Chapter 14

Faded Gold

The endless sky loomed before us, the sparkling stars twinkling and luging on their invisible pedestals in the onyx heavens. They were completely unaware of my plight, of my pain and fear for Usagi. I was standing in the helm on the ship that was currently zipping through the very sky I was staring at. In my hands was the steering control, since I was the one following my golden link with Usagi. The rest of the ships were following behind, keeping up and maneuvering with me.

It was a fairly easy task since all I had to do was follow a strait line. For the most part, once I set the coordinates, the ship was on auto pilot. I got antsy and bored though, so every so often I would switch to manual steering. It gave me something to do, something to keep my mind at least slightly occupied.

The most confusing thing was that the thread seemed to be heading strait for the Moon. All tugging on the thread had ceased, which worried me since it mean that Usagi had either given up calling to me or else she was not conscious. I didn't like either situation. I needed to know that she was doing all right, for my own sanity.

The sound of footsteps reached my ears. I turned my head to see Motoki entering the helm. Besides him there were only a few crew members in the room, all of them out of earshot if I was talking at a normal tone. Motoki walked over to me. "Is it still heading in the same direction?" he asked.

"As far as I can tell," I replied, glancing out the window. Every so often I would send my own signal down the thread, but for some time now I had received no reply. At least I could still see the string, since it meant Usagi was alive and well.

"Is the signal getting any stronger or weaker?" he inquired.

"It's not getting weaker but not really stronger either. It seems as if she has stopped moving." In a way I was pleased that she was not getting further away. It meant that we could still catch up to whoever took her, although I was convinced it was somehow Diamond's doing. Who else could it be? The arrival of Rubeus and Esmeraude was too synchronized with Usagi's disappearance, and I couldn't excuse it as a mere coincidence. But how had it all happened? I gritted my teeth in agitation.

"You look tense," Motoki said quietly.

"Of course I do, Usagi is kidnaped," I snapped, immediately regretting the harshness of my voice. "Sorry," I mumbled. "I am feeling a little stressed." I heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching us, but I said nothing.

Motoki laid his hand upon my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'd feel the same way if N...if my lady was taken against her will."

"Naru?" I asked teasingly as I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course Nar--uhh, it wouldn't matter who she was. Besides, Naru still only has eyes for Lord Alan," he said sullenly.

"But Naru specifically, no? You do still have affection for her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," he blurted out, "and yes, Naru specifically. I would murder anyone who dared harm her"

I smiled slightly. "I'm sure she'd love to hear that," I told him, failing to point out that we had another person listening in to our conversation.

"Yes, well, there's no need to tell her anything," Motoki replied.

"Oh, I won't tell her a word," I told him as I looked over my shoulder. "I think that you're the one responsible for any information she has received."

I could see Motoki tense as I glanced behind him at the lovely, blushing red-head that was standing behind him.

"It's a good thing she's not on the ship then, right?" Motoki said nervously. "She's on the Earth since she wasn't supposed to come along with us, right?"

All the muscles in my face were twitching as I fought the urge to laugh. "She might have come to me just before we left and asked if she could come along. She may have been worried about Usagi and wanted to perhaps be there for her when we found her." I winked at Naru who was blushing more and more by the second.

"You're kidding," Motoki said in a rather commanding voice.

"Nope," I replied.

"Prince Endymion, General Kunzite wished to know if he is to command all the other ships to set their course automatically to the Moon," Naru said shakily from behind Motoki.

I had never seen two people blushing so much at once. Motoki spun around and offered Naru a deep, clumsy bow. "L-Lady Naru, what an unexpected surprise. I didn't know that the ship had the h-honor of housing you as well." As he turned he made a point of stepping on my foot with as much force as he could without off-setting his balance. I winced but said nothing.

Naru gave a short, equally clumsy, curtsy. "My apologies for interrupting your conversation," she said quickly, "but General Kunzite requested the information as soon as possible."

I couldn't keep myself from grinning. "Tell him that we are heading for the Moon thus far, so he may set his course there."

Naru curtsied once more and scurried out of the room.

Motoki turned to look at me with a smouldering glare."She was standing behind me the whole time, wasn't she?" he asked calmly.

I nodded. "I do believe so, although I could be wrong," I replied.

"Why didn't you tell me she was here!" Motoki cried out loud enough to make a few of the crew members glance at us.

"What, and missed out on that tender moment you two just shared? I think not. Besides, she didn't seem to mind your words. She was blushing almost as much as you."

