CHAPTER TWO
ROYAL GUARDS SANS ROYALTY
Destiny never has, nor is, or ever will be, a fun master. Just when life
seems to take the high road, it causes an earthquake. Just when things are
going right, and it seems that you are secure, Destiny cracks the whip and
spooks the horses. Yet, for some reason, it always has a Reason, which you
may not see until the situation has passed.
Princess Venus of the Court Guard, the family guardians of all Moon
Kingdom
Royalty, wasn't thinking of Destiny when their ship began to loose
altitude.
Nor did she ponder why this was happening to both ships as she harnessed
Serenity in a life pod and threw in several emergency kits. In fact, when
the ship finally crashed into the dust, the reason for this whole calamity
never even dwelled in her mind. Especially when she'd found that the life
pod that held her Princess was gone.
"Great. Just great," she replied as she stepped outside the ship.
"What's
the call, Mercury? Can we get this hunk off the ground?"
"I'm sorry Venus, but the hull damage is just too great," replied the
girl,
standing. "And the distress beacon seems to be nonfunctioning."
"And it was such a good day," Jupiter sighed. "Venus, we searched the
perimeter and didn't see a thing."
"We could barely find our hands in front of our faces in this," Mars
added,
waving a hand at the thick, dusty fog around them.
Venus sighed, and felt the usual leader-in-a-crappy-situation headache
pang
in the center of her forehead. "Mercury, did you manage to rescue your
computer?"
"Yes, I did," replied Mercury. "And it works," she added, answering the
next question.
"Can you use it to figure out where we are?"
"I'm not sure," replied Mercury, kneeling and producing her computer. She
tapped a few keys, then began to rapidly type, fingers clacking over the
keys
as if she were in a race. "I can't pinpoint our exact location, but it
seems
we're on one of Saturn's moons."
"Can you send out a distress beacon?"
"No," came the quick reply.
"But why..." she started to ask, when a groan came from the fog.
Suddenly,
the Senshi were all at attention, listening. The groan repeated itself
again, along with a feeble cry of unintelligable words.
"Mercury, what is that?" Mars hissed.
"It's another life form....human being....and its hurt!" Mercury replied,
then stood up. Quickly, she caught up the emergency kit that Venus had
placed near her, and then vanished into the fog.
"No, Mercury, WAIT!" Venus yelled, but the girl's blue bow disappeared in
the yellow dust. She took off after her.
"Great," Mars said, turning to Jupiter. "Should we follow?"
"Someone has to stay here and hold down the fort," Jupiter replied. "I'm
sure they'll find each other."
"In that? You'd have better luck finding a boyfriend, Mako," said Mars,
turning back to the hunk of ship she could see and searching for the door.
"Don't call me that!" Jupiter replied. "You know we can't let our
truenames
slip!"
"Who's going to hear us? There's no one else around," Mars replied.
It was then, right on cue, that they heard the crunch of gravel signaling
footsteps. Heading toward them.
"This is wonderful, Nephrite," Jaedite groused. "We lost the Prince,
Zoicite, Kunzite and the Peregrine all in one day. The King is going to
throw a fit."
"Don't worry, Jaedite, everything will be okay," Nephrite responded.
"Have you gone deaf, Lyte? WE LOST THE PRINCE. If I didn't think he was
probably wandering around, searching for us, I would have said my prayers
and
ritualy killed myself by now," struck back.
"No you wouldn't have. You lost your knife, remember?"
"I would've borrowed yours."
"Always the optimist."
"Not right now," Jaedite sighed. "Like we're ever going to find anything
in
this stupid fog." He sighed, looking around in the swirling cloud of
yellow
mist. "And it's dusty, too."
"Could be worse," Nephrite said, touching his friends shoulder. "It could
be..."
"NO! No, don't you dare say it, Nephrite! The minute you do, it'll
happen.
I know it," Jaedite replied, turning quickly and brushing his friend's hand
off his shoulder.
"All right, all right!" replied the taller man, and they resumed their
walking. "But you're probably right. We won't find anything in this fog.
