Chapter 3

The two royal guards standing on either side of the large double wooden doors each gave a single nod of their heads as they acknowledged the young woman that was quickly approaching them. Behind them, the doorway was over thirteen feet tall with each of the side of the door measuring just over ten feet in height. Each of the doors' panels were made of solid Japanese beech and stained with a light brown finish. They were built into small stone alcove with a high archway. On either side of the outer edge of the alcove where the guards and as she got closer, they turned their bodies in unison and gripped the long vertical rock handles of the doors with a single hand each. With some moderate physical exertion they each pulled hard on the door handles which caused the tall wooden doors to swing open and allow access to the large room within.

From what could be seen through the quickly expanding gap between the door panels the room inside was huge and open with a very high ceiling, like a hall or cathedral. White stone square tiles covered the floor of the royal chamber and was polished to the point where its surface had become very reflective and acted almost like a mirror. Each of the walls of the grand chamber were lined with white marble columns that were spaced out in groups of four. In between the columns were large square sections of wall that were decorated with various intricate and beautiful etchings and patterns. Near the edge of the ceiling, the top half of the chamber was furnished with white and black marble flattened square blocks. It was breathtaking to consider the scale of the detail and design of not only the royal chamber but of the entire interior of the Crystal Palace as a whole. It was reminiscent of the old European mansions, castles and the palaces of the ancient Roman emperors.

In perfect alignment with the room's main entrance were a pair of large golden thrones that sat side by side. This created the main focal point of the room. Both of the thrones were placed upon a platform that was about twelve feet off the ground. It had a small flight of stairs leading down to an even larger platform and a second flight of stairs that went down to the ground level. Behind the thrones a pair of long red curtains hung from the stone archway high above and behind them and came to a stop a few inches from the floor. In the open space between the drapes were a few large shards of semi-transparent crystal that were several feet long and protruded upwards from the floor. Both of the grand looking chairs were cut from beautiful looking grey marble stone and the bases of each chair were decorated with elaborate carvings etched into the solid stone. They were covered in gold coloured upholstery with red cushions in the seat area. Sitting upon the thrones as the doors opened to allow the latest arrival to enter the room was the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo.

Without breaking her gait or current speed Sailor Venus passed through the twin doors and into the room. As soon as she was through the threshold the two guards behind her proceeded to pull the doors shut. As the wood panels of the door gently slammed together the resulting 'thud' sound acted as a signal to everyone present in the room with her that they were now ensured of their privacy and thus were able to talk about the sensitive material that was the main topic for this sudden and unexpected meeting.

Sailor Venus continued to walk towards where the King and Queen were sitting. She took notice of the two lines of Soldiers that were standing at attention on either side of the royal purple carpet that marked the pathway from the room's main doors to the stairs that lead up to the two platforms. She recognized them as members of Carnage's military unit. Her mind began to race at the possible reasons as to why they were present at this gathering.

Sailor Venus strolled up the stairs to the first platform where the rest of the other Sailors were all standing. A few stairs above them was the second landing where the twin thrones of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were situated.

The faces on both of them were grim and devoid of the usual warmness that they were usually filled with. They were sitting upright and their postures were clearly very tense and rigid. Leaning against the right side of his throne was the King's cane sword while his left hand was outstretched and holding on to his wife's in the empty space between the royal thrones.

"Sorry I am late everyone. There was a disturbance in the Caledon district."

"Is everything ok?"

"Yes my queen. It was just some graffiti that someone painted on the side of a store. As you can imagine, the owner was upset and needed some reassurance that we would investigate the incident and find the person responsible."

"What was painted on the wall?"

"It was a symbol I think… but it was like nothing I have ever seen before. It wasn't Japanese and didn't look like any other language that I recognized. It was just a bunch of black lines and what looked like a half moon. The owner was under the impression that it was a threat to our Kingdom considering."

Sailor Venus paused and looked up towards her queen. It was no secret to the people of Crystal Tokyo that their ruler was actually a descendent of the ancient Moon Kingdom. When Neo-Queen Serenity had purified each of the current citizens of the kingdom and rid them of the last remaining echoes of Queen Metalia one of the unexpected side effects of the cleansing was the instilment of a complete history of the Earth and Moon kingdoms as well as who the Sailors were and the roles they played in those historical events.

At first the Sailors had been worried about how the general public would react to possessing such incredible knowledge. They were afraid that the people would revolt or reject their leadership because they were revealed to be different from them. As time went on, it seemed that those fears were unfounded as the general public's acceptance of the truth about their protectors had actually made life easier for them as it meant that the Sailor team did not have to hide their identities or lie to them.

