Chapter 8/? - Shattered Illusions
Kunzite and Zoisite looked up at the newly revealed warrior of Venus. The blonde girl suddenly seemed to flash out of existence and reappeared in the alleyway below. With no words, a bright golden chain appeared out of the girl's hand and wrapped around the two generals, trapping them.
"So you've finally remembered who you are." Said Phantom Ace.
"And you are?" Questioned Venus, looking up and down at the masked man like a predator sizes up her prey.
"I am Phantom Ace." He explained, removing his domino mask and allowing the golden symbol for Venus to shine on his forehead. "But in ages long ago, I was Adonis, your lover."
Venus reflexively snorted. "Are you done telling me obvious lies or do you have more?" Phantom Ace's face well. "The first oath a senshi takes is to put nothing between her and the safety of the royal family, the kingdom and the alliance. In that order."
"Danburite, what are you doing!?" Shouted Kunzite.
"Danburite huh?" Venus asked, without looking away from Zoisite and Kunzite, Venus summoned another chain and telekinetically wrapped it around Phantom Ace. "Let me guess," Venus' voice was dripping with sarcasm, "You were going to play me against the Dark Kingdom and then when it looked like one side was going to win, you'd swoop with them and be on their side the entire time."
Phantom Ace's face fell, Venus had seen right through his plan. The senshi pulled the bound man over towards her, and she eyed him with suspicion. Looking into her cold and golden eyes, Adonis could feel the power and authority that she radiated.
"I don't know you." She stated, flatly looking at Phantom Ace. "But, you." She said, looking at Zoisite and Kunzite. "I remember you. I watched you two lead the Terran armies against the Moon Kingdom, I saw you laugh as my home burned to the ground, and everything I held dear was smashed into nothingness." Venus yanked on the chain and pulled Kunzite down to her eye level. "I never forget a face."
Without warning, a bolt of energy slammed down into the pavement besides Venus. Following it up, she saw Nephrite floating in mid-air above her. Pluto leveled her staff at the floating general.
"They killed Jadeite." He said. Another blast of energy shot out of Nephrite's hand and flew towards Venus, only her lightning-fast reflexes as the Senshi of Venus had saved her. Unfortunately, her quick dodge had caused her to drop the chains she had summoned to tie up the three men.
"Come on." Said Nephrite. In an instant, the three generals vanished, leaving Phantom Ace to face the two very angry senshi.
—
Murid found herself dragged into Zoisite's chambers. Looking at the pony-tailed general, she feared for her life. He sat, playing at his piano, one of the few luxuries that had made it to the Dark Kingdom, and without speaking a word, he simply played.
The doll youma knew this was the end for her, nobody who came into these interrogations ever came back.
Looking over at the general, she waited for him to say something.
Zoisite kept playing, the melody slow and methodical.
"I don't know why I'm here!" Protested Murid. "Yes, I talked to Kigaan, but I never heard anything about her trying to betray our great ruler!"
Zoisite played on, the tune become faster.
"I didn't know she was a traitor!" Shouted the youma, walking over towards Zoisite. Murid was suddenly stopped by an invisible barrier around Zoisite.
Zoisite continued to play, not even noticing that the youma had walked into his barrier.
"Tell me what you want to hear!" Pleaded Murid.
Zoisite didn't seem to notice Murid's pleading, continuing to play, the music becoming more intense.
Murid suddenly felt weak, and the doll youma struggled to stay standing upright.
"Please!" She pleaded on Zoisite's seemingly deaf ears, "I'll tell you what you want to know!" It was no use now, Murid could see the streams of the borrowed life energy flowing out of her and into Zoisite's hands.
Collapsing to the floor, Murid struggled to raise her head and speak, "I saw Tethys, Morga, and Yasha talking a while ago, they looked suspicious, like they didn't want anybody to see what they were doing..." Collapsing on the floor, Murid felt the last of her borrowed life energy slip away from her, her body dissolving into dust.