It feels like we've walked for hours and..."
He stopped as the silver hull of a ship came into view, and Jaedite
groaned
beside him. he thought to himself,
"That isn't our ship," Nephrite said. "It's much bigger."
"But what other ship could it be?" Jaedite asked. "And where are the
people?"
"HOLD IT!"
The two Generals spun around and assumed fight positions, as did Mars and
Jupiter. And time froze as they gazed across the gap at the strangers in
front of them.
was the first thing Nephrite thought as his eyes set upon
Jupiter. They ran once up her figure...then back down, and up again. he added, admiring the thick thatch of brown hair tied up in a
ponytail, revealing her deep, emerald eyes; he also took in the long, long
legs that extended from her short skirt into black boots.
Jupiter thought as she gazed at him, taking in
his rich brown eyes and deep brown hair highlighted in auburn, the strong,
serious face, as well as the slim grey uniform that enclosed, but didn't
hide, his body.
Across from Jupiter, Jaedite felt a lump in his throat as he stared at
Mars.
he thought as his eyes carelessly ran
down her purple-black hair and into her violet eyes, barely noticing the
sailor outfit she wore. Mars, the only one who noticed the gaze, couldn't
help but returning the admiration, admiring the trim lines of his grey
uniform, the careless way his hair was cut around his head, and the sweet,
light blue eyes that had widened upon seeing her. She felt something touch
her then, a sweet sensation of floating on a cloud; Jaedite was surprised
to
find his heart soften toward her immediately.
Then, time defrosted.
"Who are you?" Mars demanded. "Where is our Princess?"
"Where is our Prince?" Jaedite shot back.
"I don't know what your talking about!?" Nephrite yelled to Mars.
"What Prince?" Jupiter answered Jaedite.
"You lie!"
"You know!"
They carried on meaninglessly, amazing, thirty more seconds before Mars
lost
her temper. The fight was on.
"Ooohhghfh...."
Mercury thought as she followed the sound again, treading
lightly through the fog she was used to.
"OOHghgh!"
The groan was from right beside her, and she turned and nearly tripped
over
Zoicite. The man didn't notice, though, too preoccupied with the pain
coming
from his right shoulder. He again tried to sit up, but managed only to
groan
and wince again.
"Stay still!"
The voice surprised him, and he looked around feverishly to find it.
Then,
sweeping out of the fog like an angel from heaven, came Mercury. She
quickly
knelt by him and opened a computer; as she typed, he studied her. he said.
"Princess Mercury?" he asked weakly. "Are you Princess Mercury?"
"Yes, I am. How did you..." she asked, stopping her scan of him to look
up.
Involuntarily, she gave him a quick once over----before finishing, "...know me?"
"I saw the emblem on your tiara," he replied. "My name is Zoicite. I'm
one
of the Four Generals, and personal guard to Prince Endymion." He moved
again, and a shock of pain elicited a surprised grunt from him.
"Don't move! You have a piece of metal in your shoulder," she replied.
"But
I think I can patch that up pretty quickly." She opened the kit she'd
brought with her, and found a pain spray; pressing it against his neck, she
explained, "I'm going to take a look at it. This will dull the pain."
"Thank you, Princess."
"Call me Mercury, Zoicite," she replied, moving around him and seeing the
torn place on his uniform. "Now lay back so I can see this clearly."
He complied, noting the dulled pain, before asking, "How...how is it that
you're here?"
"We crashed," she replied.
"You as well? Did the ion storm disrupt your systems too?"
"No," Mercury said, looking thoughtful. "Actually, I'm not quite sure WHY
we crashed. One minute I was sitting in my cabin, reading over the latest
medical research, when the alarms went off. I ran to the command center
and
saw you were going down; then, suddenly, something hit us as well, and we
started our descent. I warned the others, and then tried to pull up...but
the controls froze. Next thing, we'd crashed here and lost the Princess."
"You lost the Princess?" he asked, chuckling a little.
