Deception

He let his hands glide through the silver grass while he craned his neck up to look at the perfect, cloudless purple sky. The lilac color made him smile, and the cool stems of the grass between his fingers let him know spring had officially come to his world.

Where was he going? Today, it didn't matter. Well, he supposed it did matter, but in the distance, he could see the icy mountains rise from the ground. This was his valley . . . well not only his valley. It was where he'd grown up, and suddenly, he knew he wanted to go to the Jewel Lake. Situated at the base of the first mountain, he always loved to play around the lake and occasionally to swim in its freezing waters fed by underground caverns and melted snow.

He craned his neck upwards to look at the sky. Even in the daytime, he could see the planet of Jupiter, but it was the large, red orb of Mars that caught his attention. 'It is more constant than the morning star, and we have always lived in its shadow. We've always lived in its shadow.'

'Mother told me that,' Abinar realized as he blinked his eyes open. For a moment, he felt suspended between his blissful memories and the pain of the world on earth. However, when he heard footsteps, he became all too aware of his bulky body and the chilly, wooden floor upon which he slept.

"Yes, yes, I'll be there. Give me the place when Minako tells you."

A candle flickered to life out in the hallway, and Abinar realized the warrior of Mars had been up and roaming around. 'Something is wrong,' he realized as he kept still on the floor. After a moment, Rei came back into the room, candle aloft, and in the process of slipping on a pair of jeans.

"What happened?" Abinar asked in a raspy voice that made him cringe every time he spoke.

"I need to go," Rei muttered without turning to look at him. "Stay here. No one will bother you. I'll be back soon."

"You didn't answer my question."

Rei pulled on a grey hoodie and turned around to look down at Abinar. Initially, there was the flicker of disgust in her face, but then, she refocused and became thoroughly distracted by the mission. "One of my friends is kidnapped," Rei replied as she slid her hand into her jean pocket to make sure she had her transformation pen.

"You mean one of the senshi," Abinar muttered.

Rei started and snapped, "How do you know about the rest of the senshi?"

"I knew who you were," Abinar said. "And no, I don't know anything about what happened. I've been on the floor the entire time."

Rei didn't speak again, but Abinar could see her thinking. 'She definitely regrets bringing me here. Somehow, I don't entirely blame her,' Abinar thought. Rei's communication pad buzzed, and she pulled it out of her coat. "Meet at Ami's house."

'I think I've heard that voice,' Abinar realized as Rei blew out the candle and left the room through the window. Once again alone in the dark room, Abinar found the silence with only himself as company uncomfortable. 'Ever since . . . ever since this happened, I can't be alone with myself.'

So, to keep him occupied, Abinar closed his eyes again and tried to call up the good memories of his home planet. 'It's more constant than the morning star, and we've always lived in its shadow.'

Abinar remembered he had been young when his mother told him those words. He'd been walking with her out across the vast fields by their house, and they'd stopped for lunch. He knew the names of all the planets and the moons already. He knew powerful people lived in those places, but no one ever explained it to him until then.

'Why do we live in its shadow? Aren't our planets almost the same size?' Abinar asked. His mother brushed her light, platinum hair behind her ears, repeated the motion with her son, and then started talking.

'Yes, we are, but you have to understand, the people of Mars are very powerful and proud. Long ago, when the first people, the old gods, came to live among the stars, the god Mars picked his home. Mars was the god of war, and he waged battle across the universe. Because we are the closest to Mars, we always suffered his greatest wrath, but I suppose that's the price we pay for settling closest to the War God.'

'Mars doesn't attack us any more, does it?' Abinar asked as he'd nervously glanced back up at the sphere in the sky.

His mother laughed softly. 'No, not right now. But don't let the unwillingness to fight everyone fool you. The ruling elite of Mars still have the bloodlust in their veins. They're full of passion.'

'What? I thought you said they liked to attack people and fight?'

'Well, yes, but all the fighting came from the intense passion of Mars. There is an equally famous story about Mars's passionate love for the goddess Venus. Venus had a husband, but it is said they met during battle, when Venus convinced Mars not to conquer their city. Mars took Venus back to his world, and there, he became deeply smitten with her. Afterwards, she returned home, the savior of her people, and the alliance between Mars and Venus has ever been strong afterwards.'

