A low grumble escaped Zoisite's throat as he made his way down a dark, stony corridor. It seemed that everything was dark and stony here. Dark stony walls. Dark stony floors. It just wasn't healthy! And talk about a horrible sense of decor. He grimaced as a green youma passed by in a yellow colored bra with matching loin cloth.
And fashion...
Shuddering, he bit lightly at his thumb. The sooner he found the queen, the sooner he could leave this monstrosity behind and go home. He could be sleeping or doing some other unproductive and all around useless activity. But nooooo. He'd had to walk miles and fucking miles through sleet, rain, and snow with no food or shelter and for what? To get caught up in this freak show? He didn't know what this "queen" had summoned him for, but it had better be worth it.
"What's your problem?"
Snapping out of his daze, Zoisite looked up to see the disaster in yellow staring at him. He let his fists unclench and his facial features soften. "Excuse me?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly.
The youma seemed to sense his anger and took a step back. "You look like you've had a run in with Metallica herself."
And you look like you've had a run in with a pack of mustard.
"Metallica?" he asked instead.
The girl raised an eyebrow. "You know. The Great One. The reason for our existence and the existence of the Dark Kingdom in a whole?"
So that's the tasteless idiot who thought you up.
"How terribly fascinating." Zoisite didn't sound very terribly fascinated at all. "Is this... Metallica your queen?"
The youma's eyes widened. "You're not from around here, are you?"
Duh.
Zoisite was starting to get really pissed off. He considered just attacking the girl, but there was still that tiny little matter of being lost and he needed to take care of it.
"No," he answered quickly. "Is she your queen?"
The youma just stared at him. Zoisite's teeth grinded together.
Anger, bad. Patience, good.
"Something wrong?" he spoke through gritted teeth.
The youma crossed her arms. "What business do you have with Queen Beryl?"
Zoisite's eyes lit up. "So that's her name then?" He smiled. "Well then, I'll just be needing to know where she is." His friendly expression dropped. "Where is she?"
The girl sneered, her features hardening. "What's it to ya?"
Zoisite rolled his eyes. That was about all he could take. Holding his palm straight out, he let his energy flow through his arm, sending the girl flying back into one of those dark, stony walls. He finally let the smirk slip across his lips as he advanced on the youma, whose tough demeanor had now fell to reveal wide, scared eyes.
Pathetic.
"Where did you say she was?"
The youma leapt to her feet, her back still pressed firmly against the walls. "I-I'll show you the way." Trembling, she dodged past Zoisite, as if fearing another attack, and started down the shadowy halls. "F- follow me!"
Zoisite scoffed as he lowered his arms and folded them behind his back. "How considerate of you..."
After several more twists and turns through the dimly lit tunnels of the Dark Kingdom, they had finally reached the throne room entrance.
"She's in there." The youma pointed nervously toward the large opening.
"Thanks." Zoisite peeked in. He couldn't see much with the exception of the usual darkness and stoniness, but there did seem to be a faint purple glow pulsing through out the room. His nerves began to stiffen. She turned to the youma. "You're not going in?"
"Are you kidding?"
Zoisite bit his lower lip. He supposed that meant "no"... And he could understand why. Beryl's lair wasn't exactly the Sugarplum Castle...
"Fine." He shook his fear off and stomped into the room, his eyes raging with an emerald fire. Stupid, good for nothing, too-lazy-for-a-purpose youma... His string of insults stopped abruptly upon his entrance. There was nothing particularly special about the large area what with its pitch black interior, but what drew his attention lay dead center in the middle of the room. There upon smooth ice-like grounds sat a throne in which a woman with long crimson hair rested. Her pale spidery fingers flailed rapidly about a strange crystal ball.
"Yeeeesssssss." she hissed hungrily. "Yessssssssss!"
Zoisite cocked an eyebrow. The guys back home were right. They were weird here.
"Um…" he cleared his throat. "Ahem!"
The woman continued to gaze into her crystal ball, her blood red eyes fierce with greed. From the way she was hissing and moaning, you'd think she was having an orgasm. It was sickening. In fact, it was so sickening that Zoisite was beginning to get upset. Ignoring the fearful looks of a few youma, he neared the throne. "Excuse me, your majesty!"
The queen took no notice of this interference. Instead, she just leaned in closer to the ball.
"Hey!" Zoisite started straight for her. How dare she ignore him! How dare she ignore him when he'd just went through fucking hell to get here just to discover that it wasn't much better. Actually, he preferred the snow… When he'd finally reached the queen's chair, he pulled a piece of paper from his coat pocket and tossed it straight into the woman's lap.
