Get a taste in my mouth…
"What has happened here!"
As she rushed into the room, Sailor Venus was a golden storm more violent than any summer heat could muster on the sand plains of her home planet. The heavy double doors banged off their hinges and almost collided with the king and queen as they scrambled after their irate daughter.
"Please Loni, the council will hear you!" Jocelyn pleaded in her wake.
"Let them hear! Let them know at least one member of this family is not afraid of them. They planned this! Who knows how many of them are on this council, or how many they have bribed. How could you just sit there and let them make a fool out of us, out of me?" she yelled at her father, whose face was turning bright with his own frustrated emotions. She turned away from them and leaned against the nearest surface, balling her hands into tight fists.
"You know the rules, child; do not blame your father for something out of his control," reasoned Jocelyn.
Sailor Venus did know the rules, but that did not quell her outrage. She had been unprepared for these events, even more so than her failed trip to Hatha. After returning and telling her parents about the confrontation inside Hatha-Rai, King Marceneau had called a council meeting for the next morning. Venus barely slept through the night as each toss and turn only stirred up new pains and worries. She was the first one at the council doors waiting to be let in, and the first to leave.
By the beginning of the meeting, everyone knew what had occurred at Hatha, and the former princess could hear their chatter as she walked to her seat. But when her father began the session, a man rose and discussed the recent crop distribution in the city. Another motioned to review the exodus to the Eastern capitol. They were avoiding what was on the tips of everyone's tongues, and it was no accident. The minutes ticked by, and with every passing moment, Sailor Venus' fury intensified. When the last speaker wanted to converse about the latest imports from the Moon, she decided that was enough and stormed from the council chamber amidst a flurry of shocked voices and some hidden sneers.
Only council members could raise discussions or make a motion in the Venusian court, even if the king or queen had the final vote. In their history, certain rulers abused their power and a revolution resulted in the formation of the council. Of course, some monarchs found ways around this clause and today it revealed another flaw. She had been forced to watch the wretched game play out while her family sat by without being able to lift a finger. Venus knew her powerful, ruby swathed nemesis was behind this outrage; only he could organize such a movement against her and the royalty.
"Do not think I do not understand your anger," Marceneau said.
"You have no idea how I feel!" No one in this room did, and no one was supposed to; but they knew. Somehow they knew and it scared her. She knew nothing about the scarlet man and his entourage, but they broke open her most important secret with little effort.
"What's wrong?" Jocelyn asked. She knew her mother was talking about something other than the council, something deeper that the senshi did not want to discuss. Venus laughed bitterly and finally turned around, ready to strike out with an invective of sarcasm until she saw who had joined them. Kunzite stood behind the king and queen with his hands behind his back. He reminded her of a silent predator waiting for its prey with tremendous patience. Even the monarchs had not noticed his presence until Venus alerted them with her surprised stare.
"Oh, Lord Kunzite I didn't hear you," Jocelyn said.
"We are very sorry about all this," Marceneau apologized. "We knew they might be a problem, but hardly guessed they would be so bold."
"May I ask who they are?"
"They're known as the Delars. They are radicals believing the ancient ways are the only ways. Indeed, they have been around since the beginning of our civilization. The Delars fought against the Silver Millennium when it came to pass, but their united voice was not loud enough to stop the wave of change. They have sulked in corners and sighed in our ears for many years since then; clearly your arrival has awoken their battered spirits."
"How many are there?"
At this, Marceneau looked like a child found standing over a broken vase. Venus smirked at her father's dismay, finding her joy in his embarrassment perverse but realizing she could not help it either.
"We don't know," Jocelyn answered for her reluctant husband. "They live cloaked in secrecy. There was a time, long ago in Marceneau's grandfather's reign, that agents were planted among them. They were found to be a low threat to any Venusian then, but I fear their power has grown under our unknowing noses now."
And Venus knew it as truth. She knew she should reveal what had transpired between herself and the lead Delar, but the blonde haired beauty could not bring herself to retell the story. It replayed in her mind, but that was different from speaking it out loud. It would also mean unveiling her secret, and that, she could not do. She needed time to think, and so far her mind was too clouded for the task.
"May I speak with Sailor Venus alone, please?" Kunzite spoke up, causing her heart to take an involuntary skip. A thousand different conversations the pair could have passed through her thoughts, and she tried to come up with just as many answers and sometimes white lies to his inevitable prodding questions.
