Two Truths and a Lie
Title: Two Truths and a Lie
Description: Crystal Tokyo can’t come soon enough for the inhabitants of the Crystal Palace.
A/N: Second Ficathon 2011 submission. Two truths and a lie from: Rei, Jadeite, Ami, Kunzite, Mamoru, and Nephrite.
While the basic idea (the Sleep, only the Inners, Mamoru, Usagi, and the Shitennou awake and trapped inside Crystal Palace just after the Shitennou have been reincarnated) has been lurking in my head for quite some time, this specific scene snuck up on me rather late in the game (no pun intended), and it was kind of interesting how different in style it is from Virtuoso. But maybe it made for good guessing, since I don't think anyone actually connected the two to the same author. I'm going to take that as a sign that my writing style has become more flexible over time. I don't envisage it ever turning into a full-length, multi-chapter fic (but that's what usually happens, so hey, you never know), but hopefully there will be more scenes from this plotline if the bunnies grow. If you think of anything else you'd like to see from this 'verse, please let me know :)
“Which is better, truth that is a lie or the lie that is truth?”
-- The Judges: A Novel, Elie Wiesel
At exactly fourteen and a half minutes to nine, her alarm went off. Ami frowned as she saved and logged her work, then shut down her computer for the day. This particular alarm and the event it was reminding her of gave her about as much pleasure as the unchanging, dreary view from her window - that is to say, none. This high up in the Crystal Palace, she had a perfect view of the lifeless, darkened city below her. It was one panoramic view she would never appreciate.
She sighed, diagnosing half of her malaise as cabin fever. Like the rest of the world outside the walls of the Crystal Palace, its ten inhabitants had slept for several centuries. But shortly before the dawn of the thirtieth century, they and they alone had awakened, presumably to prepare for life after the freeze. Usagi was right: without regular interactions with each other, they were doomed. It wasn’t Usagi’s establishment of game night that had her lips pursed in distaste, it was who else was included.
The four men who had appeared so suddenly on the eve of destruction were an ever-growing thorn in the senshi’s sides. It took great restraint, but Ami refrained from telling Usagi that game night was neither relaxing nor fun, that it was far more likely to drive her insane than to preserve her sanity, and that she did not want to know the Shitennou better. Well, to be perfectly honest, it was less restraint and more that all four of the senshi had expressed some form of these sentiments to Usagi on multiple occasions, and the future queen had finally put her foot down and said she wasn’t deaf, thank you very much, and that she wasn’t changing her mind, either.
Once, Ami had excused herself from the festivities with a headache. She had been forced to encounter them anyway, since Rei set the carpet on fire that night and she had had to come and put it out. Afterwards, as if he knew she hadn’t had a headache (at the beginning of the night, anyway), Zoisite had given her that infuriating smirk of his in the halls every time they met. Which was surprisingly often in a palace this size. So she had no choice but to show up, every single week.
At least she had things timed to perfection now, so she arrived exactly at nine and not a millisecond earlier. The sound of bickering voices carrying into the hallway gave her pause. She only heard female voices, which was both favorable and unfavorable: favorable, since the senshi’s fights among themselves tended to be shorter and less acrimonious. Unfavorable because if, as seemed inevitable among this group of people who were accustomed to using rather violent means to resolve their conflicts, someone eventually set out to maim or kill their opponent, she preferred the victim be one of the Shitennou rather than one of her sister senshi.
Of course, Setsuna might step in before such a possibility was realized, but then again, look at all the other things the senshi of Time had failed to prevent. The list was endless: starting with the defection of Shitennou in the Silver Millennium, all the subsequent enemies they had fought, and, most recently, being late with her latest supply run, which meant they were nearly out of coffee and constantly at each other’s throats. Not to mention Chibi-Usa’s Electra complex.
Ami entered the game room, feeling herself step back in time. This was the only room in the palace in which wood, not crystal, was dominant. The oak paneling of the walls and the mahogany of the bookcases preened in the warm golden lamplight, and the dark walnut planks were cushioned with thick maroon rugs. Just about every game produced in the latter half of the twentieth century was in this room, as well as a bar stocked with what she thought of as criminally expensive liquor and whose contents they were going through a bit too rapidly.
Usagi, who was already in her pink bunny pajamas, perched on an armchair with a bowl of ice cream while Minako and Makoto debated in front of the storage cabinet.
“This is pointless. We’re never going to come up with something!”
“How about Candyland? We haven’t played that in awhile.”
“No, it’s too childish. What about Jenga?”
“No one will get more than one turn before the tower falls down.”