The queen froze for a moment as did all of the youma behind her. Zoisite folded his arms across his chest anxiously. "Well?"
The queen's fingers slowly folded around the parchment in her lap. Using her long, red nails, she pried it open and narrowed her eyes to scan its contents. While she read, the room was completely silent with the exception of Zoisite's shoes tapping impatiently against the hard stone. When she was finally done (He thought she'd never finish), her cold, irritated eyes rose to meet Zoisite's. "What is this?"
Zoisite blinked, caught completely off guard. But as always, his confusion quickly turned into anger. "What is that?!" he started, his small figure trembling. "What is that?! I walked miles and miles because of that! That's the reason that I haven't slept in three days! You better have a good explanation for… that!"
The queen's ruthless expression fell away to sudden rage. "How dare you speak to me like that?! I am the Queen of the entire Dark Kingdom!"
Zoisite sneered. "I wouldn't brag about that if I were you."
"WHAT-" The queen cut off in mid-sentence and a slow smile began to curve over her lips, so wicked it made Zoisite flinch.
"Wh-why're you looking at me like that?"
The woman's eyes slowly lowered to the parchment. "Zoisite, I presume?"
Zoisite rolled his eyes. "Isn't that what is says?"
The queen ignored this remark and turned back to her crystal ball. "Ah, yes. I sent for you a month ago." She raised her eyes back to meet Zoisite's. "What took you so long?"
Zoisite stared at the woman in disbelief. A guy had things to do! The Queen was lucky. He wouldn't have come at all if his foster mother hadn't convinced him to take some time away from home. Of course the woman could have just been trying to get rid of him… People frequently did that and Zoisite never really understood why.
"I'm here now, aren't I?" she seethed, his temper flaring.
Oh right. That was why…
"Zoisite." The woman stared daggers at him and he returned the glare. "This is my kingdom and you will respect me."
Zoisite scoffed.
"Remember, you are but a guest here."
"Unfortunately." Zoisite scanned the dark, stony walls. "You have horrible taste. You know that?"
There was an awkward silence and he could almost feel the queen's anger rising. He bit his lip to keep from grinning. "So why-"
"I called you here, Zoisite, because I have a job for you."
Zoisite frowned. What am I? A king in your army?
"I want you to be a king in my army."
Zoisite stared at her for a few moments. Then covering his lips, he started to laugh long and hard. Finally, without another word, he turned on his heel and started for the exit.
"Zoisite!"
The smile still covering his lips, he turned around. "Yeah?"
The woman's face showed no mirth. "You will stay in the Dark Kingdom and join my army. It is destined-"
"My destiny is none of your concern." Zoisite interrupted, the former irritation taking hold of him. "I'm honored, but I'm sure that you and your little "army" will be fine without me." He started walking again. "I saw two of them fighting earlier and they didn't look like they needed any help." One of them didn't anyway… "So I'll just be on my w- WHOA!" he cried as a black force field blocked his path, its surface crackling with dark energy.
The queen's cold voice cut through the sudden silence. "You don't understand, Zoisite. I've been planning this for a very long time."
Zoisite's expression went from amused to murderous. He spun around. "You're really starting to piss me off."
The queen frowned. "You do not want to upset me, Zoisite."
Zoisite gave a high pitched laughed, though he was beginning to get a bit nervous. "And what are you gonna do? Tell my future?"
One side of the woman's lips curved upward. "Something like that."
With that, the throne room was drowned in a scarlet glow. And that's the last thing he remembered.
Tortured cries of youma echoed throughout the passage and found there way into the dark cell where Zoisite was huddled, clutching his knees to his chest. He winced at the sound, hoping that that wouldn't be him in a few moments.
Aw man…
How did he get himself into this one?
And more importantly, how was he going to get out of it?
He'd never done anything to… Okay, that wasn't even worth finishing. But he was too cute to deserve this! Besides, he'd never killed anyone… on purpose. And he'd only tormented the other kids in the foster home because they were so damn easy to pick on. Those loveable morons…
He'd never really meant to hurt them... too much.
Only the good die young, his foster mother had told him as a child. Zoisite didn't think he'd ever been very good. In fact, he'd made a lifestyle out of being very, very naughty. Yet he was the one who'd been knocked out, tied up, and thrown in a cell, given nothing but a T shirt to wear until the queen of bizarre felt like letting him out. If she ever let him out…
Frustrated, he slammed his fist against one of the stony walls and let out an exasperated cry.
