice with him, using his body as a shield.
"I'll protect Serenity," he shouted. "You two focus on fighting that...creature."
Zoisite frowned. It was his sworn duty to protect the prince. He didn't like the idea of leaving Endymion unguarded, vulnerable to attack, but with nobody else around, there seemed little choice in the matter.
But how the hell was he supposed to fight that...monster? Demon? He was trained to kill humans, not supernatural entities.
Noticing that Hermione no longer had his jacket hanging from her shoulders, Zoisite looked down at the ice and found it laying at her feet. He snatched it up and put it back on as Hermione prevented yet another icicle from hitting its targets. The monster only seemed interested in trying to attack Endymion and Serenity, so far leaving him and Hermione alone.
"Do you have any weapons?" Hermione asked, her voice low.
Zoisite reached inside his jacket, his fingers wrapping around the hilt of a short knife. "Daggers, but not many of them." He had left his sword on the bench, assuming it would only get in the way while he skated – a decision he now regretted. "We need to distract it, give them time to get off the ice and hide."
"Agreed. Let's split up. Divide its attention."
He nodded, and she sprinted across the ice, sending an attack toward the monster while it was forming another icicle in between its spread hands. The monster wailed in pain, the sound like an eerie echo in what was fast becoming a winter wonderland as the snow had begun to fall more heavily around them. Zoisite could barely see through the blinding blizzard, but he took some comfort in that the monster was probably in the same situation, unable to see them as well.
At least he hoped, for Endymion and Serenity's sake.
Knowing that he couldn't keep standing where he was, he hesitantly skated forward, heart pounding and dagger in hand. Hermione's name sat on his tongue, yet he kept silent, Zoisite not wanting to alert the monster to her position.
A flash of flowing black hair passed through his field of vision. He took a chance and threw the dagger toward it, but only succeeded in catching the monster's attention – and fury. It turned toward him, giving Zoisite the first real look at its face. From far away, he had thought it somewhat beautiful, but up close, it held no real beauty, its face twisted in rage.
As Zoisite awkwardly attempted to skate backwards – Hermione hadn't given him that lesson yet – he reached inside his jacket, searching for another hidden dagger. Only three left. He would need to be prudent in when and how he used them.
The monster formed another icicle in between its hands. With a wordless shout, it let loose, the icicle barrelling toward Zoisite at lightning speed.
I need to dodge. That was what his mind was yelling at him, yet his body stood frozen in place, refusing to obey his brain's orders.
The icicle became an arrow, soaring through Earth's clear blue skies.
He heard someone shout his name in the distance. Kunzite? Hermione? Endymion?
"Steamy Geyser Burst!"
It was the burst of steaming water cracking through the ice that broke him from his stupor, Zoisite tripping over his blades as he stepped backwards to avoid being hit like the icicle that had been hurtling toward him. He once again fell hard to the ice, the dagger that he'd been holding flying out of his hand and sliding across the slippery surface, into the hole left behind by the geyser.
Down to two. Damn.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked after shooting off another attack at the monster, her back turned to him. He wasn't sure how she managed to get there so fast, but there was no time to question it.
"Yeah, I think so," Zoisite panted as he managed to sit back up, rummaging around the inside of his jacket for one of the remaining daggers.
He needed to focus. Endymion was counting on him. This wasn't the time for one of his hallucinations.
"Be careful!" Hermione said, dodging out of the way of another icicle. "The ice is becoming unstable."
Indeed, thanks to her attack, there were visible cracks surrounding the hole, the fissures spreading at an alarming rate. Zoisite scrambled back to his feet, moving to a more stable area of the ice.
At least their plan to divert the monster's attention away from Endymion and Serenity was working. The monster seemed to have forgotten all about its original targets, its focus switching to Hermione. With her skating skills and guardian-enhanced speed, Hermione was managing to evade the monster's attacks, but Zoisite had no idea how much longer she would be able to keep up with such a relentless pace.
He narrowed his eyes. In order to defeat the monster, they needed to attack. However, the water spells Hermione occasionally threw at it didn't have much of an effect on it, the monster seeming to consider them a minor annoyance at most. The geyser attack she used earlier could prove useful if she could manage to hit the monster, but if Hermione used it too much, she risked cracking the ice even more, putting them both in danger.
If only they could get the monster to stay in one spot...
Zoisite pulled his final dagger out of his jacket, gripping the hilt of each knife in his fists as he skated to an area about twenty feet behind the monster. Using both at once meant he would only have one last chance, but right now was his best opportunity. The monster apparently did not consider him a threat, continuing to focus on fighting Hermione.
He waited until the monster was preoccupied with forming another icicle, then raced forward as fast as he could in his skates, daggers raised. As Zoisite purposely collided with the monster, the small knives pierced its back, green-colored blood dyeing the once-white robe it wore. The monster screamed and thrashed about, spinning around as it brought its leg up in a high kick. Letting go of his grip on the knives, Zoisite only had enough time to shield his face with his arms, the blade on the bottom of the monster's foot slashing across his right forearm, sharp enough to cut through both his jacket and shirt to reach his skin. He cried out, Hermione shouting his name.
Blood spilled forth, dripping down his arm and onto the ice, but Zoisite forced himself to ignore the pain. "Now, Hermione!" he yelled.
Though they hadn't been able to coordinate their plans beforehand, Hermione was quick on the uptake. She cast her geyser attack once again, a burst of steaming water sprouting from the ice directly underneath the monster. Its high-pitched wails of anguish filled the air, Zoisite wincing at the horrific sound, but after a minute or so, the monster went silent, its body – including its clothes – dissolving into a strange glittery dust into the water.
With the monster finally defeated, the blizzard came to an end as well, the snow disappearing from the ground as if it had never fallen at all. An illusion? It had felt so realistic, though.
Unfortunately, the cut on his arm was no such illusion. He looked down to find the bottom of his coat sleeve soaked through in red. Feeling a little woozy from the loss of blood – a situation surely not helped by the fact that he had not eaten in hours – Zoisite collapsed to his knees on the ice, bringing his injured arm to his chest and using his other hand to apply pressure to the wound.
"Zacharias!"
Zoisite sighed in relief as he saw Endymion clumsily skate his way over to him. Neither he nor Princess Serenity, who skated over to Hermione, crying as she threw her arms around her guardian, seemed to be harmed.
"Zacharias, hold on," Endymion said as he drew closer. "I'll use my pow–"
Zoisite shook his head, cutting Endymion off before he revealed too much. They'd agreed that until after the alliance was signed, it was best to keep the exact nature of his powers a secret. It wasn't a life-threatening wound. It hurt like hell, but he'd be fine getting treated by more traditional means – even if he hated the thought of another scar.
"I'm okay," he insisted through gritted teeth, pushing himself back to his feet. "Stay back, Your Highness. The ice is –"
Crack.
DISCLAIMER: "Sailor Moon" doesn't belong to me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you enjoyed! Sorry for the evil cliffhanger, but next chapter will be up tomorrow, so at least you won't have to wait too long to find out Zoisite's fate.
A big thank you to Samus, who gave me some great advice about writing fight scenes, and to teamvanessacloud, who introduced me to the tsurara-onna yokai that served as inspiration for the youma.
Feel free to follow me on Tumblr! My username is kaleidodreams.