Fic: Twisting, Turning
Title: Twisting, Turning
A/N: Playing fast and loose with The Lord Of The Rings. There are two lines from LotR in this fic, you’ll know ‘em when you see ‘em.
Warning: Character Death. Suicide. AA.
*** *** ***
There once were nine rings of power, distributed to the rulers of Terra. But over the centuries, the planet changed, the rulers and their kingdoms disappeared, and finally, all the rings had gone missing. The Golden Kingdom, with the magical Elysion at its heart, was the only kingdom still standing and it was ruled by the young King Endymion. He had four strong generals at his disposal, who aided him in both councils and in war.
All of the generals had taken to eyeing the sky with fear because of the Moon Queen that lived in it and who was rumoured to have had a hand in the demise of the kingdoms of old. Through whispers and warnings, Endymion knew that the Golden Kingdom had been noticed by the Moon and the planets allied with it, and they wanted to make it theirs. Queen Serenity’s omniscient eyes had fallen on his small kingdom, but Endymion was no fool, so he called his generals to his side.
“There once were nine rings of power, distributed to the rulers of Terra,” he began, and met Kunzite’s eyes. A shiver ran down the general’s spine.
“Find them for me.”
And one by one, they did.
***
And then the nine became one, molten by Jadeite’s magic fire. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
***
As his first course of action, Endymion used his newly acquired power to pluck the most dangerous of the Moon Queen’s allies from the sky. Mars, the seer who commanded flames.
With the aid of the magical ring, Jadeite could sneak up on the girl and take her down. She was now in a stone cell underneath the temple, where neither her fire nor her knowledge could harm Endymion’s people. He hoped that it would serve as a warning sign to the Moon Queen, prove to her that unless she promised safety to Earth, she too would lose what she held dear.
***
The Moon Queen was weakened, but the whispers of her desire to conquer Earth persisted. His warning had not been heard. Kunzite’s spies, so numerous and devious, brought back reports of a new plan. Not hesitating, Endymion gave the ring to Zoisite to retrieve the Queen’s tactician, a slender girl from Mercury. But something went wrong and no one joined Mars in her prison.
Instead, Zoisite dropped a body in front of the throne before handing the ring back to his king. When Endymion saw the corpse, he almost felt sorry for her.
She had been nothing but a girl.
***
The next rumours that reached the prince’s ear had nothing to with the Moon. His people had taken to watching him and his first-in-command, wondering too loudly why two formidable men such as them had not been betrothed to fertile and noble women. Was there no princess, no maiden that could give the kingdom the safety of an heir? Why wasn’t their king looking for one that was worthy? Was it because his eyes were always on the imposing Kunzite?
Always mindful of his duty, Endymion called his advisors. Who should be his bride? There was no royal on Earth whose rank could rival Endymion’s.
Kunzite cleared his throat. “Venus has a princess who is rumoured to be a beauty. And my spies tell me that the Venusian people hate bowing to the Moon.”
Jadeite snorted. “Forget it. I saw her when I retrieved Mars, she is the closest to a sister the Moon princess has.”
Endymion looked up, his blue eyes glinting. Sometimes the best solution was the one closest to hand. “Why fetch one Moon servant when we have another right here?”
Once again, it was Jadeite who spoke, a peculiar fire in his blue eyes.
His reply was slow and deliberate. “Because she would burn you alive.”
There was a hint of pride in his voice, Endymion noted, and twisted the ring on his finger. He turned to Kunzite, pulling the jewelry from his finger and offering it on his outstretched hand. “Bring me Venus.”
***
But Kunzite didn’t. He returned empty handed and full of rage.
“The Moon Court is deserted, save for two speaking cats. The Queen is in hiding, and she took her daughter and her remaining guardians with her.” His jaw clenched. “We have a traitor in our midst.”
Endymion remembered the pride Jadeite took in Mars’s fierceness. “Burn her.”
Kunzite blinked. “My lord?”
“Mars. Burn her.”
Visibly startled, Kunzite backed out of the room. Burning was not an honourable death and Mars was a warrior. She deserved to die on a battlefield. Or maybe, a quiet voice whispered in the back of his mind, she didn’t deserve to die at all. When had his king begun burning women at the stake?
“Kunzite!” Endymion’s voice brought him crashing back. This was his liege, their world’s saviour. His friend. He had no right to question Endymion’s wisdom in the face of an enemy as dangerous as the Moon Queen. This was treason.
“Yes, my lord?”
“The ring.” Kunzite looked down at his right hand, where the golden ring still sat on a finger. He’d forgotten he wore it.
