Chapter 3
The next morning came bright and early with a beautiful golden sun. But for Mina Taylor, nothing about this morning could be considered anything but bleak. Blinking back tears, she tried not to vomit as the memories all came rushing to her at once. The shock at finding Prince Endymion in her bedroom, the disbelief at what he had asked her to do. And even worse, the complete disgust of actually having to have his lips pressed against hers. As she lied there, trying to accept with the horror that she had experienced, she decided that maybe she wouldn't have to. Maybe it had all just been some horrible, HORRIBLE, dream.
'I mean come on. I know I'm kind of hot and all but there's no way that an evil prince broke into my bedroom last night and tried to black mail me into being his concubine. I mean how crazy is that? I probably just got whacked in the head harder than I thought last night,"
She was so desperate to believe that it couldn't possibly have happened, she kept muttering the same story to herself over and over again She even said that it was just a nightmare brought on by the pain from her ankle. 'Yes, yes it was just a nightmare. There was no evil prince in my bedroom, and today is going to be a day just like any other, 'the blonde thought to herself. Giggling almost hysterically she carefully got out of bed, grabbed her toiletries and began to prepare for another ordinary day.
About thirty minutes later Mina finally emerged from the bathroom, late for school but not caring. After the horror that she had decided was only a nightmare she felt completely prepared to face anything the day had to throw at her. But it didn't last long. It wasn't until she was preparing to walk out the door, that something curious caught her eye. A black rose was sitting innocently on her unmade bed along with a note embroidered with a beautiful ebony script. Mina hesitated for a second, then reached with a trembling hand to retrieve it. It contained nothing except for her name and one word.
'Soon'
If you were to ask Mina anything at all about that day after she found the note, she probably wouldn't be able to tell you a single detail. She didn't remember how she dragged herself from her bedroom and out the front door, barely managing a wave good-bye to her mother. She barely recalls arriving to school 10 minutes after the late bell and receiving detention for perhaps the 10th day in a row. And of course she barely has any of memory at all of the pop quiz she failed, ironically, in her 4th period sex ed class. All she can recall from that day was the constant feeling of dread that had settled into the pit of her stomach.
'What am I doing? This can NOT be happening. I'm Sailor Venus, I'm the friggin leader of the sailor team for Kami's sake. I will NOT be some royal concubine to the prince of hell'
By the time she arrived at the sailor scout evening that afternoon, she might as well have been listening to the other girls from the bottom of the ocean for all the good it did. Which of course didn't go over to well with the sailor soldier of Mars.
"Hello? Earth to Mina, come in please."
"Huh? I'm sorry Raye can you say that again? I didn't quite hear you."
"Yeah I could tell. I said, for the 50th time, what do you think we should do? You have more experience than the rest of us with fighting evil, you have to have some kind of plan right?" Raye repeated in exasperation. Nothing got under her skin more than being ignored, especially when it came to something important like this.
"Uh, well I don't know you guys. I pretty much just handled bank robbers and that sort of thing before I hooked up with you guys. The dark kingdom is really a little out of my league," Mina replied, determined to integrate herself back into the conversation.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Lita, looking very concerned, was actively staring at her.
"Mina are you sure you're ok? You've been acting kind of strange all day,"
"Yeah Mina, it's not like you to be so quiet like this. Is something the matter?" Serena chimed in.
By now, everyone, including the two guardian cats, was staring at their leader, wondering what was going on with her. Caught off guard she tried to come up with an answer to alleviate the other girls' concerns, but before she could think of a good enough lie, she was saved by the beeping of Amy's computer.
"Uh oh, you guys, it looks like there's trouble coming from the park. We better hurry"
Grateful for the distraction, Mina jumped into the role of the leader that she was destined to be.
"All right you guys duty calls. Let's get to it. Venus POWER!"
"Mars POWER!"
"Jupiter POWER!"
"Mercury POWER!"
"Moon Prism POWER!"
By the time the girls had transformed and arrived at the park, attack victims were lying everywhere with a youma made of out of cotton candy sucking the energy from them. Mina tried her hardest to fight alongside the other scouts as they sprang into action but she was so distracted it was almost pathetic. The entire time she could feel her heart pounding in her chest for fear that Endymion might show up and claim her right in front of the others.
"VENUS WATCH OUT!"
She spun around just in time to miss an energy ball that had been hurled her way just as the combined attack of Jupiter's Supreme Thunder and Mars' Fire Soul sent the youma back to the hell it came from.
Just as the girls were celebrating another victory, the sound of someone clapping caused them all to turn around. Venus' heart seemed to stop as she saw Endymion step out of the shadows, giving a slow round of applause.
"Well done sailor scouts, truly. I must say that I am actually impressed by the amount of skill you ladies have. Very well done."
Sailor Mars was the first to speak up, while Jupiter positioned herself protectively in front of Sailor Moon.
"What do you want Endymion? In case you haven't noticed but the battles over and you nega creeps have lost. Again."
"Why I want the same thing I've always wanted Mars, the illusion silver crystal. And I am here to offer you girls one last chance to hand it over,"
"Uh yeah right. Exactly how stupid do we look to you?" Jupiter scoffed at him.
"I don't think you girls are stupid at all. In fact I think that you're smart enough to take advantage of this opportunity while you can. I mean, just think of how hard this has been for you girls already. All the battles, the pain, all the innocent people you've failed to save. All you have to do is hand over the crystal and it can all stop. You can all go back to your peaceful normal lives, and not have to worry about dying a long, slow, agonizingly painful death. Or have to worry about watching the people you love suffer the same fate. Doesn't that sound so much better than the alternative Sailor Moon?"
Mina's heart couldn't help but to break as she saw her new friend barely able to blink back tears at his words. She could only imagine how painful it must be to have the love of your life treat you like a piece of trash on the sidewalk. She opened her mouth, ready to stand up for the other blonde, but Sailor Moon chose that moment to lift her head up high and stand up for herself.
"Fuck you, you evil pathetic son of a bitch. I swear on the ruins of my kingdom that when this is over, we will be the last ones standing. And you can tell that bitch Beryl that I will personally moon dust her ass straight back to hell before she lays a hand on anyone else that I care about. Understand?"
A look of shock flashed across Endymion's face as he stared at the shaky but hardened face worn by Sailor Moon. But it was soon replaced by the arrogant smirk the girls were becoming so accustomed to seeing on the new Prince of the Dark Kingdom.
"Ok then little princess, if that's how you want to play the game. Just don't come crying to me when you have to watch all your little rainbow colored friends being burned alive huh?"
With a flick of his wrist he shot an ebony colored rose to her feet, before disappearing into a dark portal.
"Catch you later."
Sailor Venus detransformed into Mina Taylor as she climbed through her bedroom window later the night, and for the first time in nearly twenty four hours, she could start to feel some hope in her soul. Endymion's behavior, while devastating to Sailor Moon was absolutely elating to Mina. He hadn't even looked at her the entire time he was there. 'Who knows, maybe he realized how stupid it would be to take a lover who was completely disgusted at the sight of you.' Slowly a smile crept across her face as she convinced herself hat she was probably off the hook. No self respecting man, evil or otherwise, wants to have sex with a chick who would stab him in his sleep. She was even glad for the throbbing ache in her right side, anything was better than having to sleep with the prince of the Dark Kingdom. Finally at peace, she took off her clothes, slipped into bed, and started to fall into a deep sleep.
Just as a swirling black portal opened in the place of her bedroom window.