I just happened to be listening to Sarah Machlachlan's
Fumbling Toward Ecstasy album, and that's why all
these chapters start with those songs...it's
moody music, ethereal and passionate.

"Elsewhere" maclachlan again
"I know this love is passing time
passing through like liquid
I am drunk in my desire
but I love the way you smile at me
I love the way your hands reach out and hold me near

0o0o0o0o0oo00o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o00
Present--Tokyo: Stanton Tower
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Sineheart looked mildly annoyed as a signal indicated
the Assistant arrival. He pushed the button releasing
the door.

The door opened, admitting the Assistant.

"Sir...I have evidence confirming Hino's
identity as SailorMars." She said in a dead pan voice.

"Excellent...where are the recordings,
I need to analyze this..." Ruler of a secret
empire or not, he was still a scientist.

"Sorry, but I was attacked and the device was lost."

"WHAT!" He stood then, hands slapping
the surface of the desk. "That device
was difficult to construct...it contained
expensive, rare materials...you incompetent
piece of machinery! Did you at least
bring her here?"

"No sir, she got away. Several bots were
destroyed as well."

"Your errors are fast eroding my confidence
in your work. I gave you life...and this
is how you repay me??" The words were spoken
very quietly, just above a whisper.

"Sir, I apologize, but circumstances---"
a glitch in the cyborg's voice cut off the
statement she'd been about to make. A light
flashed on her collarbone, signalling low energy.

"I deploy you to control circumstances...
Remember that." He took out a small green
object that glowed with faint phosphorescence.

"Sir...I nee--need" The cyborg staggered
forward, hand outstretched for the small
green vial he held.

"Yes, it is time for your next power
replenishment...but maybe I should let
you wait...let you experience the sensation
I feel from the inconvenience that
your incompetence causes me."

"Sir..." The dryness in her circuits wasn't
pain, but the sensation was not pleasant. Logically
she knew that he would give the fluid to her. She
was too valuable for him to dispose of just yet.
And she needed to keep it that way.

He flicked it to her, just before she
shut down, and she inserted the vial in
her shoulder...the green substance flowed through
her and the world righted itself.

"This time, bring me that Scout, or you
will be discontinued...." His voice
trailed off sinisterly as his attention
shifted back to the jade fragment, which lay
next to a framed picture of a girl with short, oddly
blue hair. "Am I clear enough?"

She nodded. She knew he meant it.
* * * *
EZ Spade shifted nervously, knowing he was early.
He'd left his hotel suite, and stood pacing
the lobby of the Tokyo Tower View Hotel.

He pulled at a loose strand of his long
hair, fidgeted with his glasses and paced the
marble halls.

The corporation had placed him in a very
expensive and elaborate western-style hotel.
He was surprised by the ostentatiousness of the gesture,
but at the salary they were offering
him he should have expected it.

The man who'd hired him, Sineheart, had been
absolutely candid.

"You've impressed us with your research.
We want you. We don't want the competition
to have you--and price is no object." The
man had said in the interview. EZ had
liked and respected him immediately--in time, he
hoped to be friends with him. He admired
that the CEO of a corporation like this
would take the time to meet with someone like him.

He also liked that unlike other interviewers
who played games, or waffled, Sineheart
placed everything on the table.

"You do theoretical physical chemistry. You've also done some
interesting work with organics. What we want is
experimental work--to go beyond electronics. Our goal is to
start building circuits chemically right
at a molecular level. Design the properties right
into the material. I'll tell you right
now you won't have complete freedom.
We direct what you do. But the access to
our proprietary research is incredible--a wealth
of scientific miracles the likes of which
other scientists don't know. That's the catch.
You won't be able to reveal what you
work on here--so if you're after scholarly
recognition, forget it. If you want
to work on cutting edge projects, change
the world, and get paid *very* well,
take this offer."

Perhaps the greatest thing about this
place was that he'd have his own lab, and
despite the limits on his intellectual
searches, his personal life would be free.

A few places had raised eyebrows at his
very unconservative appearance. When
EZ was younger, he'd died his hair an impossibly
dark black for his pale skin, in an effort to
fit in.