"It's not funny," she replied primly, ripping more of his uniform to see
the
bloody wound. Quickly, before he could object, she used an instrument to
probe it. she thought,
turning back to her kit to look for bandages.
"Of course not," he said, still chuckling. "It's just that we lost the
Prince."
She looked down at him, eyes unbeliving. "You have to be kidding."
"No, unfortunatly, I'm not," he replied. "I don't joke about those kind
of
things."
She found what she thought we be a good bandage, though she wished she had
better, along with an antiseptic wipe. She carefully cracked open the wipe
and slowly sponged his shoulder; he winced. "I'm sorry for you, Zoicite,"
she said softly. "I know how you feel."
"Of course you do, Mercury. You are her protectors; we're his. Although
I
must say, I fear more for Serenity than for Endymion. He's a hunter, and
he
had his sword on him, but the Moon Princess..." he let loose a half-sigh,
half-grunt as she mopped at his wound some more.
"She is very protected, Zoicite, but you're right. It's something to
worry
about," she replied as she cracked open the sterile package and arranged
the
bandage over the wound. Quickly she taped it in place, then sat back and
admired her work. "There. That's finished."
"How....what did you do to my shoulder?" he asked, straining to see it.
"I bandaged it."
"How? Do you care a package of bandages beneath that pretty suit of
yours?"
he asked, grinning. He knew--KNEW--that he must have lost enough blood to
make him witty. Otherwise, he would have NEVER even considered talking
with
Lady Mercury like this, with such familiarity that, for him, would have
been
born of close contact over years. He rarely was like this with his
friends,
though of course they understood why. But with one look into her
shimmering,
sweet blue eyes, as beautiful as the Palace Lake, and he was suddenly very
warm inside. he thought to himself.
Mercury was surprised on the lack of blood loss, and even more surprised
by
his question. A coral blush brushed her cheeks, and she replied, "No. I
heard you from our ship, and came to investigate, bringing something just
in
case you were injured."
"Oh, I see...." he started, but it was then that the sounds of the near
old
scuffle finally hit their ears, followed by harsh footsteps on the ground.
Both were mildly shocked to see Venus and Kunzite dash out of the fog,
Kunzite only seeing them when Venus did and latched her arm onto his,
swinging him back to around toward the two.
"Zoicite!" he gasped. "Are you hurt, my friend?"
"It's not too bad, thanks to Lady Mercury," he replied with a short smile.
"But I may need some help up...."
Kunzite wasted no time in helping the injured general to his feet, the
Princess Mercury following slowly. He and Venus scowled simultaneously,
scaring the other two well-trained warriors in a funny way, especially
since
they were oblivious to their matching expressions. Finally, Venus lost it
and said, "Listen, we have to go now! They're going to kill each other!"
When Venus had run into the fog after her friend, she really had expected
to
find her. Even though she was one of the oldest of the Senshi and their
leader, she'd never lost that thread of optimism, even in the bleakest
moments. So when she failed to encounter her in the first minutes of the
chase, she'd been puzzled and had stopped, letting the dust that had risen
with her footsteps settle a bit. she thought to herself as she looked through the
greyish-yellow fog. However, it was the silencing of her footfalls that
allowed her to hear the sounds of voices, and then the tremendous zap! of
power that accompanied the attacks of her troops. Cursing their
recklessness
and the fog, she began to follow the sounds of the fight...and ran right
into
Kunzite.
He'd looked down at her and was surprised, though his stern, cloud grey
eyes
gave no sign of it. She gazed back, equally surprised, yet with a stare
equally as brisk. Standing barely a foot from each other, they analyzed
one
another, trying to place why they seemed so familar to each other.
thought Venus. She grimaced at allowing the last
thought to run through her mind so easily.
he thought first. He
nearly sneered at his last thought, and squelched it so fast it could
barely
choke out a sound of protest.
"Who are you?" he demanded in his command voice, a harsh and low tone.