When Kunzite pulled it off, the treacherous voice in his head exploded, his doubts booming in his heart, question of loyalty and friendship warring with morals and fear.
Watching Endymion slide the ring back on his own hands, Kunzite made his exit. This wasn’t the man he’d once sworn to serve.
Or was it?
***
Mars burned, and Endymion still found himself without a wife. Twisting and turning the ring, watching the moonlight reflect on its small shiny surface, he looked up at the stars. And that’s when the idea crossed his mind.
***
He called for Nephrite, the strongest of his warriors.
“I believe they are still on the Moon. They are hiding. Take Zoisite, find them, and bring me the Moon Princess. Kill everyone else.”
Nephrite swallowed. “I can’t do that.”
Endymion got up from the large throne and slowly walked towards his general, his red cape trailing down the stairs like freshly spilled blood. “Oh Nephrite,” the king whispered, “you can,” and quick as lightning, threw a necklace with the ring on it over Nephrite’s head.
“Bring me the Moon Princess. Kill everyone else,” Endymion repeated. This time, he would make his point. This time, his kingdom would break free from the Lunar threat for good.
With dead eyes, Nephrite nodded. “Yes, my lord.”
***
Nephrite returned with a screaming Serenity thrown over his broad shoulders and Jupiter’s head dangling from his fingers by her matted brown hair.
***
“It wasn’t you,” Kunzite murmured as he stood to examine Nephrite’s body. The tall man had thrown himself off the highest tower of the palace last night. His body had been found this morning, stiff and lifeless. Now it was in crypt underneath the soldiers’ quarters, where a hundred candles burned to guide the deceased into the eternal life.
Jadeite, pale as the snow on a clear winter’s day, clenched his fists. “No.”
“Nephrite was the traitor.”
“He was.” Jupiter, whose head he chopped off, had been his paramour. Who knew.
Both men fell silent, the memory of their lost ones strong, almost alive.
They could bury one of their brothers, but not the other. Zoisite had been struck down on the Moon, never to return again.
“Mars burned for naught,” Kunzite said after a while, the forbidden words on his lips before he knew it. Never one for impulsiveness, he could no longer hold it in. There was right in the world, and there was wrong, and sometimes the lines blurred. And sometimes you just wanted them to.
“I think you should say she burned for the safety of our kingdom,” Jadeite said in a low voice, but there was no conviction in his voice. He didn’t dare to meet Kunzite’s eyes, lest he gave his own treacherous thoughts away. Could Kunzite, Endymion’s closest friend and advisor, feel the beginning of revolution in his bones too?
Kunzite’s silence was all the answer he needed.
***
Venus wandered through the gates of the Golden Palace on Serenity’s and Endymion’s wedding day.
“I offer myself in her place,” the proud blonde announced.
Endymion, toying with the ring on his finger, tilted his head to look at her. She was more sensual than the crying Serenity, had more steel in her spine. But she was no Moon Princess. An alliance with Venus wouldn’t bring Earth peace, wouldn’t cow the Moon Queen and her remaining allies. He heard rumours about warriors from afar, called to bring Serenity back. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. It the rumours were to be believed, then their power was so strong that it made the recently deceased Mars look like an incompetent child.
“You are not good enough,” Endymion called to the Venusian and the attending members of the court drew an audible breath. She flinched.
***
Venus was locked away in Mars’s old cell, but it took her only a day to escape. Endymion sent the dogs and Kunzite after her, and she was retrieved before she reached the city boundaries. The ring’s magic made it impossible to teleport within the city, and while Venus was strong, she simply wasn’t fast enough.
He called for his new wife. “Tell your servant that if she runs again, I’ll have her feet cut off.”
Serenity quivered.
“GO!” the King roared, and his Queen ran.
***
She had delivered his message. And then she had composed one of her own.
The Moon Princess had been as fertile as his people had hoped.
She had been more stubborn than they had feared.
The pregnant Serenity was floating in one of Elysion’s many ponds, water lilies snaked in her pale hair. How she’d gotten there, Endymion didn’t know. Elysion was his to command, his allow entrance to.
“Let her rot,” Endymion announced, and turned on the heel, leaving the corpse floating in the water under the eternal spring sunshine of his holy land.
***
Midnight.
Under the cover of darkness, three men met by the elm tree in Elysion. They moved in silence as they made their way to the lake. They pulled the girl-queen from its waters, and carried her into the far away temple.