—
It had been a few days since that battle at the airport against Jadeite, and it seemed that the Sailor Senshi were everywhere. They hadn't really had time until now to let it settle in, but the first at the airport was really their first public battle. Until now, the Sailor Senshi were something that was whispered about and very little was known about the senshi by the public, but with the projected image of Jadeite in the sky and the very public battle at Haneda Airport, the Sailor Senshi were front page news. Looking at the front page of the newspaper, Rei Hino saw a dramatic picture of Sailor Moon standing over a defeated Jadeite, her wand out as if she was going to attack him.
The Sailor Senshi were meeting at the Hikawa shrine. Rei stood in the courtyard, sweeping the last of the leaves off the shrine grounds. Luna was perched on the railing of the verandah around the shrine's residence, and she was casually talking with the miko while the two waited for Usagi and Ami.
"It's weird, everywhere I've been today, I've seen nothing but talk about us." Commented Rei. "Well, not US, but the Sailor Senshi." She added.
Rei wasn't sure what to make of Usagi being some kind of lost princess, but the blonde girl definitely did have a regal air about her, and seemed to know what was going on and what she was talking about. Still though, Rei had dealt with enough spoiled "princesses" from dealing with her father's colleagues in the Diet that she figured she knew exactly how to deal with the blonde princess.
"Well it wasn't uncommon back in the day. The Senshi back then were highly respected members of the court." Explained Luna, having found Usagi as the princess, her memories and the knowledge she had gained in the Silver Millennium become much clearer. "It was considered one of the greatest honors to be chosen as a Senshi, despite the price that taking pup the mantle meant."
With that last statement, Rei turned and glared at Luna. "What price?" She asked.
"I didn't want to say anything in front of the princess." Luna explained. "But there's another reason there wasn't a Sailor Moon back then. To be eligible to become a Senshi, one must be a part of the planet's ruling family. So you would have been a princess of Mars back then. However, taking up the mantle of a Sailor Senshi meant that it would be been considered a conflict of interest between the duty of a Senshi, and to your planet. So becoming a Senshi removed you from the line of succession."
"Okay, that makes sense." Said Rei. "But why did that mean there was no Sailor Moon back then?"
"Because each Moon Queen could only have one child, A Sailor Moon would have meant that there wouldn't be anybody to inherit the throne." Explained Luna.
Rei continued to listen to Luna's explanations for how things worked back in the Silver Millennium as she swept the courtyard of the Hikawa Shrina. Sensing the two very powerful auras coming up the steps, Rei turned and looked just in time to see Usagi and Ami walking into the shrine's courtyard.
As Usagi and Ami walked up to where Rei was sweeping, the shrine maiden gave a low and polite bow to the blonde girl. "Good afternoon, Princess."
"Rei-chan." Objected Usagi, "You don't need to be so formal when it's just us." Motioning towards the shrine's living spaces where Rei and her grandfather lived, the three girls and one cat walked inside to start their senshi meeting.
—
Naru Osaka was puzzled by how her best friend had been acting at school the past few days. At first, she had thought that Usagi had hit some kind of growth spurt and had somehow gotten taller overnight. But Usagi hadn't gotten taller overnight, she just wasn't slouching at her desk anymore. But the change in posture wasn't the only thing that Naru had noticed.
During lunch Yumiko had joked about Umino's taste in clothing after he had worn that pale blue suit to school the one time, and that pantsuit Naru had talked him into wearing for Mikan-Mikan's talent show a few weeks ago. It was a pretty funny joke, and even Usagi had laughed at it,but it was the WAY that she had laughed that was odd.
Gone was the loud, boisterous laughter that was so typical of Usagi. Instead all Naru heard was a reserved chuckle. The past few days in general, Usagi seemed to have this air about her that would have been more at home at an expensive private school like Mugen Academy or the T.A. School for Girls where all the politicians sent their children.
—
Minako and Setsuna slowly walked away from the Wandsworth prison, where they had left their 'present' on the front doorstep, metaphorically speaking.
"Okay, the bow MAY have been a little much." Said Minako.
