Damn her! He thought as he felt the pain that his princess was emanating, why couldn’t Someieichi-kou just let him intercept in this operation? He knew that at some point, he would have to let her grow; but his heart was not yet ready for his sweet princess to leave his protection entirely and face the world on her own. Someieichi-kou had known from the very beginning that he had formed more than usual attachment to the young princess, that his fondness of her reached almost to the point of obsessive protection, his relationship with her mirrored that of his father and the past Someieichi-kou.
The young Mercurian Princess needed that, although the adoration and devotion of both her parents could never be doubted, Mercurians although affectionate in nature, were not known for their affectionate actions, their powers of vocal self-expressionism was almost non-existent. She needed more than the usual Mercurian child’s dose of affection, she craved for his constant attention when she was younger, until now, she was the model modern Mercurian - though impartial and just, she was composed, loyal and compassionate; though weak in powers of vocal expressionism like those her lineage, she loved fiercely with all her heart and self-sacrifice.
It was hard to believe, but he remembered that his father had once told him that Someieichi-kou had once been like that, but since assuming the title of the mysterious legend, and dismissing the servitude of his father once she had reached her full potential, like all her predecessors. She had slipped into the role of Someieichi-kou unquestioningly, his father’s presence became superfluous, like all the other guardians of all the other princesses.
She was not heartless, so he was told, she had parted with his father unwillingly, but necessarily, sad farewells had been exchanged as they parted ways to continue their own lives. She had unwillingly distanced herself from her friends, the other princesses, again, it was the necessity of the job, a necessity that she could never question. Her priorities had rearranged themselves, her royal duties became paramount, and her own child would not be spared from dangerous, heart-wrenching training situations. She never seemed to hesitate and doubt her actions, despite knowingly casting each of them pain as she forced them to face their fears, and reach and exceed their potentials. Whether she had qualms about the effects of her plans, he did not know, yet the assuredness of exterior that she displayed made him doubt that she had ever had reason to be uncertain of her aims.
She had deliberately clipped his wings, she took his ability to foresee the future from him; all that he was able to do now was to watch the actions of his princess, losing all ability to foresee what would be in the future. While he did not believe in life being ever fixed and predestined, he admitted that the ability to foresee the vague outlines of the future was somewhat handy at times… especially when it came to the future of someone that he cared and treasured with his life. Sometimes, he was sure that she understood his feelings, but he wondered if she had become so cold that she couldn’t empathize anymore, or that she was so serious about her work that she would not interfere with the regulations that came with the title of Someieichi-kou.
Someieichi-kou
had never questioned whether it was truly worthwhile to sacrifice so much; the
society of the Royal circle, the extra respect earned by the mere inheritance of
being Queen, instead of Second Lady of Mercury, or having the knowledge that she
was the cause for the pain that her child would face.
They were respected by their people, but they had had to earn their
respect.
But he knew, he knew that like her predecessors, when the time came, his
princess would understand the need for her presence, Mercurians held the strong
belief that duty came before the heart, and the Mercurian blood in his princess
would lead her to the same conclusion.
He admired his princess for being able to make such a different decision
with a blink of the eye, to not be selfish about herself and give up her
‘life’ to assume another personality - he wondered if her people knew of
their princesses and queens’ sacrifices.
There were times when the people did wonder why the curse on the Queen of
Mercury was so strong that for generations, none had survived childbirth, and
why the King had fallen for the nanny of the child each time, but they too never
questioned the reasons, if it was political, then they did not want to know,
because they trust their royal family to do what would be best for them - no
questions asked.
“Are you nuts Mercury? I can’t do this, the only thing I’m about to chop up are vegetables and dead meat; he is a living breathing person!”
“I’m not saying that you take a knife and operate, I’m saying, we can use your energy and convert it to laser energy, I just have to condense it to a narrow beam of light so that it can travel without dispersion. Meanwhile, it is so focused that it would have a power density of 108/cm2, with a wavelength of 6.328 x 1011ms-1, which is the wavelength of helium-neon laser commonly used in laser surgeries…”
Sweatdrop! “Um, Mercury, mind speaking in English?” Venus asked.
“Haven’t you been reading your Physics books?” Mercury asked innocently.
“I don’t even know what it looks like,” Venus mumbled under her breath, “simple, simple English, Mercury.”
“Laser surgery is the use of intense light sources to cut, coagulate or vaporize tissues, it destroys the tissues and allows quicker more natural healing, and because it is so fine, we can aim it to one single point. So, applying the same idea here, we just need to take Jupiter’s light energy which has the wavelength of 2.99792458 x 108ms-1, which is the exact speed of light in vacuum, and do a forced conversion with my mini-computer since it seems to be able to convert energy forms to another. What I am doing here is not changing it from one energy form to another because it might get messy, but I just have to type in the programming that can calculate and change the Jupiter’s the wavelength of light to the wavelength of laser, thus condense the wavelength by…”
The senshi looked at her, blinking without comprehension, “okay, lets try again, Mercury, SIMPLE ENGLISH?!!” Venus yelled.
“Err, don’t worry, just tell me what I have to do.” Jupiter said, taking a step forward to Mercury, looking completely lost, yet somehow confident in the situation.
“Oh God… I’ve got absolutely no materials to experiment with this proposition, this is a mere hypothetical, I have no proof that it will work and if I over calculate it, I’ll end up damaging the brainstem or the medulla, if I under calculate, I’ll end up burning a hole in his skin. I am really regretting not accepting that offer in Germany now, I mean, if I went, I’d be able to just operate, or at least the exact amplitude that I am supposed to tune the laser to. But I don’t, I have no idea what to do when it comes to saving one of the most important people in my life. What if I kill him? What if I fry his brainstem? What if he becomes goes into comatose? What if … ?” Mercury babbled.
Mars took her by the shoulders strongly, “stop it, you can do it, do you want me to slap you like you did to SailorMoon, because if I have to, to get some sense into you, you know that I will.”
Mercury closed her eyes and took a long deep breath, “I’m fine, I’ll just get my computer ready and then all you have to do, Jupiter, is put your hands here, concentrate, and let the power go, I just have to do the programming now…”