Down down down it went, until they were at the heart of Elysion, where kings and queens found their final rest. It was here that Zoisite had found two of the missing rings, hidden underneath the ancient bones and armour, and Kunzite cursed his old friend for it, and himself for finding another two in the dragon mountains. Nephrite had obtained three, thrown across the world. The warrior had travelled far and wide, guided by the stars. Jadeite had procured the final two, but he had never revealed where he had found them.
“Sweet dreams,” the priest murmured and pulled a white sheet over Serenity. Helios had been the one to alert Kunzite to the young queen’s death and to Endymion’s decision to leave her in the holy water. Helios, Kunzite knew, had always been the one who’d allowed the girl entry to Elysion, offered a safe haven in the horrible storm.
“Helios, we need to act,” Kunzite finally urged, and the priest closed his eyes. “He is our king. I cannot fight against him.”
Jadeite’s and Kunzite’s eyes met, the table with the dead queen between them.
“Can you not fight for him?” Jadeite asked pointedly, and this time, the priest nodded.
***
Kunzite stepped into the dungeon. It was silent except for the sound of the flickering fire in the corner. Venus was chained to a wall, her face tear and her wrists blood-stained. She was still trying to break free of the heavy iron shackles that bound her, but to no avail.
“This time, you will have to run faster,” he told her as he pulled the key from his pockets. He reached up and began to unlock the shackles, both by magic and by key.
“I don’t understand,” Venus whispered, and he had no doubt that it was only her confusion that kept her from attacking him.
“Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus... what is said about them is true? About their strength?”
A light came to life in Venus’s eyes. She’d understood. “You finally see him for what he is.”
The shackles fell off her wrist, and Kunzite caught them easily. “Do not speak ill of my master. He has been corrupted.” She made an impatient noise, but he stared her down. “Listen to me, Venus. You cannot hope to win as long as he still has the golden ring on his finger. We will try to get rid of it, but should we fail, then remember what I told you today. You cannot hope to win as long as he has the ring.”
“Did you bury her?” Venus burst out, and he nodded. “Thank you,” she replied whisper-quiet, and something hovered in the air between them, something unspoken, but keenly felt.
“Run,” he replied, and took a step away from her, “run as fast as you can.”
***
This time Venus escaped Endymion. Kunzite’s treason did not.
***
“You are my last advisor,” the king said to Jadeite, who was kneeling in front of the throne, his head bowed.
“I am, my lord.”
“Why is that?” the king asked, his voice trailing off. “Are you smarter or more foolish? More loyal or more treacherous? I cannot see your heart, Jadeite.”
Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, Jadeite kept his eyes on the floor. He just needed one minute, one second even. Save for Zoisite, he had always been the fastest of the shitennou. There was a dagger tucked into his boot. One second to cut the ring off the finger or the finger off the hand. One second.
“Jadeite, meet the Lady Beryl. She is to take Kunzite’s place.”
A woman in and of red had entered the room through a secret door behind the throne. She looked as if she had been created from the fire that had consumed Mars.
When he looked up and met her eyes, the same startling purple that had been Mars’s, Jadeite realised she had.
“Like Mars, Beryl commands fire and has visions of the future,” Endymion said proudly, as if Beryl was a dog whom he’d taught a new trick, as if her talent was his own. Sitting down on the steps leading to the throne, she smiled, not taking offence. Her teeth were white and pointy, as were her bare shoulders.
Jadeite fought down a shudder. This was no woman, Martian or otherwise.
“Impressive,” he slowly said,“ his mind whirling. From what he’d understood, Mars’s talents were her birthright, the combination unique to the first born daughter of the current Martian king.
“She’s your new queen, Jadeite,” Endymion announced, and the red woman’s smile grew wider. It was only then that Jadeite noticed the crown of rubies in her flaming hair.
“And beware,” the king continued. “Beryl has a rather singular talent.. from the ashes of the dead, she can summon their powers to her person. Looks like Kunzite will continue to be of use to me after all.”
Vomit rose in Jadeite’s throat. So this was the source of Beryl’s abilities: not similar so much as stolen. And his commander--- he didn’t know that Kunzite too had been burned. The shitennou were supposed to be laid to rest in the soldiers’ crypt, and he himself had carried him there, put him next to Nephrite. Had both men been stolen, their bodies abused as their minds had been?
“Isn’t it nice, the idea that you can continue to serve my kingdom in death as you can in life?” Endymion asked and Beryl laughed, the sound ricocheting off the walls.
“Very much so, my lord,” Jadeite replied, his heart racing, “very much so.”
***
That night, a fire broke out in the castle.