"I see we want the same thing. How about a mutual exchange?" she spat
back,
her tone also in the command range.
he added, then straightened himself and
glared down at her. "I am General Kunzite, Leader of the Royal Guard of
Prince Endymion of Earth. And what are you doing?" he said, then asked as
she extended three slim fingers as he spoke.
"Counting your 'of's' and seeing if I have more," she replied with a hint
of
a smile. "I am Princess Venus, Leader of the Court Guard of the Royal
Moon,
also Personal Guard to Princess Serenity."
"Only two," he said in a measured tone, having tallied them as he
listened.
"Oh drat," she replied, then visibly flinched at the sound of a something
hard crunching against the dirt. Then,"If you'll excuse me, I must go find
my
Princess."
"...I must find my Prince," he was saying.
Their sentances hung in the air for moments before each realized what the
other had said. "You don't know where your Princess is?" Kunzite gasped
out.
"We lost her in the crash," Venus replied, face tightening in near pain.
"And you lost Prince Endymion in the crash as well, I suppose." A dry
smile
appeared on her face. "This is just not a good day."
"Yes, we did. And you're right. This day has sucked," he replied, face
softening just a smidge. Then it tightened back up again as he heard a cry
and a gasp, and he added, "I bet Jaedite and Nephrite have something to do
with that."
"Mars and Jupiter, too," she affirmed. "Mercury ran off, and she's
somewhere
in this pea soup crud."
"I have no idea where Zoicite is as well," said Kunzite. "It seems we are
in similar situations."
"Yes, it seems we are," Venus replied, that sly slip of smile touching her
lips again. Kunzite found that somehow that expression thrilled him in a
very low, dark place; he quashed that as well. "What do you propose?"
"That we..." he grimaced a little, "collaborate to find our respective
leaders."
"Work together?"
"Uh-huh."
She let a little disappointment show to appease his sense of honor--and
partially hers as well--before replying, "As Leader of the Inner Senshi, I
accept your proposal. Now let's get cracking."
They'd both ended up sprinting toward the fight, and had come upon Mercury
and Zoicite in the process. Now the four of them half-walked, half-moved-
really-impatiently toward the battle noises, their progress slowed slightly
due to an injury Zoicite had found when he tried to move. Mercury was
carefully assisting him, which caused her interest to peak; the Princess
Mercury she knew rarely would be in such close contact with a man,
especially
such a handsome one with curling blond hair and green-grey eyes. The battle
sounds seemed like they were nearly on top of them when Kunzite stopped.
"Time to get their attention," he said, and a whirling black-blue power
swirled in his hands. In response, she raised her hands and called out
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM." Immediately, powerful light exploded in her hands,
and she aimed it upward, focusing it outward to create a huge explosion of
light over the whole area. Kunzite also let loose with his power, making a
loud thunderous noise as he blew most of the fog around them clear.
The fighting stopped immediately, and the four were amused to see how.
Nephrite held Jupiter against the ship with a forcefield, and power sparks
radiated from her antenea. Nearby, Mars held Jaedite at bay with a slender
hand that stopped in the middle of a karate chop.
"SENSHI!!" Venus called.
"GENERALS!!" Kunzite roared.
The two pairs quickly seperated, and both leaders were proud to note that
none of their troops looked even reasonably sheepish. Rather, they seemed
like a cat caught in the act of something wrong, giving it a sensous brush
off.
"Now hear this," Kunzite said. "These are the Inner Senshi, the
Princesses
of the planets Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars and guardians of the Royal
Court."
"And these are the Four Generals, guard of Prince Endymion of Earth,"
Venus
stepped in. "There is no need for anymore fighting--we are allies."
"Venus! They probably know where the Princess is!" Mars roared.
"Kunzite! What about the Prince?" Nephrite answered.
The two leaders looked unimpressed and a little bemused. "They don't know
of the Prince, for they have lost their Princess," Kunzite answered.
"And they have no clue about the Princess, for they have lost their
Prince,"
Venus said smugly.
The stunned looks on their faces managed to crack the first smiles out of
the two leaders all day.
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