He found life hard enough to be different without looking it too.
Once he moved to England he'd just let his hair grow.
So his shoulder-blade length hair was mostly black,
but the lighter color peeked out at crown of his head.
More rebellious as a graduate student, than in youth, EZ relished
in his odd look. He found it easier to disconcert people from
the start--sooner or later most people
had that reaction to him anyway. They needed to
know he wasn't one to toe a company line.
While that attitude suited the hip London club scene just fine,
the research world had been less then thrilled.

That was another reason he'd liked his future
boss. Sineheart himself wore his hair long,
and had explicitly stated "As long as they do
the work, I don't care how you look. I have no
uniforms here, I"m not running an army or a fashion
show."

That hit a note with EZ's nonconformist spirit and
he'd known he'd found his dream job.

He looked at the reflective surface of the chess
board at which he'd seated himself. He must have
been quite a sight walking with the clean cut, hopelessly
conformist Greg. He loved the guy, but he had to admit
his friend was a little boring. Amazing he'd won the
heart of a girl like Amy. Catching himself on a line of thought
he'd promised he'd not go down, he shook
his head. He shouldn't be trying to imagine
what Amy found attractive. Although, maybe a haircut and
some new clothes wouldn't have been a bad idea. He frowned,
and cleared his mind of those thoughts.

To get a hold of himself, he started playing
chess against himself.

He'd just gotten himself into check,
when a hand moved forward and blocked.

"When you play against yourself, you
can't win." Amy said smiling, one hand
self-conciously running through her blue hair.

"You can't lose either." EZ said smiling
back.

"You do...because you don't learn anything.
What I liked best about chess is what
it teaches you about the other player.
Are they aggressive, cautious, or creative?
If you ignore that, you reduce the game to
a boring set of mathematical probabilities..."

"That's what it is." Ez moved a piece.

She smiled. "Checkmate...no, not a *good*
game anyway."

He smiled. "I usually win..." He was
surprised, he hadn't thought of that move..he'd
calculated the game would end differently.

"Of course you win if you're playing yourself!" She
teased him.

He met her eyes, his hands meeting hers
on the pieces as they started to put
them back. "I'd rather play you." His
voice was low and resonated in the room.

She drew back her hand as if she'd touched
ice. "Another day then, are you ready
to go search?"

He nodded, and she changed the subject neatly.

"So...when do you start work?" She asked.

"Tomorrow. I'm excited, but
also reluctant to give up my student lifestyle."

"They have an excellent reputation for
inventions. Would you mind if I came
and looked at your lab? I'd love
to get a look at that place."

Stanton Electronics also had an excellent
reputation for security and secrecy. Sineheart
had warned him about that--showed him the
elaborate voice, and fingerprint recognition
systems to access every room. EZ
just bet Amy was curious, like a good
many people, what was going on in there.

He smiled tempted to agree immediately simply
because *she* asked him. He quickly debated
in his mind. He was just starting out.
But then again, this was probably the time
he had the most flexibility. They wouldn't
fire him over a visitor--and if they
did then he probably didn't want to work
at that autocratic a place anyway. In any case
he could say he didn't know he wasn't
allowed--a lie, because the company
manual clearly prohibited unauthorized
visitors. He balanced these considerations in
his head.

She was looking at him with those large
blue eyes, that always hinted that here
was a heart that had known sadness. He couldn't
say no when she looked at him. At least, he
didn't want to.

"I don't see why that should be
a problem. Just come to the front
door around lunch time."

* * *
"So, did he buy it?" Serena asked.

"He put down a rental on a nice--"Amy began

"NO Amy, did he agree to get
you in the Tower?" Raye clarified.

"Oh! Yes. Tomorrow." Amy said, sitting
down on the piano bench, her back
to the fabulous view of Tokyo.

"Tomorrow! Why didn't you
go in today!" Raye asked.

"I'm sorry!" Amy said.

Serena waved away Raye. " Ignore
her, she's just anxious to be
back with Jed...you did your
best Amy. Tomorrow's soon enough."