The west wing burned down completely, leaving no stone unsinged. When morning came, and the king sent out servants to scout for the damage, they returned with hands full of rubies, still glowing from the fire, so hot that were they not so precious, the servants would have dropped them to the floor.
Beryl followed them, naked. The fire was still licking at her, her whole head a river of flames, but she paid the heat no mind. She walked up the king and once there, placed her hand on his armoured chest.
On it, the ring glinted in the sunlight.
“You were right,” she said, “he was a traitor.”
***
Once the flames on her head died down, Beryl’s hair changed.
What once was red, was now strawberry blond. The curls fell past her knees.
***
The ring on his hand was made from gold and even though the colour suggested warmth, it always felt cold against his skin. Beside him, the queen stirred, but he paid her no heed. Twisting the ring on his finger, over and over again, Endymion smiled in the darkness.
***
“Uranus, Pluto, and Neptune will come soon. Their attack is imminent, and we need to protect our kingdom.”
All the eyes of the court were on their king, tall and imposing in his armour. The boy-king was long gone, and the man who’d taken his place scared them. The death of the shitennou, admired and beloved, had hit the kingdom hard. Nobody quite knew what had happened to them and worried whispers were exchanged at every corner.
Zoisite, it was said, had died honourably on the Moon, battling the evil forces of the Moon Queen. How he got there was never revealed.
Nephrite had fallen off a tower. What he had done there was a mystery.
Kunzite had disappeared soon after the Venusian prisoner had made her second escape. The events were connected, but nobody knew how.
And Jadeite had burned in the castle, while the new Queen lived. Jadeite, master of the flames, had died screaming while the fire licked him away. How this was even possible, nobody understood. Everyone had seen the man toss flames like balls, hold fire in his hands as if were an apple.
Beryl, resplendent in golden armour, hung on Endymion’s arm. She wasn’t dressed as a queen ought to be. A golden breastplate, a pleated skirt made from the precious metal, and knee-high boots that too shone golden. On her head, to replace the crown of rubies, she wore a pointy helmet. It hid the hair that had changed after the fire, the hair that looked so eerily like Jadeite’s.
***
It wasn’t Uranus, Neptune or Pluto who came to Earth to bring revenge to Endymion’s door.
It was Venus, barefoot, holding a silver chalice in her hands.
***
Her body is still outside the city parametres.
***
Endymion, holy grail in his hands, looked up at the midnight sky before lifting the chalice to his lips. A holy item of the Moon people, designed to enact revenge for the fallen Serenity. Paid for by the sacrifice of the three most feared warriors in the galaxy. And now he used it to hold his favourite Elysian wine. Endymion grinned. Victory was so near.
Now there was only the Moon Queen left. Only the Queen...
He coughed.
Behind him, Beryl raised herself on the bed. She was smiling in the darkness, and like her husband, she was watching the stars.
“There is a whole galaxy out there, waiting for someone bold enough to grab it.” She climbed out of bed, long golden hair trailing behind her, as Endymion kept coughing. A servant began to hammer against the door from the other side, and Endymion tried to open it, but Beryl tutted.
“No, don’t run away, my dear. There’s no point anyway.”
The grail fell from his hands. It landed on the floor with a clang, spilling the red wine on the grey stone.
Endymion’s hands flew to his throat. There was no air, no air.
Encircling him from behind, Beryl pressed herself against his back, ignoring how his body convulsed in her arms. Soon it would be over. Soon it would be time.
She smiled. Her hands travelled over his chest until they joined his on his throat.
With one slow movement, she pulled the ring from his finger and slid it on her own.
“A whole galaxy, just for me.”
***
Nine rings of power. Nine rings, long since lost.
Two were found by Zoisite, in the tomb of kings and queens.
Two were found by Kunzite, far and wide, hidden in the sand of the ancient lands.
Three were found by Nephrite, in the depth of the ocean, the highest point of the mountains, and in the darkest parts of a forest older than mankind.
And two, two were oh so close by, glinting in the sunlight on the finger of witch who lived near the palace. The witch who sold Jadeite his pipeweed, the witch he had stolen from. The witch who had set him on fire before reclaiming her magic.
***
“Once the Moon Queen has fallen, and I am ruler, I will need a new name, don’t you think?” Beryl whispered against his back, and Endymion drew his last breath, slumping in her arms. She let him fall to the floor, stepping over his body without further care.
“A whole galaxy,” the woman murmured to the sky, watching the world with excitement as she twisted the ring on her finger.
“I shall name myself... Galaxia.”