It was the perpetual dilemma - what game was both acceptable to all parties and allowed for ten players? By mutual agreement, they stayed away from any games that allowed for five teams of two. Inevitably, Usagi would suggest pairing the senshi and Shitennou together, and the Crystal Palace had already undergone an appalling amount of game night-induced maintenance given how new it was.
After greeting Usagi, Ami walked over to join Minako and Makoto as the blonde’s fingers passed over Trouble and Sorry! as if the boxes weren’t there.
“How about Scrabble? Never mind,” Ami said quickly. They had been playing Scrabble when Jadeite spelled out the word that led to Rei setting the carpet on fire. The tiles had been charred black by the time Ami arrived, but she guessed that it had either been extremely derogatory or highly amorous in nature.
“LIFE?” Makoto suggested.
“Too depressing.” None of them were likely to go through a normal transition to adulthood anytime soon, or ever.
“Clue?” Minako was rapidly getting frustrated.
Rei, who had just glided into the room, said, “Trying to figure out who killed whom where and with what is a little too reminiscent of my nightmares, thanks all the same.”
Usagi’s spoon clinked loudly in her bowl. “Rei!”
“What? None of them are here yet. I can say what I want.”
Usagi frowned as she ate another bite, but she didn’t say anything else. On the other side of the room, Minako, Makoto, and Ami moved on in silent agreement.
“Charades?”
“I think the probability of needing another rug replacement is a little too high with that one,” Ami sighed.
It was a shame they couldn’t play Trivial Pursuit, which actually brought back enjoyable memories for them. In fact, the game wasn’t even in the room - Mamoru was using it to teach the Shitennou about what aspects of the twentieth century he might not think to tell them about. They were still trying to figure out what had happened to the Shitennou, but they had established that the men’s current reincarnations had appeared in the present time with no memories beyond those of the Silver Millennium.
Just as the five men walked into the room together, Minako remembered an old game they used to play at school as an icebreaker and at slumber parties to make each other blush. “I’ve got it! Let’s play ‘Two Truths and a Lie.’ We haven’t played that one before.”
As he seated himself in Usagi’s armchair, Mamoru said warily, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Minako.”
“It’s fine with me,” Jadeite interjected. He was tired of all the tiptoeing around and of Mamoru trying to protect - well, he wasn’t sure who he was trying to protect half the time.
Kunzite nodded in agreement. Zoisite sat down and crossed his arms, knowing his opinion wouldn’t be taken into account anyway. Nephrite made a beeline for the bar.
Minako ignored them, somehow managing to ignore Kunzite even more than the rest of them. She raised her eyebrows challengingly at Mamoru. He glanced up at Usagi, who shrugged and nodded. The others were just relieved that something had finally been decided on. The sooner they started, the sooner they would finish, and that meant Usagi and Mamoru would be satisfied that they had all played nice together and allow them to go their separate ways for the week.
The ten of them formed a rough circle, with Mamoru sitting in the armchair with Usagi, Rei and Minako sharing a couch, Nephrite leaning against the bar, Kunzite stiff as a poker on the opposite couch beside Zoisite, and Jadeite, Makoto, and Ami on the floor.
“I’m afraid we aren’t familiar with this game,” Zoisite said, more out of politeness than interest.
“It’s exactly what it sounds like.” Two pairs of blue eyes issued admonishing glares, and Minako sighed. It was like being in kindergarten all over again. “The person whose turn it is says three things about themselves, and two must be true and one must be a lie. The rest of us have to guess which is the lie.”
He nodded. “Straightforward, if rather facile.”
“Only to the unimaginative,” Ami replied.
“Or if you use the stars to cheat,” Makoto added pointedly.
All eyes turned to Nephrite, who sneered down at her. “For a paltry game like this?”
“You do cheat at cards,” Jadeite said, before he remembered whose side he was supposed to be on. From the look in his friend’s eyes, Nephrite would be making sure he remembered it during their practice session tomorrow.
“Very well, I promise I won’t call upon the stars. With only three options, the process of elimination should make this game end soon enough.” It was clear that he was most looking forward to that part of the night. This time he was the one on the receiving end of Usagi and Mamoru’s looks.
In an effort to cut off the not-so-friendly banter, Mamoru volunteered, “I’ll go first. Now, the rule we’ll use tonight is that if the first guess is wrong, the speaker will choose who goes next. If the first guess is right, the guesser gets to choose who goes next. Is that clear?”
They nodded or murmured their assent.
“Good. Here are my three: I love eggplant, my medical school advisor told me to go in for gynecology, and I still have my favorite piece of clothing from high school.”