'I don't understand,' Abinar remembered that, at the time, he had no idea how one woman could stop a war. 'What did she do?'

His mother laughed at him, but in a soft, gentle way that mothers do with their children. 'I think you'll find out about the power of beautiful women when you're older, Abinar. But let me just say this: her love and passion defeated the powers of war. That, my son, is the point of the story.'

'Yeah, that's the point,' Abinar thought wearily. 'Look how well that turned out. War destroyed everything, and what became of love? Venus was the first planet to burn.'

Minako squeezed Serena's pen tightly in her white knuckles the entire walk to Motoki's apartment. 'I don't know what I think he can do . . . but he's just as part of this as I am! And if . . . if this Lir is who he says he is, he might have an idea. What is it I think he'll know?' Minako asked herself as she passed in and out of the bright pools of light from the street lamps. Finally, she arrived at the green painted apartment building and knocked repeatedly on Motoki's door.

The sound of a latch being undone made Minako withdraw her hand and wait. The door cracked open, and the familiar face of Motoki stared back at her. Even thought Minako saw the fair façade, she also looked into his eyes and saw something very different – a special cunning and power – in their brown depths.

"I need to come in," Minako whispered. Without a word, the man stepped out of the doorway and gave the slightest nod to Minako. With one glance over her shoulder, and the feeling she was doing something very wrong, Minako slipped into the apartment. She took off her shoes and sat down in one of the chairs, and like before, Lir sat across from her.

"It's really dark in here," Minako commented as she reached over and flipped on a light. "Were you sleeping?"

"No," Lir answered in an even, monotone voice.

Minako shrugged. "So you just like to sit in the dark?" she asked.

Lir looked away from her and stared out the window. With an expressionless face, he said, "I tried the electric lights and didn't like them, and I could not sleep."

"Oh, well," Minako stammered, and then, she remembered why she had come. Composing herself, she said in a very businesslike voice, "Before, you told me you knew about the Moon Kingdom . . . the Silver Millennium. We need to get Matoki back, and we have a plan, but I just don't know how to make it work."

Lir whipped his head around, and his eyebrows shot up. "You're asking me for help? Heaven and earth, what do you think I can do?"

Minako threw up her hands with an exasperated huff. "I don't know! You . . . you possessed Motoki or-or something in that alley. We need to fool Kunzite long enough to get into the Negaverse."

Lir shook his head and chuckled. The sound, so familiar to Minako because she'd heard Motoki laugh every time she'd seen him, still managed to sound strange coming from this stranger. Still shaking his head, Lir said, "I did nothing in that alley. I think . . . well, I don't know what I think, but you're the princess of Venus. You are their senshi, too, no?"

Minako ducked her head down and nodded. "I don't feel like a very good senshi or princess right now. I lost my friend to the Negaverse, and we think they're going to try and brainwash her, too."

'It's my entire fault,' Minako thought as she stared own at her shoes. 'I didn't know why . . . I suppose I thought he must be this powerful person from the Silver Millennium who would know all kinds of things about . . . I don't know what I was thinking. Foolish. I'm being a fool. I need to take this back to Artemis and – '

"Princess, what do you need to do?" Lir asked in a soft, slightly rough and raspy voice. Minako pulled her head up and looked into his grave eyes.

"I need to fool Kunzite. He needs to believe I'm Sailor Moon."

Minako held out Serena's pen, but Lir did not take it from her, so she put it into his palm. She watched as he became wholly absorbed in staring at the transformation stick while he twirled it in his fingers. "Amazing," Lir murmured. Then, Lir looked up at Minako and said, "I have an idea. I'll need your stick, too. We can transfer some of Serenity's power to your pen. That will hide the energy signal . . . but when she transforms, she'll be weaker until you transfer it back. For the disguise . . . well, infuse it into the power during the transfer."

"Wait, you want me to do this?" Minako gasped. "I told you, I can't do that kind of thing. I won't even be in my senshi state!"

"I have full confidence you can. I'll . . . I'll do my best. If it helps, become Venus for a while. Focus your energy and take some of that power with you."

Minako nodded and stood up from the chair. 'I suppose he has a point,' she thought as she pulled out her own transformation pen. "Venus Power, Make Up!"