*** The End ***
A/N: Playing fast and loose with The Lord Of The Rings. There are two lines from LotR in this fic, you’ll know ‘em when you see ‘em.
Warning: Character Death. Suicide. AA.
*** *** ***
There once were nine rings of power, distributed to the rulers of Terra. But over the centuries, the planet changed, the rulers and their kingdoms disappeared, and finally, all the rings had gone missing. The Golden Kingdom, with the magical Elysion at its heart, was the only kingdom still standing and it was ruled by the young King Endymion. He had four strong generals at his disposal, who aided him in both councils and in war.
All of the generals had taken to eyeing the sky with fear because of the Moon Queen that lived in it and who was rumoured to have had a hand in the demise of the kingdoms of old. Through whispers and warnings, Endymion knew that the Golden Kingdom had been noticed by the Moon and the planets allied with it, and they wanted to make it theirs. Queen Serenity’s omniscient eyes had fallen on his small kingdom, but Endymion was no fool, so he called his generals to his side.
“There once were nine rings of power, distributed to the rulers of Terra,” he began, and met Kunzite’s eyes. A shiver ran down the general’s spine.
“Find them for me.”
And one by one, they did.
***
And then the nine became one, molten by Jadeite’s magic fire. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
***
As his first course of action, Endymion used his newly acquired power to pluck the most dangerous of the Moon Queen’s allies from the sky. Mars, the seer who commanded flames.
With the aid of the magical ring, Jadeite could sneak up on the girl and take her down. She was now in a stone cell underneath the temple, where neither her fire nor her knowledge could harm Endymion’s people. He hoped that it would serve as a warning sign to the Moon Queen, prove to her that unless she promised safety to Earth, she too would lose what she held dear.
***
The Moon Queen was weakened, but the whispers of her desire to conquer Earth persisted. His warning had not been heard. Kunzite’s spies, so numerous and devious, brought back reports of a new plan. Not hesitating, Endymion gave the ring to Zoisite to retrieve the Queen’s tactician, a slender girl from Mercury. But something went wrong and no one joined Mars in her prison.
Instead, Zoisite dropped a body in front of the throne before handing the ring back to his king. When Endymion saw the corpse, he almost felt sorry for her.
She had been nothing but a girl.
***
The next rumours that reached the prince’s ear had nothing to with the Moon. His people had taken to watching him and his first-in-command, wondering too loudly why two formidable men such as them had not been betrothed to fertile and noble women. Was there no princess, no maiden that could give the kingdom the safety of an heir? Why wasn’t their king looking for one that was worthy? Was it because his eyes were always on the imposing Kunzite?
Always mindful of his duty, Endymion called his advisors. Who should be his bride? There was no royal on Earth whose rank could rival Endymion’s.
Kunzite cleared his throat. “Venus has a princess who is rumoured to be a beauty. And my spies tell me that the Venusian people hate bowing to the Moon.”
Jadeite snorted. “Forget it. I saw her when I retrieved Mars, she is the closest to a sister the Moon princess has.”
Endymion looked up, his blue eyes glinting. Sometimes the best solution was the one closest to hand. “Why fetch one Moon servant when we have another right here?”
Once again, it was Jadeite who spoke, a peculiar fire in his blue eyes.
His reply was slow and deliberate. “Because she would burn you alive.”
There was a hint of pride in his voice, Endymion noted, and twisted the ring on his finger. He turned to Kunzite, pulling the jewelry from his finger and offering it on his outstretched hand. “Bring me Venus.”
***
But Kunzite didn’t. He returned empty handed and full of rage.
“The Moon Court is deserted, save for two speaking cats. The Queen is in hiding, and she took her daughter and her remaining guardians with her.” His jaw clenched. “We have a traitor in our midst.”
Endymion remembered the pride Jadeite took in Mars’s fierceness. “Burn her.”
Kunzite blinked. “My lord?”
“Mars. Burn her.”
Visibly startled, Kunzite backed out of the room. Burning was not an honourable death and Mars was a warrior. She deserved to die on a battlefield. Or maybe, a quiet voice whispered in the back of his mind, she didn’t deserve to die at all. When had his king begun burning women at the stake?
“Kunzite!” Endymion’s voice brought him crashing back. This was his liege, their world’s saviour. His friend. He had no right to question Endymion’s wisdom in the face of an enemy as dangerous as the Moon Queen. This was treason.
“Yes, my lord?”
“The ring.” Kunzite looked down at his right hand, where the golden ring still sat on a finger. He’d forgotten he wore it.
