Welcome Back Mercury
“Lady of Mercury, I am here to see you about your step-daughter, ma’am.”
“Very well then, General, what is it that you are here to see me about?”
“You are not her mother, but somehow, you’ve become very in tuned with her spirit, you can feel her in your blood, is that correct?”
“That is correct General, I consider her my daughter, we are close in spirit.”
“Then I beg of you, ma’am, to tell me, what of Princess Mercury?”
“This is an formal visit, General,” she paused to emphasize the word, “there will be no begging, and I will not, for even one moment, give preferential treatment to anyone, no matter how close a friend you are to her.”
“Ma’am, she is my love, we are not just friends, our souls entwine into one, surely you can give me any information, I suffer from anxiety and worry.”
“She is your love, that is correct, but are you hers, that is the question.”
“There is no doubt, I cherish her with all my heart.”
“Then you will feel her with your heart. Goodbye General Zoicite, I’m afraid many things that await my attention.” Lady of Mercury flashed her professional doctor smile at him and moved past him to the elevators, “and please, I do not appreciate your coming to my private quarters, if you would please refrain from standing at my front door.” The elevator doors opened, and she entered without looking at the fallen Zoicite who had crumbled to the carpeted grounds of the hallway.
“My dearest, you must awake immediately!” She touched his exposed arm lightly and shook him from his deep sleep.
He groaned and unwillingly stirred, “Ami, what is it that is bother you at this hour?”
“That, is precisely what is bothering me,” replied an indignant voice.
Lord Takeuchi’s eyes snapped opened at the irritation in the voice that spoke in his ear, kicking himself for having mentioned Ami’s name - she would never bother him like this. Reaching to touch her hand that lay rested on his arm, he looked at her, “Kimiko,” he took a deep breathe and decided he needed to try and bit harder to keep the irritation of having her wake him up in the middle of the night out of his voice, he did not want to worsen the situation, “darling,” he stressed, “what is keeping you up at this hour?”
Personally, he didn’t really want to know what was bothering her, he didn’t really care less about it either. Her being awake in the middle of the night, somehow, fitted her image in his mind, as far as he was concerned, she was as much a witch as it came in the true sense of the word. In the dim light, he could see that she was dressed in a wet blood-red suit, a thought fluttered through his mind that made him smile, if only the suit was white, and she was covered in blood… her own blood… then he would be free, free of marry her, this wretched and sorry excuse for feminine companionship in his life.
“The girl, SailorMercury,…”
“I thought we had this discussion earlier, she gave it up to…”
“… be part of the Kuriverse, I know, but she isn’t, she just helped her senshi friends come in here, and no doubt, they are already looking for the Kurozuishou Go.”
“This is impossible! Kimiko, you have…” He glared at her, furiously trying to suppress the anger and contempt that he held for her, “I will look into it, perhaps you should return to your room now and get changed, come I will company you.” He hurriedly pressed her back to the corridor, and into her own room. “Guards!” he bellowed, then, lowering his voice to a whisper, he extracted a promise from them, “do not let Lady Kimiko Akiru out of this room, I am your master, she is not, do you understand!”
“Yes my lord!”
“Where do we go now?”
“Follow me, we have to be careful, she might have already notified the guards, look out for any movements.”
“Aye, aye ma’am!” SailorVenus giggled softly, “you’ve changed so much since you’ve been taken, your mother was right, it does develop you.”
SailorMercury stopped in her tracks, “my mother?”
“Oh, we forgot to tell you last time, your mother, in this life, is Someieichi-kou…”
“…who was the Lady of Mercury, and also my real mother.” Mercury said softly as though in a trance, “I can’t believe that I didn’t recognize her… oh God, I never even thought…” her soft voice trailed off in the empty corridors of the palace. “But now,” her voice suddenly stronger, “we have to retrieve the Kurozuishou Go.”
Lord Takeuchi was tempted, as he walked past his chambers, to return to bed, yet he knew that he had to check the claim that had been put forward by Kimiko, and, hopefully, prove her wrong by a mile. There was some doubt in his mind, but his heart refused to let those messages reach his consciousness, he did not want to even think of the possibility that his sweet love would hurt him so. True, she had come against her will, yet he sincerely believed that there was genuine affection on her part for him, and that she returned at least a little of the love that he felt for her. It was also undeniable that she surprised him at times, her intensity this afternoon had shocked him, in comparison to her usually mild nature, was like the sun and the moon, and the utter devotion to her staff was something that he had never seen before in royalty behavior.