"HEY!" A familiar male voice called from the neighboring cell. "SHUT THE HELL UP OVER THERE!"
Zoisite growled. "Why don't you come over here and MAKE ME?!"
"MAYBE I WILL!"
Zoisite swallowed hard when he realized that the voice wasn't coming from inside the cells at all but rather from the outside. And that meant they could let him out of here! A tall, dark figure appeared and his eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, I know you! You're that clumsy idiot who got his ass beat earlier!"
The man's blue eyes narrowed in anger. "What?"
"I mean-" He inwardly slapped himself. He'd just never got the hang of that thinking before you speak thing… "Can you let me out of here?"
Nephrite didn't answer. Instead, he stepped forward, his eyes squinting to get a better look at him. "Are you…"
Zoisite raised an eyebrow.
"… a girl?"
His insides flamed with anger. "Of course, I'm not a girl, you dolt. How dare you even suggest such a thing?! Do I look like a girl to you?!"
Nephrite seemed surprised and a little disappointed at her sudden outburst, but he quickly recovered, his expression growing stern.
"I am the second general of Queen Beryl's army and I will not tolerate such behavior!" he growled.
"OoooOOOooOOOoooh!" Zoisite gasped in mock terror. "Smite me." He slapped a hand to his forehead. Nice going, Zoi. Now he would never let him out.
"Just who are you?!" Nephrite demanded.
"I'll tell you if you let me out." He flashed him a sugary sweet smile and the man blinked in amusement.
Works every time.
He reached for the bars and he was certain that he would release him. That is until his fingers reached a small, yellow sheet of parchment. "Zoisite." He read. "Placed in confinement for disobedience to the queen." He raised his eyebrows at him as if impressed, a slow smirk slipping across his lips.
"What?!" Zoisite's fingernails tore into the material of his white T shirt. "Lies! I was trying to go home! That bitch kidnapped me!"
He gasped. "No one talks about the queen that way!"
Zoisite groaned. "That bitch is no queen of mine!"
"Silence!" Nephrite commanded, pressing against the bars so that he could see the threat in his eyes. "The queen will sense your anger."
"Sense this!" Zoisite flipped the bird.
At that, Nephrite simply backed away, his eyes solemn, and turned around.
"N-no!" Zoisite called, his eyes wide. By George, he'd done it again. "Wait! I was just kidding! It was a joke!" He gave a nervous laugh. "Just a joke. Get it?!"
Nephrite paid no attention and disappeared out of sight.
"WAIT!" Zoisite cried, hysterical now. "COME BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! NEPH-"
SLAM!
"Phrite… DAMMIT!" He kicked at a stone wall and ended up doing more damage to his foot than anything.
Three hours later…
Zoisite sobbed incessantly in his corner. It just wasn't fair! He couldn't help it if his temper got the best of him sometimes. He couldn't help it if everyone else was so damn stupid.
A small thud echoed throughout the corridors and his sobs immediately ceased. Standing up, he walked across the room and to the bars. Staring out, he saw nothing but darkness. "Hello?" he called. "Is someone there?"
Silence.
"Helloooo-oooooo?"
Eventually the footsteps became louder. He smirked. Someone was coming. Inhaling slowly, he closed his eyes. Gotta be nice. Gotta be nice.
He smiled sweetly as a young, blonde boy approached his cell. "Hi!"
The boy gave him a strange look. Probably awed by his unnatural beauty.
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
His eyebrows furrowed. He was either serious or using a very bad, recycled pick up line… And if "somewhere" meant anywhere in the Dark Kingdom, he sincerely doubted it.
"I don't think so. Look." He ran his fingers along the bars. "Do you think you can take care of these for me?"
The blonde seemed confused. "Huh?"
He rolled his eyes. "Can you let me out of here?"
"I could've sworn I've seen you somewhere before…"
Zoisite kept his mouth shut to avoid the string of cynical comments that was streaming through his mind. He watched as he examined the bars. "What're you in for?"
He smiled, relieved to have a story this time. "A youma was locked in here. She tricked me into letting her out." He pointed toward the bars. "She took the paper with her." He smirked. That idiot Nephrite had actually taken the parchment with him. At least he was good for something other than a laugh…
"Oh." The boy nodded, his blonde curls falling over his eyes. "That's understandable." Zoisite smiled back. He was such an adorable idiot that he almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"But I swear…"
Oh, God.
"I've seen you somewhere."
Shut up.