When Kunzite pulled it off, the treacherous voice in his head exploded, his doubts booming in his heart, question of loyalty and friendship warring with morals and fear.
Watching Endymion slide the ring back on his own hands, Kunzite made his exit. This wasn’t the man he’d once sworn to serve.
Or was it?
***
Mars burned, and Endymion still found himself without a wife. Twisting and turning the ring, watching the moonlight reflect on its small shiny surface, he looked up at the stars. And that’s when the idea crossed his mind.
***
He called for Nephrite, the strongest of his warriors.
“I believe they are still on the Moon. They are hiding. Take Zoisite, find them, and bring me the Moon Princess. Kill everyone else.”
Nephrite swallowed. “I can’t do that.”
Endymion got up from the large throne and slowly walked towards his general, his red cape trailing down the stairs like freshly spilled blood. “Oh Nephrite,” the king whispered, “you can,” and quick as lightning, threw a necklace with the ring on it over Nephrite’s head.
“Bring me the Moon Princess. Kill everyone else,” Endymion repeated. This time, he would make his point. This time, his kingdom would break free from the Lunar threat for good.
With dead eyes, Nephrite nodded. “Yes, my lord.”
***
Nephrite returned with a screaming Serenity thrown over his broad shoulders and Jupiter’s head dangling from his fingers by her matted brown hair.
***
“It wasn’t you,” Kunzite murmured as he stood to examine Nephrite’s body. The tall man had thrown himself off the highest tower of the palace last night. His body had been found this morning, stiff and lifeless. Now it was in crypt underneath the soldiers’ quarters, where a hundred candles burned to guide the deceased into the eternal life.
Jadeite, pale as the snow on a clear winter’s day, clenched his fists. “No.”
“Nephrite was the traitor.”
“He was.” Jupiter, whose head he chopped off, had been his paramour. Who knew.
Both men fell silent, the memory of their lost ones strong, almost alive.
They could bury one of their brothers, but not the other. Zoisite had been struck down on the Moon, never to return again.
“Mars burned for naught,” Kunzite said after a while, the forbidden words on his lips before he knew it. Never one for impulsiveness, he could no longer hold it in. There was right in the world, and there was wrong, and sometimes the lines blurred. And sometimes you just wanted them to.
“I think you should say she burned for the safety of our kingdom,” Jadeite said in a low voice, but there was no conviction in his voice. He didn’t dare to meet Kunzite’s eyes, lest he gave his own treacherous thoughts away. Could Kunzite, Endymion’s closest friend and advisor, feel the beginning of revolution in his bones too?
Kunzite’s silence was all the answer he needed.
***
Venus wandered through the gates of the Golden Palace on Serenity’s and Endymion’s wedding day.
“I offer myself in her place,” the proud blonde announced.
Endymion, toying with the ring on his finger, tilted his head to look at her. She was more sensual than the crying Serenity, had more steel in her spine. But she was no Moon Princess. An alliance with Venus wouldn’t bring Earth peace, wouldn’t cow the Moon Queen and her remaining allies. He heard rumours about warriors from afar, called to bring Serenity back. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. It the rumours were to be believed, then their power was so strong that it made the recently deceased Mars look like an incompetent child.
“You are not good enough,” Endymion called to the Venusian and the attending members of the court drew an audible breath. She flinched.
***
Venus was locked away in Mars’s old cell, but it took her only a day to escape. Endymion sent the dogs and Kunzite after her, and she was retrieved before she reached the city boundaries. The ring’s magic made it impossible to teleport within the city, and while Venus was strong, she simply wasn’t fast enough.
He called for his new wife. “Tell your servant that if she runs again, I’ll have her feet cut off.”
Serenity quivered.
“GO!” the King roared, and his Queen ran.
***
She had delivered his message. And then she had composed one of her own.
The Moon Princess had been as fertile as his people had hoped.
She had been more stubborn than they had feared.
The pregnant Serenity was floating in one of Elysion’s many ponds, water lilies snaked in her pale hair. How she’d gotten there, Endymion didn’t know. Elysion was his to command, his allow entrance to.
“Let her rot,” Endymion announced, and turned on the heel, leaving the corpse floating in the water under the eternal spring sunshine of his holy land.
***
Midnight.
Under the cover of darkness, three men met by the elm tree in Elysion. They moved in silence as they made their way to the lake. They pulled the girl-queen from its waters, and carried her into the far away temple.