"Endymion!" Motoki hissed, "she probably was laughing at me the whole time in her mind, and now she thinks me a lovesick fool!"

"I highly doubt that," I muttered as I returned my gaze to the star studded sky. "Give her a little more credit than that. She's not cruel."

"No, but you are," he retorted. I could hear the annoyance in his voice.

"Perhaps," I replied. "I think you appreciate my cruelty though, or will one day you will."

Motoki snorted but said nothing. I switched the ship to auto pilot and turned to look at Motoki. "Come, we're going to go get something to eat," I said as I motioned for one of the co-pilots to keep an eye on things. He nodded and returned to the papers he had been looking through. Motoki followed me out of the room as I walked to the small dining hall.

Despite being the one to suggest we go and eat, I found that all I could do was pick half heartedly at my food, eating only a scarce amount. My stomach knotted up each time I swallowed, and soon I put my fork down, contenting myself with keeping up a light conversation with Motoki. When we finished, after countless reminders from Motoki for me to eat and countless refusals on my part, we went to a viewing room near the helm of the ship where seats were set up so passengers could watch the approaching stars and planets. I sat in one of the cushioned seats while Motoki claimed a sofa for himself. We sat in silence for a few moments, just staring.

I wondered where Usagi was. Before I had met her I was accustomed to being alone, save for Motoki's companionship. I was never really alone, but when I was I didn't mind it. I would brood over my own thoughts and ideas, think about my people and kingdom, debate with myself over issues that were afflicting my father, mother, as well as the general populace, and contemplate the greater things of the universe. How was it possible, now, that all my attention, thoughts, feelings, and questions were directed at one woman? I suppose that was the way love worked. Things seemed cloudy yet clear, simple yet complex, reachable yet impossible; everything all at once.

I studied the thread coming from my chest, its golden glimmer beckoning me to follow it. I wanted more than anything to take its path at the speed of light so I could find my wife sooner than anything could happen to her. That was a wish I knew would not be fulfilled, and I would thus have to practice that virtue called patience. It would either make me the strongest, most patient man in the galaxy, or else it would kill me.

"So, what is the plan of action once we do find Princess Serenity?" Motoki asked, pulling me from my world of contemplation.

"I don't know. It depends on where she is and who is with her."

"What if she is on the Moon?"

"Then we will talk to Queen Selenity immediately and find out what is going on. I highly doubt the Queen would kidnap her own daughter, but she may know where she is and why she is there."

Motoki rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know, while we were eating, I thought of something," he said slowly. Before I could prompt him to finish his thought, the door slid open. I rose from my seat as did Motoki, who had to turn to see who it was. Naru stood before us with a surprised look on her face.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone would be in here," she exclaimed as a blush lit her cheeks at the sight of Motoki.

"There is nothing to be sorry about," I told her calmly. "Please, join us." I motioned to the seat next to where Motoki had been sitting, on the sofa. I could feel Motoki's panic rising, although he said nothing.

"I don't want to be intruding," she said simply.

"You're not intruding at all. Please, sit." I motioned to the sofa again, and this time Naru complied with my order. She sat down and adjusted her skirts while we took our seats as well. There was still a good two-foot large space between Motoki and Naru, but despite that, each one was glued to his or her arm rest.

"So, Motoki, you were saying..." I began.

Motoki glanced hesitantly at Naru. I nodded my head, giving him permission to continue. "Well, I was thinking that your theory of Prince Diamond being behind the kidnaping may not be true."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?" I asked.

"Because if my memory serves me well, I don't remember Queen Selenity ever mentioning anything in her correspondences with the Earth that Prince Diamond had been released from her custody. Do you think it's possible that he is still being held on the Moon?"

"Is it possible for the Queen to keep a Prince as a prisoner for so long?" Naru asked hesitantly.

"No, I don't think so. If she still had him, there would probably be a war raging around the Moon right now," I replied, mulling Motoki's words over in my head. "I also don't think that she still has him. Otherwise, who would have sent Rubeus and Esmeraude?"

"Maybe that's what we should be asking," Motoki pointed out. "Maybe rather than starting a war, his people decided to take Princess Serenity to use her as a hostage for Prince Diamonds safe return. I think most people know Queen Selenity's weak spot for her daughter.?"

He did have a point. I couldn't remember Queen Selenity saying anything about releasing Diamond either, but I was sure she had to have. The other planets would have demanded it, that or some other form of justice to be carried out. Whenever questions had been posed to Queen Selenic in letters though, she always said things were being taken care of.