The mention of the possible threat against the kingdom filled each member of the Sailor team with a sudden sense of alarm. It had been a long time since they had to fight against any sort of major enemy. The memories of Apachite and the resurrected Dark Kingdom still rang loudly inside them, even after nine hundred years. Each of the Sailors exchanged a look of concern with each other with facial expressions that all said the same thing.

Once this meeting was over they were going to start looking for the true meaning behind that symbol and stop any evil that it may represent. Sailor Venus' brief description of the strange symbol caused some of the army soldiers behind them to break their rigid posture for a few seconds as it caused a mental recognition to flash inside each of their brains. During several of their missions, they had seen a symbol that matched her depiction of the image painted on the building's side. . They were aware however that there were far more important things at hand that needed to be dealt with first and now was not the time to tell the king and queen about what they knew about the mysterious symbol. Once their current issue with Carnage was dealt with they would inform Neo Queen Serenity about the information they had about the possibly ominous emblem.

"Ok… after we are done here you will all investigate this hopefully isolated occurrence of juvenile mischief. In the meantime let us get to the matter at hand!"

The Sailors straightened up and stood at attention at the sound of King Endyimon's voice. Their actions mirrored the young Soldiers down on the floor behind them. Neo-Queen Serenity pursed her lips and her bright blue eyes rolled to the outside bottom corners of her eye sockets. She took in a deep breath and held it inside her for longer than what would be considered normal. It was clear by her body language that she was struggling with whatever was troubling her and internally preparing herself to discuss it openly with her friends and guardians.

"It has been recently brought to my attention that someone close to all of us has been acting very strangely. The nature of this erratic behaviour is both disturbing and a cause for considerable concern as to the possible future ramifications if this behaviour is allowed to continue."

"Who are you referring to my queen?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look around you. There is only one person of our inner circle that is not with us."

The looks of shock and surprise spread like wildfire among the Sailors as they all quickly came to realize what Sailor Uranus' observation meant and who Neo-Queen Serenity must have been referring to.

Sailor Jupiter was the most shaken by this disturbing realization. Her husband was being discussed in a negative light and even possibly being accused of harmful behaviour. She simply could not and would not let that happen. Her loyalty to her friends was something that no one would ever question but this was the love of her life. That was a completely different category and one that she would defend against anyone even if that meant speaking out against her best friend and queen!

"You are wrong Serenity. Carnage… Sean is perfectly fine. We have been married for almost four years now. I would be to the first to know if anything was different or wrong with him."

Neo Queen Serenity lifted her head and gestured with her left hand to the two guards standing on either side of the entrance to the royal chamber. Without missing a beat, both of them griped the handles of the doors and pulled them open. The large panels swung open and about a half minute later, two more guards appeared as they escorted a third person into the room.

The Sailors all turned around and looked down towards the approaching group. The two lines of soldiers that stood at the base of the stairs leading up to the first platform turned their heads to look at them but maintained their current body positions. The guards continued to physically push their prisoner until they reached the base of the stairs. Around them, the two lines of former military rangers stood, offering the guards additional security should the criminal break free of their grips.

A few seconds later, Neo Queen Serenity took a visible deep breath. It was more to give her a chance to clear her mind than to ease any nervousness she may have felt. As the future leader of the Earth's people, she couldn't afford to show any signs of weaknesses or have any potential rogue members of her court acting against her orders. In this new world, just like the old one, the public's perception of their leaders is incredibly important. .

"Prisoner, tell us what you told me earlier."

The captured criminal hesitated for a few seconds. His eyes flicked back and forth as he surveyed his surroundings. He had been in jail before and had even escaped from a few of them. He quickly weighted his options. Even if he could break free of the guards holding him, the army men on either side would be on him in no time and he couldn't forget the strong but absurdly dressed women standing above him. If he played by their rules for now, a better opportunity might present itself later on. He looked up at the young blonde haired girl playing dress-up.

"When I was captured in your strike team's leader, I believe his name is Carnage, tried to kill me after he had disarmed me."

"What do you mean tried to kill you?"

"As I am sure most of you are aware, I tried to kill one of these fine American-made soldiers in retaliation for disrupting my budding commercial enterprise. Unfortunately, I missed and wasted a valuable bullet. That was when that red skinned monster became clearly overwhelmed with rage at seeing one of his team members wounded. ."