A circle of dark energy began to grow in his palm. "I just can't quite put my finger on it…"
Zoisite smiled like an idiot. Just shut up before you embarrass yourself any further.
His smile grew wider as the boy placed his palm upon the keyhole and something cracked. The barred door instantly began to swing on its hinges. He sighed in relief.
"Thank you, um…"
"Jadeite." Jadeite raised a hand to take his. "I'm the third general in the queen's army." He smiled charmingly.
Zoisite smiled back. She figured that the whole I've-Seen-You-Somewhere- Before thing was just an act. He probably, like most, assumed he was a girl. Well, he hated top burst his bubble so…
"I'm Zoisite." He slowly pulled his hand away. "Thank you for your kindness, Jedi, but I really have to be-"
"Zoisite?"
He immediately turned back to him. The warmth in his expression had faded.
"Zoisite?!" He pointed accusingly at him. "I remember you!"
Zoisite swallowed hard. "Er… fondly, I hope…"
"From the orphanage! You used to steal my lunch everyday!"
"Erm…" He scratched at his coppery bangs. "Maybe I should be leaving." He started for the exit, but Jadeite blocked him, his blue eyes raging.
"You laughed at me and called me names!"
Nervous laughter rose in his throat. He'd laughed at a lot of people and called them names. It was nothing personal…
"Don't tell me you don't remember!"
Zoisite bit at his pinky finger. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Blonde hair. Blue eyes.
"P… p-" Jadeite started, his eyes lowering. "P…"
"Hm?" Zoisite leaned in.
"P. Wedgie."
At the name, Zoisite reared back in laughter. How could he forget?! "Now I remember!" he squealed with glee. "You were the fat kid!"
Jadeite was not amused.
"And everyday I'd stuffed those fries down your shorts!" He clapped his hands together. "And then! And then I'd-"
"Give me a wedgie."
Zoisite howled with laughter, his sides nearly splitting. "That was the best part!" he cackled. "Wasn't that… wasn't that…" He looked up at Jadeite's hardened expression. Apparently, that was not, in any shape or form, funny.
"Y-" he started, realizing his mistake. "You've really grown."
……………………………….
"… I um…" He bit his lip. He hated doing this. "I'm really, um… I'm, er… I-"
"Bullshit!" Jadeite grabbed the bars and slammed them back in place. "You're not sorry, Zoisite! All you care about is yourself!"
Zoisite pouted. "Jeddyyyyy!"
"Don't call me that!" The small ball of energy began to develop again.
"Can't we let bygones be bygones?!"
"Shut up." He pressed his palm against the metal and it melted back into place.
"No!" he cried as the boy began to walk away. "I was only seven years old!"
Jadeite shrugged. "Tough."
He gritted his teeth, recognizing the one word argument from ten years ago. It had been his. "Get back here, you fucking bastard and let me out! Loser! Why can't you just get over it?!"
He watched as yet another failed escape plan disappeared into the darkness.
"FINE!" he bellowed, his expression twisted in loathing. "YOU MAY BE THE THIRD GENERAL HERE! BUT YOU'LL ALWAYS BE P.WEDGIE TO ME!"
SLAM!
Zoisite gave a deep sigh and sank to his knees. Well, at least he didn't have to do any apologizing. God forbid that…
So his mischievous ways had once again done him in. Maybe he should do what everyone repeatedly told him to do. Maybe he should just…
Behave.
…
Nah…
He held his knees close and began to start another crying fest when the familiar sound of footsteps sparked his attention. "Hello?!"
The footsteps stopped abruptly.
He smirked. I won't mess up this time. Think friendly thoughts. Think friendly thoughts… "This way! I need help!"
The footsteps started up again and finally, he was able to make out a large silhouette. "Is someone there?" he asked, wishing that they'd hurry up. He didn't have all day…
As if sensing his impatience, the figure quickened its pace and he was able to recognize him as the other man from the fight earlier. The victor and most likely the first general of Queen Beryl's little army. Looking down, he realized that it was his cape that gave him a large appearance. But honestly, who wore capes anymore?
"Hi!" he greeted him, trying to keep the bitterness from his tone.
The man only stared at him with icy blue eyes, a nonchalant expression upon his features. Almost… Bored.
"I'm Zoisite."
"…"
He felt his blood boiling. No taste or manners? "Can you er… let me out of here?"
He just stared at him indifferently.
Zoisite's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. Was he trying to piss him off? Because it was working exceedingly well. He crossed his arms. Hard nut to crack, eh? We'll just see about that…
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