Down down down it went, until they were at the heart of Elysion, where kings and queens found their final rest. It was here that Zoisite had found two of the missing rings, hidden underneath the ancient bones and armour, and Kunzite cursed his old friend for it, and himself for finding another two in the dragon mountains. Nephrite had obtained three, thrown across the world. The warrior had travelled far and wide, guided by the stars. Jadeite had procured the final two, but he had never revealed where he had found them.
“Sweet dreams,” the priest murmured and pulled a white sheet over Serenity. Helios had been the one to alert Kunzite to the young queen’s death and to Endymion’s decision to leave her in the holy water. Helios, Kunzite knew, had always been the one who’d allowed the girl entry to Elysion, offered a safe haven in the horrible storm.
“Helios, we need to act,” Kunzite finally urged, and the priest closed his eyes. “He is our king. I cannot fight against him.”
Jadeite’s and Kunzite’s eyes met, the table with the dead queen between them.
“Can you not fight for him?” Jadeite asked pointedly, and this time, the priest nodded.
***
Kunzite stepped into the dungeon. It was silent except for the sound of the flickering fire in the corner. Venus was chained to a wall, her face tear and her wrists blood-stained. She was still trying to break free of the heavy iron shackles that bound her, but to no avail.
“This time, you will have to run faster,” he told her as he pulled the key from his pockets. He reached up and began to unlock the shackles, both by magic and by key.
“I don’t understand,” Venus whispered, and he had no doubt that it was only her confusion that kept her from attacking him.
“Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus... what is said about them is true? About their strength?”
A light came to life in Venus’s eyes. She’d understood. “You finally see him for what he is.”
The shackles fell off her wrist, and Kunzite caught them easily. “Do not speak ill of my master. He has been corrupted.” She made an impatient noise, but he stared her down. “Listen to me, Venus. You cannot hope to win as long as he still has the golden ring on his finger. We will try to get rid of it, but should we fail, then remember what I told you today. You cannot hope to win as long as he has the ring.”
“Did you bury her?” Venus burst out, and he nodded. “Thank you,” she replied whisper-quiet, and something hovered in the air between them, something unspoken, but keenly felt.
“Run,” he replied, and took a step away from her, “run as fast as you can.”
***
This time Venus escaped Endymion. Kunzite’s treason did not.
***
“You are my last advisor,” the king said to Jadeite, who was kneeling in front of the throne, his head bowed.
“I am, my lord.”
“Why is that?” the king asked, his voice trailing off. “Are you smarter or more foolish? More loyal or more treacherous? I cannot see your heart, Jadeite.”
Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, Jadeite kept his eyes on the floor. He just needed one minute, one second even. Save for Zoisite, he had always been the fastest of the shitennou. There was a dagger tucked into his boot. One second to cut the ring off the finger or the finger off the hand. One second.
“Jadeite, meet the Lady Beryl. She is to take Kunzite’s place.”
A woman in and of red had entered the room through a secret door behind the throne. She looked as if she had been created from the fire that had consumed Mars.
When he looked up and met her eyes, the same startling purple that had been Mars’s, Jadeite realised she had.
“Like Mars, Beryl commands fire and has visions of the future,” Endymion said proudly, as if Beryl was a dog whom he’d taught a new trick, as if her talent was his own. Sitting down on the steps leading to the throne, she smiled, not taking offence. Her teeth were white and pointy, as were her bare shoulders.
Jadeite fought down a shudder. This was no woman, Martian or otherwise.
“Impressive,” he slowly said,“ his mind whirling. From what he’d understood, Mars’s talents were her birthright, the combination unique to the first born daughter of the current Martian king.
“She’s your new queen, Jadeite,” Endymion announced, and the red woman’s smile grew wider. It was only then that Jadeite noticed the crown of rubies in her flaming hair.
“And beware,” the king continued. “Beryl has a rather singular talent.. from the ashes of the dead, she can summon their powers to her person. Looks like Kunzite will continue to be of use to me after all.”
Vomit rose in Jadeite’s throat. So this was the source of Beryl’s abilities: not similar so much as stolen. And his commander--- he didn’t know that Kunzite too had been burned. The shitennou were supposed to be laid to rest in the soldiers’ crypt, and he himself had carried him there, put him next to Nephrite. Had both men been stolen, their bodies abused as their minds had been?
“Isn’t it nice, the idea that you can continue to serve my kingdom in death as you can in life?” Endymion asked and Beryl laughed, the sound ricocheting off the walls.
“Very much so, my lord,” Jadeite replied, his heart racing, “very much so.”
***
That night, a fire broke out in the castle.