"That is completely understandable, you thug! He had just seen someone that he has closely worked with for years get shot. Any one of us could or would have reacted the same way. If that is all you have to offer I haven't heard anything that warrants any degree of concern!"

"Sailor Jupiter… please let him finish his report. Please continue but I will not tolerate any more rudeness. "

"The way he reacted was different than what would be allowed by any other law enforcement person. I have seen that kind of rage before several times with the people I used to run around with. He picked me up with one hand and morphed his other arm into a weapon meant to deliver certain death. The look in his white alien eyes was pure hatred and anger. If his team wasn't able to talk him out of his rage—"

The prisoner did not finish his sentence as it was clear to everyone what the unsaid portion was. A few of the Sailors' faces became even tenser as they struggled to comprehend what exactly was being said and how it concerned their close friend. A few awkward seconds passed between the members of the group before King Endyimon broke the silence once again.

"Prisoner… in your opinion what would have happened if the team had not been unable to calm Carnage down?"

"He would have killed me … no question about it my King!"

"Is there anything else you wish to add?"

"Yes. Despite your best efforts, there still exists a criminal world that continues to exist even after the world went to hell. People have been talking and heard stories from people that barely managed to escape your agents' various raids. Apparently, this isn't the first time that your pet monster has almost given into his bloodlust. If I were you, I would put him on a lease or something otherwise all your pretty speeches and illusions of being the shining beacon of hope for this world will be destroyed when the first drop of blood hits the ground because of his actions."

"You are wrong! Carnage would never intentionally kill someone especially in cold blood. You are mistaken in what you saw and heard, you parasite! He is in complete control of his emotions and would never break the solemn oath he pledged to Neo-Queen Serenity. I can't believe we are even seriously talking about this…"

"Jupiter!"

Sailor Jupiter spun her head around and turned to look at Sailor Mercury. She gave her short blue haired friend a look that was one of intense frustration and disappointment directly caused by the accusations being said against her husband. Her face was red and flushed as her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. Anyone who knew Sailor Jupiter well enough would recognize this as the warning signs to back off or risk feeling her wrath.

Sailor Mercury's face was red as well but for a completely difficult reason. As she suddenly felt all the eyes of everyone present focusing in on her she began to quickly blush a bright red with embarrassment as she found herself being the centre of attention. In the years since she had discovered her true destiny as the Sailor Soldier of water and wisdom she had come a long way from the shy mousy young girl she had once been. She had matured into a strong and more confident young woman through her many experiences at being a champion of this galaxy. Every so often though, she would revert back to her former self and let her inner shyness come back out. She stayed silent for about a minute as she felt Jupiter's intense stare at her and her quiet 'demanding' as to why she had just spoken up. She steadied her shoulders and successfully regained her inner confidence as she pushed her timidness back deep down inside her.

"I have seen him do it. We all have."

Her eyes drifted over to her right and Sailor Jupiter followed her eyes turning her head as she did so. Sailor Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn all stared back at Jupiter and the look each of them gave her told her that what Sailor Mercury was saying was indeed correct.

Behind them the army Soldiers couldn't see the Sailors' faces but could tell from their body postures what their response had been. Maintaining their stance, they resisted the urge to lower their heads.. It was clear that the realization that they were too late in preventing their respected leader from crossing the point of no return. .

Up above the Sailor Soldiers Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon wore looks of surprise and shock as they were learning of this new information for the very first time just as Sailor Jupiter was. Both of them exchanged looks between each other that said that this situation was far worse than they had both originally thought. She turned back to look down at her guardians with one question screaming inside her head.

"When did this happen?"

"It occurred when we confronted Apachite at his base in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He had just made his final move to launch all the world's electronically controlled missiles. Carnage moved in to prevent that from happening but was too late. The countdown started and there was nothing any one of us could do to stop it. In desperation Carnage grabbed Apachite and held him up by the throat. He demanded and tried to physically coerce Apachite into telling him how to stop the countdown sequence but all he did was laugh and mock him in response."

Sailor Mercury's description of what had happened in the final moments of the second age of humanity stuck a cord with Dorrin and the other army Soldiers. Carnage had held the amateur drug trafficker in exactly the same fashion after he had shot Apone. It was a bittersweet moment for all of them as it gave their own report more creditability but they would have much more preferred to have been proven wrong about their leader.