Setsuna simply arched an eyebrow at the blonde girl.
"Hey, at least I left a note!" Minako protested.
"I'm just surprised you didn't punish him yourself." Said Setsuna.
"Well, he's a Terran, and this is a Terran matter." Explained Minako.
"Fair enough." Replied Setsuna. "I will say Commander, that was a very…." The dark-skinned woman paused, trying to find the right words. "Interesting bluff you gave regarding the whereabouts of the princess."
"Thanks." Said Minako. "I stole it from a movie, I'm just lucky nobody in the Dark Kingdom has watched Indiana Jones. So," She said, changing the subject as the two of them walked along side a row of high street shops. "You said the princess was awakened."
"Indeed." Said Setsuna, pointing towards a TV in a display window. "In fact, there she in now." Minako watched the TV as it showed a news report from Japan about the fight between a terrorist named Jadeite and the three Sailor Senshi over at Haneda airport.
"Sailor… Moon." Minako whispered. "Of course Serenity would find a way to be a Senshi…" Minako chuckled to herself. That girl was obsessed with everything that went into being a senshi, practically idolizing the role. If only she knew what being a senshi was really like. Hell, even if there had been a Sailor Moon at the fall of the Silver Millennium, chances are it wouldn't have made a lick of difference, Beryl's army was too numerous and the fanaticism that she had whipped up on Earth had made the Terrans extremely dangerous fighters.
"If the princess is in Tokyo, then that's where I'm heading." Stated Minako with an air of determination.
—
Rei had mostly kept to herself in the Senshi meeting, normally with those she was close to she would let anybody and everybody know her opinion on things. However, if there was one thing that her father had somehow managed to drill into her it was the importance of image and making a good impression on people, and so she had spent the time trying to put on her best image around the princess, Usagi, so that she'd have a good impression of her.
Usagi, on the other hand, couldn't help but compare this girl to her past self in the Silver Millennium. The girl she had remembered from the moon was no stranger to voicing her opinions and her and Venus used to love riling her up over little things. This girl was overly polite and respectful, and seemed determined to leave the best possible impression. Usagi could clearly see the Mars she remembered under the surface, but for whatever reason, Rei was trying to hide that side of herself as much as possible.
"Oh Usagi-chan, I saw something coming up in a few weeks that might be a lead on that crystal you were talking about." Ami spoke up. "There's an embassy reception here in Tokyo in a few weeks for the Diamond Kingdom, where they're supposed to be showing off one of their heirloom jewels, the 'Asími Crystal,' for the first time."
Usagi's eyebrows perked up at the name. "There's a good chance that it's my mother's crystal. I don't remember how much of the palace was looted after the attack, but it could easily have been stolen by one of the Terrans and held onto since then."
"Um…" Rei spoke up. "My father wants me to attend that reception with him, I was going to try and get out of it, but if you think that it'll help our mission, I'll go."
Usagi and Luna looked at each other, they could feel how uncomfortable Rei was with the suggestion. After Rei had awoken as Sailor Mars, Luna had asked Central Control to run a background check on the girl and saw that she very likely had a strained relationship with her father and lived at the shrine with her maternal grandfather.
"If you aren't comfortable doing this Rei-chan, you don't have to." Usagi suggested.
"No it's fine." Rei brushed it off. "It's for the mission, isn't it?"
"I guess…" Said Usagi, trailing off as she seemed to sense something.
Just then, a light knock on the door signaled the arrival of Rei's grandfather with a tray of tea and a plate of fresh pork buns.
"Thank you grandfather," Rei spoke softly, placing the tray of tea on the table in the center of the room.
"Can't I stay? It's not often that Rei-chan brings so many beautiful girls to this humble shrine." Her grandfather whined. But Rei just shook her head at him.
Rei's grandpa simply sunk his head and sulked out of the room, complaining that his granddaughter was keeping all the beautiful girls to herself.
"Um, Rei-chan…?" Usagi asked hesitantly. "I think your grandfather is possessed by a youma."