This time, when the energy flooded into her, like a thousand sun rays in her veins, she felt something else come with it. 'What is that?' Venus wondered as her skin tingled all over after her transformation finished. 'My transformation feels . . . different. More powerful? Maybe it's just different.'

Lir handed Serena's pen back to Venus, who took it and pressed it into her palms. 'Serenity, help me now,' she thought as she closed her eyes. 'No . . . it's not Serenity who I want to talk to right now. I want . . . I don't know who I want to help me. Whoever can. I want this Princess Venus Lir seems to think can do all of these magical things. I want her to help me. I need to be her right now.'

Then, Venus opened her eyes and looked down at Lir, who had been gazing at her the entire time, but he seemed to not really see her. Venus looked at him for a moment, and she could tell he looked through her or past her and saw something she could only imagine happened in the distant past. Then, Venus asked, "What was the Silver Millennium like?"

Lir blinked, and now his pensive gaze focused fully on Venus. He met her eyes when he replied, in the same, even tone, "It was very grand. I was the time of legends."

"Was I very powerful then?" Venus asked in a shaky voice.

Lir simply stared at her for a moment before saying, "Do you need to ask that? Of course you were. Do you not feel that inside of yourself?"

Venus sighed, and went to say 'no,' but at that moment, a flare of energy burned up through her. For the first time, she felt the images in front of her eyes disappear, and for a moment, a beautiful garden appeared. She could feel the cold grass on her bare feet as she walked under the stars deeper into the garden, closer to the noise of a trickling fountain. Then, like a rubber band recoiling, Venus found herself blinking in the present. Lir sat in front of her, and he seemed none the wiser to anything happening.

"I suppose it's true," Venus whispered, and then, holding onto that strange image, she let the rest of her transformation fade away so she was Minako again. Now, Minako held both transformation pens, and holding out her hands, she said, "Lir, come here. Help me now."

The man got up and took several steps to close the distance between himself and Minako. He clasped her hands, and Minako felt a slight tingling in her palms. 'Oh, he's lying. He's definitely able to work magic or some sort,' Minako realized as she forced herself to squeeze his hands. The tingling in her palms never faded, though, and when Lir told her to close her eyes, she did so.

"Now," Lir continued to speak, "focus. Speak your magic if it'll help."

"Please, power of Sailor Moon . . . please power of the moon . . . come to me. Aid your servant, Sailor Venus, for a time. I will do no harm. I only wish to save Sailor Jupiter."

Minako felt the tingling in her hands increase, and soon she felt like tiny insects were running across her palms, and then, her hands went numb. 'Sailor Moon. Let me take on her form, her power. Only for a moment,' Minko thought of the image of Sailor Moon over and over in her mind. She couldn't feel her hands, and if she hadn't known Lir held them together, she thought she might have dropped the pens because all the power began to leave her entire body feeling weak.

Minako yelped as an electric jolt shot up through both arms and raced down to her toes. Then, when feeling shot back into her hands, she let out a scream. "I burned myself! Oh gods!"

Lir pulled Minako's hands apart, and the pens clattered to the ground. Minko opened her eyes and looked down at her palms, expecting them to be red and blistered. Even though they felt like they should have been on fire, both of her hands looked healthy and normal. Minako tried to blink the tears of pain from her eyes quickly. Soon, the pain began to ebb, and Minako drew some deep breaths to calm herself.

Then, she realized Lir still held her hands, so she quickly pulled them away from him. When she moved, he adverted his eyes from her to stare out the window again. Minako took the opportunity to bend down and pick up the two transformation pens. She pocketed both of them.

"I think you're lying about not being able to do magic, by the way," Minako spoke to Lir, who turned back to face her again with his unreadable gaze. "I think you had a lot to do with what happened in that alley."

"You give yourself so little credit," Lir replied.

Minako looked at the door, but instead of moving towards it, she asked, "Would you tell me about the Silver Millennium? Maybe not now, but when we get Matoki back. I . . . maybe I would be better if I knew what happened."

"It ended. That's what happened," Lir said flatly. "Now, you should go. And when they go to the Negaverse . . . well, it is not a safe place."

"I know," Minako replied as she reached for the doorknob and let herself out of the room.

Note: Minako's made a new, mysterious friend it seems. This is also the first chapter that hints where Abinar is from, but that'll become apparent as soon. Anyway, the next chapter is about what happens to Matoki in the Negaverse.