"I'm sorry...I just miss being in
the *Shrine*." Raye said heavily emphasizing
the last word. With each
passing day, they'd grown more nervous
as the enemy continued to move slowly. Not being
able to consult the sacred flame had made
Raye more tense than usual. And not seeing Jed
probably contributed to her irritability, though
she'd have jumped into the fire before admitting that.

"All those Negaverse monsters just attacked,
They weren't subtle like this!. They didn't make
us wait. It's creepy. I feel
like... a fly on the world wide web." Mina
said over her comic book.

"Fly in a spider's web." Luna corrected
"But I do think that we might
want to set a trap--we know they're
after Raye."

"LUNA! How could you suggest that!"Serena
said aghast.

Raye however looked thoughtful. "That's
better than waiting for them to attack
one of you. They probably have your
addresses. Since I haven't shown up
for a week, they're going to be pretty
nervous."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Silver Millennium
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"The lands bordering Beryl's kingdom
are falling." Zoycite thumped
the report on the table before
Endymion. "We must go to support her."

Endymion, thinking of his last evening
with Serena, blinked. "What?" He hadn't
really heard what Zoycite said. "So
she won't let me officially visit her
Kingdom?" He'd sent Malachite and Zoycite
to petition her for a formal diplomatic
visit--he wanted to see Serena as himself,
in the open, with no hiding. He hadn't
thought past that.

"No. She even refuses to help our Kingdom
as an Ally." Malachite intoned.

"The worst is happening. Beryl's kingdoms
are falling--but the reports are
unclear as to why." Zoycite frowned.

Malachite eyed Endymion. "You have a duty
to defend her, whether you like it or not."

"War? Not now..." He thought to himself, not
when he'd just met Serena...how could
he see her--- "You have to back to the Moon Kingdom--"

"Queen Serenity regrets she must suspend
the travel privileges between our worlds
again....even your subjects are not allowed
to go now. She's adamant about her refusal to aid
or interfere in this war." Zoycite sounded
annoyed. "Ingratitude for the service we
did for her."

"Zoycite, our entire trip was but a
symbolic and ceremonial novelty." Malachite admonished
the brash young general. "She was signalling
a change in her policy--but this
war returned our relations to normal. We shouldn't
have expected anything else."

"A novelty? Expect?" Endymion
said staring at Malachite. "Just politics and power.
It's all a game to you--can't you see that her
decision is cruel? We're not the ones at war?!
You've got to go back, convince her. "

"Endymion, My Prince, put that world out of your mind.
Your people need you. Beryl needs you. We
need you to fight. We are at war" An
undercurrent of excitement ran through
his voice--the syllables more curt and clipped than
usual. "We don't have time to waste on such a trip."

Endymion's eyes focussed then. "You live
for this don't you? You are actually
*happy* we're at war! Finally a chance
to put these drills in action. " He snapped.

Malachite held Endymion's gaze. "I won't
deny that. I am a soldier. I am also
a man." He said simply.
"You don't act like it."
"You are Prince, do you act like it?"He replied.

Zoycite watched Malachite walk out, and then
met Endymion's gaze.

"Sometimes I think you don't deserve
him as your High General." Zoycite said.

"Why? You heard him. Forget the Moon Kingdom,
and let's go fight for Beryl." Endymion
narrowed his eyes. "He doesn't understand ."

"Why should he? You've been hiding things
from us--don't deny it. Why are you so
eager to visit the Moon Kingdom as yourself?"

"I ...uh," Endymion frowned.

"Exactly...Malachite would never even ask you that--
but does it matter when you don't answer?" Zoycite
pulled a strand of his hair back. "Endymion,
I know we haven't always gotten along as well as we might..
But I am your friend as well as your soldier. What
draws you to the moon?"

"I can't explain." Endymion confessed. He never liked
discussing his emotions. Somehow he couldn't even
say the answer--Serena...how did he explain the
glory of her gaze? The way he felt when her smile
slipped into his? The light underneath her laughter?
"I suppose you could say I met someone there."

"I see." Zoycite nodded but his tone
indicated he didn't really understand. He knew about the Prince's
habit of breaking hearts. He wondered what could
be so special about this girl? Perhaps it was the
challenge of her being a lunar. His Prince's
whimsy whirled where it would. "Why didn't
you tell us?"