"Uh, yes…I should go and clean up the mess someone has created in my council room," Marceneau grumbled, shaking his head.
Venus could no longer hear the flurry of voices as the doors were shut, but she stopped listening long ago- especially with Kunzite's arrival. He stepped a little closer now, stalking her with poise. She wanted to back away with every step forward, wanted to tear out of the room in another display of unguarded emotions. This time these would be feelings of guilt and sadness, however. She doubted the Delars would outright attack Kunzite, but she had led him into a trap nonetheless. This was her fault, all of it, and not just what happened yesterday. What happened years ago on a blessed night, something she never should have done and let die.
Yet would it have mattered if she had seen into that pool of destiny? Were they not destined to be together regardless of her decision? Would they not have followed the same fated path? These were very dangerous thoughts, and she did her best to forget them. She had chosen her duty instead and there was no going back.
She waited for him to speak, but it seemed she would not have that luxury. He was impassive, watching; always watching.
"I beg your pardon for the turn of events. It was of my doing."
"You knew this might happen." It was neither an accusation nor a question.
"Hatha-Rai is where the Delars supposedly have their temple. Hatha's Mages, the two men we met, informed me the Delars were most assuredly not on the grounds. They should have been in the city so close to Savéol. I know our betrayers are not the Mages; they are not interested in politics and do not choose sides. I knew it was a possibility someone in the city I did not want to know could have overheard my travel plans, so I took extra precautions."
"Our guards."
"Yes."
"If you knew there might be complications, why did we continue on to Hatha-Rai alone?"
What could she say to that? The truth was she had wanted to share the experience with only him, to be together in the dark with no one to see them. She could only imagine his thoughts. The captain of the Senshi was nothing more than a mere presumptuous girl that wanted to boast of her proud history to the barbaric Earthling. And what if it had been Serenity and not Kunzite, and they had been even more hostile given the chance? She was foolish for thinking with her heart instead of her head; a habit that was becoming troublesome.
Thankfully, for Venus, Kunzite seemed to let the unanswered question fade out of memory. He stepped closer, slow and deliberate, as if he did not want to scare her away. His searching eyes, intense yet gentle, gazed into hers. She had a notion Kunzite knew how to act around her as much as she knew how to handle him. The thought comforted her, although it should not have.
"Do you think they shall be a real threat?"
Venus fell back against the table, letting out a small sigh as she did so. The weight of everything that was happening was dragging her down. She felt enraged, betrayed confused and lost. Her heart was being attacked by love and hatred and she could not decide which was worse. She wanted nothing more than to disappear, but that was never her destiny. "I think you should remain in the palace until I can find that out."
"And if they are after you as well? Something that man said upset you and I do not think it was because of me."
If only he knew. "I'll be fine. The Delars and I have…a complicated relationship. They have always wanted me to join their force because I am the heart of this planet, but at the same time they loathe me for supposedly turning my back on Venus and her people. To hate me is one thing, but to wish my death? To kill me would be to kill a part of our world, and I do not think they are so desperate."
But to protect their secrets from the Earthlings who could guess what they would do. Venus knew too little about them, and apparently about her own planet, to make assumptions now. She decided it was best to leave such thoughts in her own mind unspoken; Kunzite did not need to worry about her as well as his mission.
Kunzite moved closer now. His hand rose to his hip, as if he wanted to do something with it but could not decide. Venus had a great fear of watching him reach out to touch her. She didn't know what she would do if he ever did such a thing and that scared her. Never before had she been so unsure of herself. Looking into his eyes that had suddenly turned a soft, warm blue, she could barely move. What was wrong with her? She was a powerful warrior, someone that civilizations looked to for guidance and strength.
But you're also just a girl, a voice whispered inside her. It sounded almost like her mother's voice, and she hated what that could mean. As Kunzite came ever nearer, his broad hand rose higher; it reached the level of her chin now. He walked like a man under a spell, but it was more of a curse that would end both of them. Yet she wanted him to touch her, oh how she wanted it. She wondered if there would be a spark or if they would just ignite and burn against each other. Or would there be such a shock that their thunder would roll for miles and miles and the whole world would take notice? Her heart began to beat faster at the possibilities.