The west wing burned down completely, leaving no stone unsinged. When morning came, and the king sent out servants to scout for the damage, they returned with hands full of rubies, still glowing from the fire, so hot that were they not so precious, the servants would have dropped them to the floor.
Beryl followed them, naked. The fire was still licking at her, her whole head a river of flames, but she paid the heat no mind. She walked up the king and once there, placed her hand on his armoured chest.
On it, the ring glinted in the sunlight.
“You were right,” she said, “he was a traitor.”
***
Once the flames on her head died down, Beryl’s hair changed.
What once was red, was now strawberry blond. The curls fell past her knees.
***
The ring on his hand was made from gold and even though the colour suggested warmth, it always felt cold against his skin. Beside him, the queen stirred, but he paid her no heed. Twisting the ring on his finger, over and over again, Endymion smiled in the darkness.
***
“Uranus, Pluto, and Neptune will come soon. Their attack is imminent, and we need to protect our kingdom.”
All the eyes of the court were on their king, tall and imposing in his armour. The boy-king was long gone, and the man who’d taken his place scared them. The death of the shitennou, admired and beloved, had hit the kingdom hard. Nobody quite knew what had happened to them and worried whispers were exchanged at every corner.
Zoisite, it was said, had died honourably on the Moon, battling the evil forces of the Moon Queen. How he got there was never revealed.
Nephrite had fallen off a tower. What he had done there was a mystery.
Kunzite had disappeared soon after the Venusian prisoner had made her second escape. The events were connected, but nobody knew how.
And Jadeite had burned in the castle, while the new Queen lived. Jadeite, master of the flames, had died screaming while the fire licked him away. How this was even possible, nobody understood. Everyone had seen the man toss flames like balls, hold fire in his hands as if were an apple.
Beryl, resplendent in golden armour, hung on Endymion’s arm. She wasn’t dressed as a queen ought to be. A golden breastplate, a pleated skirt made from the precious metal, and knee-high boots that too shone golden. On her head, to replace the crown of rubies, she wore a pointy helmet. It hid the hair that had changed after the fire, the hair that looked so eerily like Jadeite’s.
***
It wasn’t Uranus, Neptune or Pluto who came to Earth to bring revenge to Endymion’s door.
It was Venus, barefoot, holding a silver chalice in her hands.
***
Her body is still outside the city parametres.
***
Endymion, holy grail in his hands, looked up at the midnight sky before lifting the chalice to his lips. A holy item of the Moon people, designed to enact revenge for the fallen Serenity. Paid for by the sacrifice of the three most feared warriors in the galaxy. And now he used it to hold his favourite Elysian wine. Endymion grinned. Victory was so near.
Now there was only the Moon Queen left. Only the Queen...
He coughed.
Behind him, Beryl raised herself on the bed. She was smiling in the darkness, and like her husband, she was watching the stars.
“There is a whole galaxy out there, waiting for someone bold enough to grab it.” She climbed out of bed, long golden hair trailing behind her, as Endymion kept coughing. A servant began to hammer against the door from the other side, and Endymion tried to open it, but Beryl tutted.
“No, don’t run away, my dear. There’s no point anyway.”
The grail fell from his hands. It landed on the floor with a clang, spilling the red wine on the grey stone.
Endymion’s hands flew to his throat. There was no air, no air.
Encircling him from behind, Beryl pressed herself against his back, ignoring how his body convulsed in her arms. Soon it would be over. Soon it would be time.
She smiled. Her hands travelled over his chest until they joined his on his throat.
With one slow movement, she pulled the ring from his finger and slid it on her own.
“A whole galaxy, just for me.”
***
Nine rings of power. Nine rings, long since lost.
Two were found by Zoisite, in the tomb of kings and queens.
Two were found by Kunzite, far and wide, hidden in the sand of the ancient lands.
Three were found by Nephrite, in the depth of the ocean, the highest point of the mountains, and in the darkest parts of a forest older than mankind.
And two, two were oh so close by, glinting in the sunlight on the finger of witch who lived near the palace. The witch who sold Jadeite his pipeweed, the witch he had stolen from. The witch who had set him on fire before reclaiming her magic.
***
“Once the Moon Queen has fallen, and I am ruler, I will need a new name, don’t you think?” Beryl whispered against his back, and Endymion drew his last breath, slumping in her arms. She let him fall to the floor, stepping over his body without further care.
“A whole galaxy,” the woman murmured to the sky, watching the world with excitement as she twisted the ring on her finger.
“I shall name myself... Galaxia.”
*** The End ***