Sapphire frowned sadly at his hands, lost in thought. He knew this next step was the best course of action, but he also knew he couldn't keep Naru from possible danger because of it.
He let out a long sigh and then lifted his right hand to knock on the back door of the rundown warehouse. This was going to be the moment he couldn't take back.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound rang hollow to his ears.
A short time later, a man in his mid-twenties with long black hair and a lip piercing answered the door. "Go away!" he demanded.
Faking perfect calm, Sapphire said, "Tell your boss that Sapphire wants to talk to him."
"And if he doesn't want to talk to you?" The man challenged.
"I don't need this," Sapphire responded, turning and walking away.
"You gave up easily!" The man yelled at his back.
Sapphire paused, turned, faced the man at the door, and said, "He's not my only option." He then continued to walk away.
He knew the best way to get anyone's attention was to pretend they weren't that important to you. Two minutes later, he smirked when he heard his phone ring. Seeing the name on the caller ID, he answered, "I was under the impression you didn't want to talk to me."
"That low-level lacky doesn't speak for me. You should know better," the voice on the phone replied.
"What I know is that I should have more respect even from your lowest ranks. You fucked up in your training, or is this how I'm treated now?" Sapphire replied.
"You betrayed us!" The man yelled back.
Sapphire scoffed and said, "I used those at my disposal to help destroy the man who dared to seize my brother's organization."
"You disappeared," the man accused. "Why didn't you take over?!"
"You're as stupid as you've always been," Sapphire scolded. "My brother was betrayed and murdered. I wasn't sticking my neck out to have the same thing happen to me. I haven't disappeared! I've been hiding in the shadows, investigating who can be trusted. It's the only reason I came to you. You're a moron, but you're loyal."
"Do you know who betrayed Diamond?" The man asked excitedly.
"Beyond Rubius? Of course, I do. I know exactly who told his murderers how to kill him," Sapphire replied. He smirked over the fact that the one who betrayed his brother was him.
"Who?"
Sapphire shook his head and said, "No. I'm not dumb enough to tell you. I trust your loyalty, but I don't trust you to be smart enough to keep your mouth shut. That's not why I came to talk to you." He wanted to work to get to the point so that the guy stopped asking questions he didn't want to answer.
"Why come to me?" The man asked.
"Because I need you to get me in contact with Beryl. Word underground is that you should be able to get me a meeting with someone who can take me to her." And, to answer the question he expected the man to ask without allowing any others to be asked, he also said, "She is convenient for my revenge."
"I can get the meeting." The man then hesitated and added, "Be careful. The rumor is that you went straight. They won't trust you."
Sapphire replied, "I can easily overcome the idiocy of others. I don't like their chances of staying alive if they try to work against me."
When the man hung up, he started calling all of his allies. He made it abundantly clear that Sapphire was out for revenge against the person who betrayed Diamond and that anyone who got in his way would be dead. By the following day, he had unwittingly done most of the work to clear Sapphire of the stigma of having walked away from his previous life.
Minako paced and looked worriedly at Kunzite. "This is why I followed her!"
He sighed and said, "You need to trust them."
"I do!" she snapped. "I just hate asking others to put themselves at risk. Sapphire feels he has something to prove, just like me."
"Correct," Kunzite replied calmly. "That's why we all insisted that Naru needs to go along with him. He wouldn't ever do anything to put her in danger."
"Other than this!" she objected. "He's bringing her into this plan. My plan!" Minako stomped her foot and added, "I should be doing this!"
Kunzite laughed at her and shook his head. "Your little stunt ensured you're on the sideline for all this. Not to mention that Sapphire's past is what makes this possible. You couldn't do this particular part anyway."
"It's dangerous," Minako reiterated. "How can we ask them to risk this?"
"You know what Bastet said about Naru's powers. She thinks past Naru can tell her how to access them."
"Our plan relies on a goddess taking my friend into the past to talk to her first incarceration. Can't you see why that makes this feel far-fetched?"
"Of course I do, but I've seen a bigger miracle happen."
"What?" Minako asked, exasperated.
"I met you."
Naru sat at the table in her apartment, ready to pour the Arak that Sapphire had managed to get his hands on for her from a specialty liquor shop in the foreign section of Tokyo.
All her research told her that it had been the drink of Pharos. She had also researched how the Egyptians drank it. She poured some water into her glass, poured the clear Arak in, and watched as the anethole in the liquor that wasn't water soluble turned the drink a milky white.
Naru left out the ice that was now usually used in the drink because she wanted to stay authentic and figured that ancient Egyptians probably didn't have access to iceāeven Pharos. If she had done further research, she would have realized they had ice as early as 500 B.C.
She was unfazed when Bastet appeared suddenly and then sat down at the table, too. Frowning, Bastet said, "I still can't startle you."
Naru sipped the drink and shook her head at the goddess. "I'm just glad you weren't here last night."
"Ah, yes. What step was last night?" Bastet asked.
"Step five," Naru replied. "This is step seven. I have to have three of these. Luckily, I'm a Vampire, and I can hold my liquor now."
The sixth step she completed five minutes ago had been making and eating a paste from fennel and myrrh. She was glad that she was a vampire in that instance, too, since myrrh was toxic.
After another sip, Naru added, "Do humans survive this process?"
Bastet shrugged. "Don't know. I've never tried this before. Being fair to me, I will point out that you aren't a human, and I wouldn't have recommended this if you were."
"I will concede that point." Naru then downed the drink and began pouring herself another one. "I want your word that you'll be gone for step eight."
Bastet pouted. "But that one is the most fun! What if I promise to be quiet this time?"
Naru rolled her eyes and downed the next drink. "Give me your word! I'm not into being watched, and these steps are important. Don't you want me to get this right?"
"Fine!" Bastet agreed as she stomped her foot. "I promise. You're no fun."
"You react like a five-year-old but have the sex addiction of a frat boy," Naru scolded.
Bastet let out a long sigh. "I just like sex, and it's been so long since I've had any fun. I was living vicariously through you."
"I'm going to trust your word that you won't be there," Naru pressed, stressing what she had asked for. "And surely you can find someone to help you out with your sexual desires. I'll say the same thing to you that you said to me: you're hot, and you wouldn't have trouble finding anyone."
"Humans are too breakable," Bastet said, frustrated. "At least for the things that I'm into."