Was it possible that Diamond was still on the Moon? That might explain why Usagi seemed to be in that direction. No, it didn't make sense.

"Whoever took Usagi would not have taken her strait to the Moon," I finally said. "It would be too easy for Queen Selenity to claim her daughter back without handing Diamond over in return. Besides, I'm fairly certain that Diamond is no longer on the Moon. There are too many laws and regulations guarding against such things in the Silver Alliance, save for times of war. Queen Selenity would have been pressured to do something with him, and I know for a fact that no such issues have been raised."

"I suppose. It was just a thought," Motoki replied.

"What if keeping him was the only way Queen Selenity could carry out justice?" Naru asked.

"I--I don't know," I replied thoughtfully. I hadn't looked into it and wasn't sure how the Alliance would look at the situation. "I'm pretty sure that she would have had to found some other way though. You can't keep a monarch form his or her own planet for so long, not for the sake of their people at least."

We shared a moment of silence again. I dadoed think Diamond was on the Moon and I still clung to my theory that he was somehow behind everything, although I had no idea how. There were still so many unanswered questions though. How had Usagi been taken in such an un-detected way? Had it not been for our link we would not have discovered she was missing until much later.

"I'm worried for the Princess," Naru said quietly all of a sudden. "I know that you'll find her though, both her and the man who took her."

"I'm sure we will," Motoki replied cheerfully, putting on a smile for Naru's sake.

Wait, what was it that she had said? "Naru, can you please repeat what you just said?"

Naru blinked in surprise. "I said that I'm worried and that I hope you find the Princess," he replied.

"No, Naru, I need your exact words," I ordered.

Naru swallowed. "I think I said, I'm worried about the Princess. I know you'll find her though, her and the man that took her."

I squinted out the window. Something Naru had just said wasn't making sense...she was worried about Usagi, she knew we'd find her, her and the...

The man. "Naru," I said slowly, "how did you know it was a man that took her?"

I saw Motoki straiten in his seat and look directly at Naru. I kept my gaze fixed out the window, staring at the golden thread shimmering in the night sky.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked nervously.

"What he means," Motoki began, "is that once he got to Princess Serenity's room, she was already gone, as was her captor. He was the first one in the room, so no one saw who took the Princess."

"I--I know that," she stuttered.

"Then how are you so sure it was a single man that took her?" Motoki prodded.

"I don't. When the ships were getting ready to go after Princess Serenity, I was standing and talking to Anne, and she was wondering how he had done it without raising a commotion."

"Who's 'he'?" Motoki asked.

"I don't know, the man who took the Princess,"

"How did Anne know that it was a man then?"

I listened to the interrogation as my heart clenched in my chest. Something was starting to seem very fishy.

Suddenly, I felt like I had been hit with a carriage going at full speed. The wind was knocked out of me as my hand flew to my chest where my heart was beating at a wild pace in my chest. I let out a strangled cry as I shot from my seat and made a dash to the window, my eyes fixated on the empty expanse of space.

"Endymion!" Motoki cried out as he shot to his feet too. I ignored him completely, ignored his presence and words, everything.

I couldn't breath, I couldn't think, I couldn't believe it. "NO!" I cried out as I slammed both my fists against the hard pane of glass. I felt hands gripping my shoulders but I attacked the glass once more. The blood in my veins was roaring through me with fear, rage, and a deadly panic. I slammed the glass again and again as the hands on my shoulders tried to pull me away. No chance in hell!

"Prince Endymion!"

"Endymion, what's wrong?"

I almost couldn't hear their words as I hurled myself at the glass again. Agony tore at my flesh and anguish constricted my lungs as I let out a strangled sob, sinking to my knees to the cold floor, my hands still on the smooth glass.

"No! Usagi!" I cried out as tears started to stream down my face, leaving scorching paths down my cheeks. This wasn't happening, it wasn't possible.

"Endymion, talk to me, what's wrong!" Motoki was shaking my by the shoulders, trying to gain my attention, but it was all in vain. All I could do was let out a cry as my hands slid down the window before me and my forehead came to rest against the smooth pane.

The golden link, that thread that attached my heart to hers, the one Queen Selenity said could not be removed without death, was suddenly, completely, eerily...

...gone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Disclaimer--

I do not own the rights to Sailormoon or any of the characters. That honor belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, and I am simply a lowly author who can use her characters for my plots.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Yes, another cliff hanger. Aren't they great? Hmm, now, what is going on? Anja.