Sailor Jupiter, however, was still not convinced. She had stood by and quietly listened as Sailor Mercury, one of her closest friends gave her recollection on her husband's past erratic behaviour. Her arms were firmly crossed and her body weight was shifted onto one leg. Her face was no longer flushed red and her eyes were more open than they had been a few minutes earlier. Her body language remained extremely agitated and at the ready to defend the man that she loved if the discussion shifted back into a realm that she wasn't comfortable with or if she felt someone had stepped over the line with their accusations.

"So he killed Apachite to prevent him from completing his master plan's endgame. We have killed enemies before in battle each and every one of us! Remember Rubeus and the hundreds of monsters, droids and daimons that we have destroyed. Apachite was an enemy and Carnage did what we have done numerous times before. I still don't see what the cause for concern is."

"Jupiter… please try to understand. There was nothing we could have done to stop the missile launches. Apachite had won. He knew it, we knew it and most importantly Carnage knew it too. He was no longer a threat to us and he never seriously tried to fight back or break Carnage's hold on him. He was essentially an unarmed man and could have easily been captured and brought before Sailor Moon to receive proper justice. Carnage chose to impale him with a tendril of his symbiotic costume and then savagely slice him literally almost in half with his claws. We are supposed to be symbols of love and justice. What he did didn't feel like justice, it felt like murder."

Everyone felt the tension in the throne room drop to levels that none of them thought possible. Sailor Jupiter could see that her friend was being completely honest with her description and was not embellishing one single detail in order to emphasize her main point about Carnage's disturbing behaviour. She was still very hesitant to allow herself to believe that what she was hearing was actually true.

"You can't be serious in what you are saying. He would never…"

"Jupiter… he did! He murdered Apachite in cold blood. That scream he let out when he did it… I can still hear that shriek in my nightmares."

Mercury's personal confession made many of the Sailors' blood run ice cold. For the people that had actually been there it brought back memories that they had hoped were lost somewhere deep inside their minds. For the others the tone Sailor Mercury had used when she had been speaking terrified them worse than any horror movie or monster they had ever previously faced. Neo-Queen Serenity bit her lower lip and her grip on King Endyimon's hand tightened as she mentally visualized the images that Mercury had just described.

"Why didn't any of you tell us about this before?"

Sailor Mercury turned her head around and looked up at her queen over her shoulder. Her bright blue eyes were filled with an intense degree of sadness and remorse and she could only manage to look at Neo-Queen Serenity for a few seconds before she had to cast her eyes downward. Beside her Sailors Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Venus all tilted their heads down as well as their feelings of guilt were on par with Sailor Mercury's. Sailor Uranus clenched her fists tightly at her sides as an additional sign of her internal struggle to deal with her 'failure to act'.

"I am sorry Serenity. We didn't have the time to tell you before… well you know. When we were all re-awakened we wanted to tell you but we all got so busy with the establishment of Crystal Tokyo that it kept getting pushed aside. I know that is ultimately no excuse but you have to understand the circumstances."

"Ok… enough! Let us all refocus here."

The voice of King Endyimon silenced everyone in the room and all eyes became instantly fixated up at him. He had been sitting quietly since his earlier comments and listened to everyone as his wife Neo-Queen Serenity, had taken control of the conversation. The reveal of what had occurred between Carnage and Apachite had clearly side-tracked everyone's line of thinking and had thus distracted them from what the real issue was right now.

"We need to stop this before things get any worse. We must also keep in mind that by his own admission Carnage has killed people before. It's true that this was during the time prior to joining the Sailor team and they were all unrepentant killers and human monsters but nevertheless he had a previous history of such actions! We have to ensure that he does not fall back into those habits again!"

"How do you propose we do that my king?"

The look King Endyimon gave everyone standing before him was one of complete seriousness. His eyes seemed to transmit the answer to Sailor Mars' question telepathically first before it became clear to the rest of them. Almost all of the other Sailors came to realize what King Endyimon was alluding to. For the benefit of the army Soldiers still standing at attention behind them King Endyimon vocalized his idea anyways.

"We need to purify Carnage with the Silver Moon Crystal."

"King Endyimon… permission to speak?"

"Permission granted Soldier!"

"Is it my understanding that Carnage was never purified by the Silver Moon Crystal?"

"That is correct Corporal."

"Why wasn't he if I may ask? I thought it was mandatory for all citizens of Crystal Tokyo to be purified by the crystal."

The king and queen exchanged looks between themselves first and then with the Sailors. Corporal Hicks' confusion and question were justifiable and understandable when they considered the circumstances. Corporal Hicks and the soldiers' years of service to the Crystal Kingdom could not be ignored and that meant that they deserved to know the full truth. It would be to no one's benefit to dodge the question or lie to them when they would almost certainly need them in future battles or if their current crisis suddenly turned ugly.