As he approached the door of the Kurozuishou Go room, he swore under his breathe as he remembered that it required Ami with him to open the door, he would have to return to his room to fetch the KuriGo-kagi (Dark Key Five) in order to bypass the system. Shaking his head he wondered when he had started becoming so lax about the security and his memory of it, usually, when there was the threat of intruders, the whole palace would be swarming with his soldiers, not to mention the KuriGo-kagi would be clutched firmly in his hand. But somehow, with Ami here with him, having her designed a security system, brought a certain amount of relief in his life, and the question of security seemed to have completely vanished from his mind. He imagined her sparkling sapphires of eyes that gleamed as reflected each beam from the computer screens in front of her as she demonstrated each of the safety features, he lips turned upwards to a smile subconsciously, and sighed contentedly.
SailorMercury pressed her hand against a touch-pad that buzzed softly, without removing her hand she softly whispered a code into a microphone, another beep signified the expectation of her PIN. Mars sighed with impatience as she watched the slow process of gaining entrance into the room. The white steel door slid open without a sound and the four of them entered a small chamber. Once the door behind them closed, there was sucking sound causing three of the visitors to gasp, Mercury held a finger to her lips and smiled at them, a beep was heard, and she once again pressed a series of buttons and yet another PIN before they were allowed entrance into the main room.
The only structure in the main room was a glass box in the middle of the room in which the crystal was encapsulated. She reached down to the pillar holding the box and flipped a switch as the clutches on the box loosened. Mars immediately picked the box up from the pillar, and while Mercury deftly procured the precious crystal.
“Ami?” Came a soft hoarse voice the moment that they heard the security door open, the voice was so soft as though it was unwilling to speak, “you…”
“What are you doing here?”
He laughed lightly, and smiled at her with tragic eyes, “I should be asking you that,” he replied ironically, then more as a statement then a question he said, “the system only needed your prints, your voice, didn’t it.”
Mercury lowered her eyes gently to the floor, “yes.”
“You never… you had planned this from the beginning.” Again, it was only a statement, “you betrayed me, my trust.”
“I… yes… I suppose now you will try to kill us, after all, you are…”
“No… I will let you go. Ami, I wouldn’t hurt you for the world, at least, be sure of that much, I will not permit anyone to hurt you.”
“Why? If they knew, they would kill you!” She raised her voice at him, her eyes imploring him, burning into his memories, her mind in a mess, not quite knowing what it was that she wanted him to do.
“I… it was never fake, my… feelings… In this same room, I once offered you my life, now, I offer it to you again,” he choked, knowing that his decision would betray everything that he had been taught and thought that he should be grateful and loyal to. “You’ve taken the crystal, the teleportation room will no longer be in operation, this key… this key will let you use the machine, you can go back now, there’s no need for you to continue your charade.”
“That is your life key, you will die without it.”
“I will die either way Ami, I’ve taken things from you, a lot of things, I… I want to give you something in return, something to… something to let you back home. Take it, Kimiko will be here soon, go, before she tries to stop you.”
“But…”
“You didn’t care for me, you never did, for a moment, I actually thought that you did, I… at least I had you for a moment, no matter how brief it was, I will treasure it in my heart forever, but… I should have known.”
“It wasn’t…”
“It’s over now, take it.” He took one step towards her, his hand outstretched revealing an antique key of brass, encrusted with jewels, “you’ll need it.”
“Stop it right there, you scumbag!” Mars yelled, “don’t come an inch closer to us. Put the key on the floor and get over that side!” she pointed to the far corner of the room.
He took one last look at the key, and placed it against his lips, then his heart, his eyes never leaving the tearful face of Ami, carefully he rested it on the ground and pushed his offering to her.
Mercury picked up the key and held it to her chest, her eyes following his movements as he retreated from to the corner that Mars had indicated. “I never meant to… to hurt you… I thought… I didn’t…”. Floodgates began to open as tears tumbled down her cheeks, “I do…” she hesitated and stopped herself, “I’m so sorry, I don’t want to, but I must.”
The doors slid open once again, interrupting their final moments, “Don’t move, I am here to arrest all of you!” yelled Lady Kimiko Akiru in triumph, but her eyes caught the glittering key in Mercury’s hands, “you took… my love?” She turned, her eyes questioning him.
“Kimiko… father?” He almost yelped in surprise as he met his adopted father’s stern brown eyes.
“You are no longer fit to be my son, kill them!” The man yelled and flung his cape towards them, pointing the scuttling soldiers in their direction, “and that blue water senshi, whatever her name is, leave her to me, to the crime of seducing my successor - I will strike the final blow!”
“As you will Kurai-ousama. (Dark King)”