"Malachite wouldn't understand." Endymion said.

"Why did you think he was so eager to take your
message there?"

"I thought you just liked all the diplomacy
ceremonies."

"Maybe Mal, but me? I'd rather swallow a chess
piece. " Zoycite laughed. "We both met women
there."

"YOU?" Endymion asked shocked. "BOTH of you?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Zoycite asked annoyed.

Endymion face contorted as if he'd swallowed a lime.
"Uh..." Yet another question he didn't want to
answer. "So who are they?"

Zoycite smiled wryly. "you keep your secret and we'll keep ours."

"It's Serena, the Moon Princess."

"I'm supposed to believe you fell for that
little girl?"Zoycite asked, his eyebrows flying
up in surprise. "How the mighty have fallen!"

"So your turn." Endymion argued.

"Ami, the Princess of Mercury."
Zoycite said, a faint wash of blue longing
coloring his words.

"I can't even picture Malachite with--"

"Mina...Princess of Venus." Zoycite said. "He'll
kill me for the gossip you know but you
didn't hear it from me. I suppose sooner or later he'll
ask permission to marry her--He's in love. And
he's the sort that only loves once."

Endymion nodded.

"But he knows his duty.
So you see, neither of us welcomes this
turn of events any more
than you or Jaedite." Zoycite
explained. He didn't quite mean it though.

He doubted the Prince felt
the intense longing he himself felt.
The Prince would likely forget this
girl with the next pretty girl he
saw--while Zoycite's knew his soul
would remember the sad expression in Amy's
eyes forever. He thought to himself,
"The next time, Amy my love, I will see those
eyes alive with happiness."

Later that evening, Zoycite felt an unauthorized
transport--he'd set up a net of magic to detect
such things. No one had contacted him to schedule
a visit--who was it?

He wandered into the gardens, checking the faint
traces from where the person or people had teleported.
The residual energies were familiar to him--he'd studied
them before--Mars. He smiled as he thought that she must have come
to see Jaedite. Almost hidden within that signature was
another--white and golden--the one he recognized from
her earlier visits as Venus'. He frowned. Why was she here?

He moved forward, wondering if Malachite had arranged
another meeting with her. The temptation to observe
his friend's courtship overwhelmed him. He moved
forward, his mouth pulled into a smirk. Despite
the lecture he'd given Endymion earlier about Malachite's
capacity to feel, Zoycite agreed that Malachite was
entirely unsentimental. Picturing him romancing a
woman was--Zoycite stifled the snicker that would give
him away. Peering through the rose bushes he could
hear the soft words of lovers-- He grinned, surprised
at the sweet sentimentality. "Mal, I never thought you
had that in you." He grinned to himself, imagining
just how he could mercilessly tease the High General later.

And then everything changed. He felt himself grasp
the rosebush involuntarily, barely noticed the dark red
stain that spread on his finger. The pain in his hand
was easily dismissed--the scene was not.

Endymion, with his back towards Zoycite, stood holding
someone in his arms. Zoycite couldn't see her face, not
from this angle. All he could see was a few wisps
of blonde hair, and the soft white hands which
made no attempt to push Endymion away.

As clear as the scene was dim he heard her say:

"I must go for the shield swill close soon.
But, if you are attacked--or need
to see me, this moonlight ring will let you
in through the shields--but it will only work one way."

They were not aware of his approach--the rest of
the world didn't exist for them. Certainly
not Malachite, thought Zoycite bitterly, the one
they both insulted with their inability to understand
loyalty. He watched for barely a second longer, feeling
his disgust boil through his mind. "Mina" He thought
to himself "Endymion, of all the women in the world,
why her?" He never even considered the possibility
that the woman was anyone else--the signature, the
hair color. He remembered how she'd come down to Earth
before, without seeing Malachite--was this why? Had she
been too busy dallying with Endymion? His conclusions
formed in an instant, as he condemned them both silently.

The couple pulled apart slightly at the sound of
a bush moving. He looked away from them, and
from his vantage point could see he was not the
only observer. Beryl had witnessed the scene
as well--and her face exemplified fury.

END