“What’s-”
Zoisite leaned down to mutter an explanation to a perplexed Jadeite, who was having the most difficulty picking up new terminology that hadn’t existed in the Silver Millennium. The latter let out a crack of laugher. “You mean that’s a full-time occupation now?”
Mamoru , who resembled a ripe tomato, was regretting this game more by the minute.
Meanwhile, Minako was staring at Usagi. “I thought you got rid of that hideous green blazer!”
She replied, “I did!” and turned back to Mamoru with a confused look. “You like eggplant? But the one time I made eggplant lasagna and you didn’t finish your plate, you said it was because you didn’t like eggplant.”
Hastily, Mamoru kissed her cheek and said, “I, uh, developed a more sophisticated palate over time. Tastes change, you know.”
He searched the room for a safe prospect. Just when he found one, she got to her feet. “Excuse me,” she said.
“But Ami-”
She stated calmly, “I have to use the restroom, Mamoru.”
He muttered an apology. He couldn’t believe it was only 9:08 and already the night was going to hell in a handbasket. “Nephrite?”
His quarry thought for a few moments, aided by several meditative sips of whisky. “I was born in what is now Austin, Texas. I used to raise hounds in the royal kennels. I once let Endymion piss in the Lake of Mirrors in Elysion.”
Makoto frowned and asked, “Weren’t you born in Phoenix?”
He smiled. “So you were listening.”
She glanced away. “Only because you wouldn’t stop talking.”
This exchange was of little importance to the other Shitennou. Ami returned just in time to hear Jadeite burst out, “Damn it, Endy, we drank from that lake! Every single month!”
“You swore to me it wasn’t you.” Kunzite was giving Endymion his hardest stare, the one that reminded him of a cobra about to strike.
Minako leaned over and asked Usagi, who had spent the most time in Elysion, “Is that the lake that was so sacred even animals didn’t live in or drink from it?”
“You knew about it? Why didn’t you warn the rest of us?” Zoisite demanded.
Kunzite shrugged. “There was nothing to be done. Drinking from the Lake of Mirrors was an essential and unavoidable part of a centuries-old ritual, the very foundation that the Golden Kingdom rested on. I thought it was better if you didn’t know.”
Faced with the angry glares of his Shitennou, Mamoru said quickly, “By ‘let,’ Nephrite means he also pissed in the lake.”
Nephrite now had two people to pound into the practice courts tomorrow, but only if the other four men didn’t team up on him, which now seemed likely. “Give me a break. We were drunk. It was only the one time!”
“Perhaps you can discuss this another time, amongst yourselves. Kunzite, why don’t you go next?” Usagi suggested. She was the only one who cared whether the Shitennou beat each other to a pulp, which seemed imminent, and possibly only because Mamoru was also in the line of fire. The other women looked like they were looking forward to seeing it happen.
The leader of the Shitennou nodded gravely. “As you wish. I am the Heavenly King of the North, I am the tallest person in this room, and I have never been married.”
Usagi’s spoon somersaulted through the air, painting drizzles of vanilla onto the rug. Everyone but Zoisite looked stunned.
“Go stand next to Nephrite,” Rei ordered, but her eyes were on Minako.
Kunzite rose, his expression blank, and did so. He was taller.
“You were married?” Minako whispered.
He nodded.
“To who?”
“To you.”
She turned white. Whereas the Shitennou’s memories of the Silver Millennium were perfect, the others had recovered only some of their memories of their past lives. Apparently the gaps were larger than they thought.
“Kunzite, it’s your turn to choose who goes next,” Mamoru said, now just hoping for a quick end to his misery.
Kunzite appropriated Nephrite’s glass, downed its contents, and picked at random. “Rei.”
She tossed her head so that her hair fanned out in a glossy cascade. “When I was younger, I used to want to be a singer. My favorite flowers are roses. I slept with Kaidou.”
Makoto’s mouth fell open as she tried to figure out when this had happened. Ami decided that now was not the time to mention that objectively, Kaidou had borne a nontrivial resemblance to Jadeite.
Jadeite was looking from Mamoru to the girls, seeking additional confirmation even though he knew which was the lie. The future king buried his face in his hands and murmured, “That’s a little too much information, Rei.”
“I guess you can choose who goes next then,” she said, unperturbed. She had achieved her goal, which had nothing at all to do with winning the game and everything to do with the look on Jadeite’s face.
Usagi spoke up gently. “Jadeite-”
He looked directly at Rei, and she met his angry gaze without flinching.
“I love you, I love you, I love you.” Jadeite got up and left the room.