Then, as if Kunzite had been shocked by his actions, indeed, he pulled away. He dropped his hand as though the force of a thousand men was pulling upon it. They looked at each other with faces bared and free of all masks of composure. She felt all at once relieved and yet disappointed. They stood at awkward angles against one another as if they were puzzle pieces that did not quite fit. Yet she knew they would mold together if given the chance; it was destiny. For everything, it was always destiny. Nothing is ever my decision.
"I…" Venus tried to find the words to diffuse the situation, but stumbled into frustrating thoughts that blared in her mind above all others. She could feel the warm tingle of her powers in her fingertips as her emotions burned brighter and brighter. She was losing control.
"Excuse me." It was hardly an eloquent attempt, but she wasted no time in seeing if the ambassador from Earth was injured by her hasty retreat. She fled from the council room's antechamber and into the open halls of the palace. She didn't care who saw her; she had made a fool of herself today, and one more such incident would not matter. She did not stop until the hallways were empty and she could no longer hear the hushed voices of gossipers.
She collided against the hard wall behind her, relishing in its cool touch. She let the stillness into her heart, praying it would quiet its heavy beating. Slowly, the sensation ebbed from her extremities, and she let out a sigh. Here she thought she could recollect her scattered thoughts and restore her battered armor back to its pristine condition. If she didn't…
Queen Jocelyn emerged halfway out of the shadows created by the ceaseless sunshine. The powerful Matchmaker of the house Savatet watched her daughter with a helpless mix of regret and melancholy. Venus could feel these emotions even before she realized her mother was so close. With some reluctance, she opened her cerulean eyes.
"It's him…isn't it?"
Venus let out a quick moan of pain and annoyance before shutting her mouth in a hard line. So her mother knew; of course she did. It was silly to think the greatest Matchmaker, or Kirabati as they are called on Venus, could be so ignorant of her craft no matter how much the Sailor Senshi wished it. It had been her mother in her head, after all. She uttered a great Jovian curse in her mind, hoping her mother could hear that as well. Jocelyn cleared her throat, but whether from her daughter's attempts at subterfuge or her own devices, Venus did not know.
"Please, stop," Sailor Venus said in a hushed tone. "This cannot be! I don't need you whispering in my thoughts or hiding around corners. I need peace, Mother."
Her mother gazed passed her first born and saw something that the Sailor Senshi before her could not. "He knows," she revealed. "He doesn't understand it, but underneath he knows. I've seen it in his heart, and I've seen it in the water. I've seen it in your eyes, as well. Oh, daughter…"
With that, Queen Jocelyn finally walked away, disappearing down the hall with small dignified steps. As her mother left her line of sight, Venus finally let her armor down. The metal around her lips bended and twisted into a small smile barely visible in the warm light; that was all she could allow herself. She needed to be alone now, to collect her thoughts and prepare. There was only one place she could think of where she could rest in complete solitude.
The blonde Senshi closed her eyes. The jewel in her tiara began to burn, its fiery light spreading along its edges and all the way down to her toes. A quiet hum filled the air and with a flash, Sailor Venus disappeared. Where she emerged, no one could go, and with a reassuring sigh she opened her eyes. The planet Venus swallowed up most of her sight as the life-giving star of their solar system caught the edges of the atmosphere from afar and made it glow as if it was on fire. The side of her world closest to her was plunged in darkness, and she could not see what lurked below the heavy clouds.
She knew he was on the other side, and wondered what was going through the Shitennou's mind. Was he appalled by his behavior? Did Kunzite think her a child over the incident at Hatha-Rai and running out on him without any excuse? Venus had a feeling he was as critical of him as she was of herself. She wondered if he was back in his rooms, talking to his prince about the state of things, the state of her.
She turned away from her home world and to the only place she could truly call her own. It was a shimmering castle floating amongst the stars, impossible except for the magic that had created it at her birth. It was a castle of silver, stone and crystal that sparkled like a star in Sol's light. The aged iron and large stones gave it a storybook feeling as if it had existed for centuries, but the delicate crystal sculptures and archways made it shine with life and vitality. It suited her, a girl dreaming of fairytales and true love, but a kingly soldier with strength and lineage. This place was the seat of her power, the catalyst that drew the planet's energy into her. Without each other they would not exist.
"Magellan Castle…" she whispered into the artificial air around her. "Here I'll find some peace."
The heavy metal doors opened at a silent command as she approached, welcoming their master into a courtyard of red flowers and golden trees. They closed without a sound.