"He and the rest of us weren't formally purified by the Silver Moon Crystal because it was deemed unnecessary due to our multiple exposures to its power in our past battles. In hindsight that assumption was a mistake on our part and one we fully intend to correct as soon as possible, starting with Carnage."

Sailor Jupiter uncrossed her arms and her shoulders visibly dropped. These were the signs of a woman defeated. She knew that she would be unable to neglect her duty to her king and queen and ignore the orders she could sense were coming. She knew the purification process was completely painless and had been conducted on thousands of people of all ages and these were individuals that did not have the enhanced strength or durability that her husband possessed. The physical toll of the purification process was not the problem she was having. It was the symbolic nature of it. It felt like she and the other Sailors were betraying him and calling his loyalty to Crystal Tokyo into question. She shook her head to temporarily quiet the inner turmoil that continued to rage inside her as she saw that Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon were looking at her and waiting to see how she would respond.

"I will go and get Carnage. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can investigate that strange symbol that Venus found and put this whole misunderstanding to rest."

King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity each nodded their heads once to show that they accepted her request to personally carry out the task at hand. Around her, the other Sailors remained silent as they were all fully aware of how difficult this was for their friend. None of them were happy to see one of their own being ordered to bring in another of their close friends simply because they couldn't trust their judgment anymore.

As Sailor Jupiter turned and proceeded to walk towards the staircase that lead down off of the first platform Sailor Mars stepped forward and outstretched her arm. She didn't try to touch or grasp Sailor Jupiter's shoulder as she was unsure of what her friend's reaction to such a gesture might be.

"Jupiter… wait! Let me come with you."

Sailor Jupiter stopped herself from running into Mars' arm and turned her head to look over at her friend. She gave her friend a look that was devoid of any discernible emotion with the exception of just one pain. It was a look that Sailor Mars had seen several times before whenever Jupiter had previously had her heart broken by someone that she had been temporarily interested in during Carnage's long absences. This time however the feeling of anguish was clearly much more intense.

Sailor Jupiter tried to force some sort of small smile across her lips to ease the concern she saw in her friend but was failing to get her mouth muscles to cooperate. Her eyes were glassy as she tried to keep herself from crying as the emotional turmoil her heart was in tried to break through her tough exterior.

"Thank you Mars but I need to do this by myself."

Sailor Mars pursed her lips as she slowly and reluctantly lowered her outstretched arm. A second later Sailor Jupiter moved passed her and hurried down the stairs and out of the throne room. As she rapidly approached them, the pair of royal guards inside the throne room with them and were standing on either side of the exit scrambled to quickly push the door open for her as she stormed out of the throne room. She did not break her stride at all as her mind was completely focused on the task assigned to her and where she needed to go to complete it.

Meanwhile a short distance away from the Crystal Palace, the darkly dressed person lingered again in another alley. They stood in the mouth of the alley that faced towards the Palace and gave the mysterious figure a perfect view of it. From the outside the Crystal Palace looked like a majestic geological structure and was the gleaming symbol of the new world that the Earth had become in the few years that had followed the "Great Sleep".

However inside the Palace was a completely different story. The ominous figure could sense the conflicting feelings of anger, frustration and fear being emitted from the powerful people inside. He possessed empathetic powers among his other abilities such as invisibility. This meant that it could feel the emotions of other people even from great distances away.

'They know that something is amiss in their kingdom. They have found my mark and are going to start their futile attempts to locate me and stop what I have planned.'

It was at that moment that something changed inside the huge glistening crystalline formation. It lifted its head as it felt the emotional change wash over it. One of the individuals somewhere inside that white rock coloured mountain was suddenly radiating a level of personal pain that caused the mysterious figure to stop its current train of thought and take notice. As it focused its mental power to hone in on the specific person who was giving off such a delicious elixir of emotions it quickly realized the identity of the specific person that was leaving the Crystal Palace.

'It has to be that woman I saw him with… the girlfriend. They must have realized what is happening and sent her to bring him back to the Palace. If that is indeed the case … I must act quickly now. If they are able to purify him with the Silver Moon Crystal I will lose my one and only chance to burn this kingdom to ashes. I must locate him before that woman does.'

In a blink of an eye the figure dressed all in black caused the air around it to begin to ripple and simmer. In less than a few seconds its body faded from view as it teleported away to begin its desperate search for its intended target.

End of Chapter 3…