Chapter 57: The Persephone Problem
[Scene: The Hen Tie pharmacy. Demande Blackmoon is kissing Zoi, and Zoi's enjoying it about as much as if a sewer rat has crawled into his mouth. But he's feeling pretty defeated and at this point he just wants it to be over.]
[Demande breaks off the kiss and looks at his watch]
Demande: I've still got another thirty-five seconds. [Goes back to kissing Zoi]
[Suddenly there is a jolt as Demande is struck in the back. Demande starts howling in pain as he is pulled away from Zoi.]
[Justice Blackmoon has his walking stick on one hand and is dragging Demande by the hair with his other. Zoi wipes his mouth with his hand.]
Justice Blackmoon: Get off him! What the hell is wrong with you! This is not how I raised you!
Demande: Yes it is! This is exactly how you raised me!
[Justice Blackmoon releases Demande's hair so he can strike him with his crystal orb topped cane]
Justice Blackmoon: No I did not! I did not raise you to go around molesting teenage boys in the grocery store!
Demande: What are you talking about! You molest people all the time!
[Justice Blackmoon points his cane at a security camera that is broken and charred. Below it, the woman at the counter appears to be frozen solid]
Justice Blackmoon: For the love of God! Shut your damn mouth before someone walks in here!
Demande: [breaks into a sweat] Oh.
Justice Blackmoon: You're lucky that was a closed security camera system! I am an elected official! Do you have any idea what would happen to my political career if the press got hold of footage of my oldest son going around molesting underage boys in public?
Demande: [rolls his eyes] Oh quit exaggerating. He's not an underage boy.
Justice Blackmoon: Yes, he is!
Demande: Oh, come on. He's eighteen.
Justice Blackmoon: He's fifteen!
Demande: What do you mean he's fifteen? He's in the same class as Em. That means he's at least seventeen!
Justice Blackmoon: [grabs Demande's lapels, livid with rage] Last time you saw Zoi-zoi, you were twelve and he was three. You're twenty-four. How old does that make him?
[Demande's eyes go wide]
Justice Blackmoon: [gives Demande a shove] Go wait in the car. I'll pick up my prescriptions myself and then we are leaving.
Demande: [To Zoi] I'm so sorry… I had no idea you were just a kid.
[Demande backs away and runs out]
[Zoi just stands there with his back to the wall and watches as Justice Blackmoon unfreezes the woman behind the counter. She goes back to reading her book and he has to clear his throat several times to get her attention]
[Zoi waits a few minutes after he leaves to make sure they are really gone. Then he runs to the drinking fountain. He fills his mouth with water and then spits it out before he goes into the bathroom to wash his face and hands with soap and hot water.]
[When he looks up he sees Kunzite's reflection in the mirror behind his.]
[Kunzite's face is so contorted with rage he is barely recognizable.]
[Zoi turns around.]
Zoi: [shamefaced] I'm sorry. Demande Blackmoon forced me to kiss him. I tried to kick his ass instead, but he's a lot bigger than me.
[Kunzite steps forward and Zoi finds himself stepping back. He screams in fear as Kunzite grabs him by the wrist. He pulls Zoi to him and crushes him to his chest, wrapping his arms around him.]
Kunzite: I left you to be mauled by that animal… and you think you need to apologize to me?
[Zoi nestles against Kunzite feeling safe and secure. Kunzite of the other hand is still on the edge of hysteria.]
Kunzite: I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry… I couldn't do anything…I couldn't even stay…I had to leave…to keep them from killing you…
Zoi: Yes. I know.
[Kunzite holds him at arm's length]
Kunzite: [startled] You know?
Zoi: That black moon on his forehead prevented you from attacking him. I know all about the nonaggression pact your mother has with the Blackmoons.
Kunzite: How…
Zoi: That was the guy who told me you were a Shitennou. He told me everything [looks up at Kunzite adoringly] Could you kiss me? I need to get the taste of Nemesis out of my mouth.
[Kunzite kisses Zoi, a little more chastely than Zoi would like, but he gets the sense Kunzite is terrified of hurting him. It makes Zoi feel oddly at ease since he can spend his energy comforting Kunzite instead of dwelling on his own trauma]
[Kunzite seems no less shaken. He holds Zoi closer but it seems he is doing it more for himself.]
Zoi: [nuzzles Kunzite] This had nothing to do with you. He was harassing me like this even before we were together.
Kunzite: Still, if I had left town the day I met you–
Zoi: If you had left town the day you met me, that would have been my first kiss.
[For a time Kunzite is silent. He just holds Zoi for several minutes while Zoi rests his head and hand against his chest with his eyes closed.]
Kunzite: I need to talk to Mother. I can't allow this. A man has a right to protect his husband. Especially one as delicate as you are.
Zoi: [sulks] I'll be the first to admit I have no experience with relationships. But it just seems logical that a marriage should be somewhat equal…as in, one of us can't always be swooping in and saving the other one. They should save each other equally.
Kunzite: You have saved me.
Zoi: [rolls his eyes] I can't always be Lois Lane. I want to be Superman too…
[Suddenly the shock of what just happened hits him all at once. He pulls away from Kunzite in a rage.]
Zoi: I should have bit him! Why didn't I think about biting him? He had his tongue in my mouth and it never even occurred to me to bite down!
Kunzite: [stern] Zoisite, the Blackmoon Clan are monsters. There is not a drop of human blood in any of them. They might look human to you, but they are no less inhuman and evil than I am. If you had bit his tongue he probably would have knocked your teeth out. Right before he slit your throat. From now on you are to do nothing to antagonize him.
Zoi: So should let him do whatever he wants to me to keep from getting on his bad side? Because you can just forget about that!
[Kunzite is silent again, but he seems calmer, as if a great weight has been lifted from his mind. Then holds out a hand and a portal starts to form.]
[Zoi looks at his watch. It's 10:57. He's got three minutes to get home. Maybe a bit more if his father is not looking at the clock. But knowing his father, he's probably looking at the clock. Zoi knows a portal will take a while, but driving home would take longer. He hopes his father's not looking at the clock. He's in no mood for a lecture.]
Kunzite: [conversationally] So what is it you were told exactly about the history of the Blackmoons and the Shitennou?
Zoi: That the people from Nemesis came to Earth as refugees and you made them your slaves.
Kunzite: True.
Zoi: They defected to the White Queen, but they later betrayed her because she wouldn't put with their perversion.
Kunzite: He admitted to that?
Zoi: Not in those exact words, but yeah. So your mother rewarded them by giving them Blackmoon Cove as a sanctuary, and keeping the black moon mark on their forehead so that you can't attack them.
Kunzite: [continues forming the portal] It's worse than that. Not only can we not harm them, we can't interfere with them at all. We can't attack them, we can't restrain them, we can't even inconvenience them.
Zoi: What happens if you do attack them?
Kunzite: [shakes his head] Mother cursed us so that it's a physical impossibility. I can't decide to attack a Blackmoon any more than you can decide to float in the air.
Zoi: Is it the same with going to Blackmoon Cove?
Kunzite: No. I can go Blackmoon Cove. It wouldn't do me any good since I wouldn't be able to do anything while I'm there except scream in pain while I melt like a candle in a furnace.
Zoi: [toys with a lock of his hair] Demande Blackmoon mentioned something about a covenant being in place, and if the covenant is broken you'll be able to attack them.
Kunzite: The covenant can't be broken by a Shitennou, only a Blackmoon.
Zoi: But it can be broken?
Kunzite: [nods] Mother needed to put that in place to keep them from retaliating once we were no longer a danger to them. If a Blackmoon knowingly and willingly attacks a Shitennou, with intent to commit harm, the covenant is broken. Not only for that Blackmoon, but for every Blackmoon alive.
Zoi: [curls his hair around his finger] Then we need to find some way to trick them into attacking you.
Kunzite: They have to attack one of us knowingly and willfully. It can't be a trick. A Blackmoon has to know that he is attacking a Shitennou, be aware of the consequences, and decide to do it anyway.
Zoi: [releases his finger from the curl] There must be a way to provoke them.
Kunzite: [shakes his head] No Blackmoon will ever attack a Shitennou. They have it drummed into them in the cradle. Even Esmeraude from our biology class knows better, and she's as crazy as a loon. She knows that if she attacks a Shitennou, the Blackmoons will become extinct within seconds.
Zoi: Maybe you can find one that is suicidal?
Kunzite: [grins] No Blackmoon is THAT suicidal. Besides, Mother would probably allow it, since it would be an act of treason against the Blackmoons, and therefore not a violation of the pact.
Zoi: There's got to be a loophole.
Kunzite: If there is, I won't find it. Mother's curse is so strong, I'm not even allowed to look for a loophole.
Zoi: But you told me, and there is nothing to stop me from looking for a loophole, so you've uncovered a loophole right there.
[Kunzite gives him a look, then a smile of admiration]
[At last the dark portal solidifies. Zoi knows he's late and his father is probably furious, but he trusts Kunzite to stick by him with a convincing excuse. Kunzite holds Zoi close to him and leads him through.]
[They step through the portal and Zoi recognizes that he is in Kunzite's castle in the Dark Kingdom. Kunzite raises his hand and in an instant the portal is gone.]
Zoi: Wait. You closed the portal. How am I supposed to get back to Hen Tie?
Kunzite: You're not going back to Hen Tie.
Zoi: [giggles since he thinks Kunzite is joking] You mean like not ever?
Kunzite: [dead serious] Not ever.
[Zoi's smile vanishes as he realizes what Kunzite just did and why he did it.]
Zoi: Take me back! You have to take me home!
Kunzite: You are home.