(Untitled)

[kingofloyalty]

He didn't like to be by himself sometimes. His thoughts caught up with him, surrounded him and made him remember that time. He was broken when they found him, and he wasn't sure he was fixed now. He wasn't sure he'd ever really be fixed. It made him angry, that those people, the enemy, would do something like that to him. It frightened him, to know

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[waterfell]

Here. Him.

Here. She's in the Earth Palace that has so many conflicting memories of trauma and of peace for her. She knows it from the graceful lines of the architecture to the rich fabrics and furnishings. By instinct she reaches for her teletia-S... only to discover she's already caught.

"Jadeite..." Mercury finds herself staring at the youngest shitennou. Caught off-guard, her expression looks almost uncertain.

[kingofloyalty]

That voice--in his room?

Jadeite turns immediately, expression a little severe. "Mercury," he acknowledges her, and his voice is somewhat tight. He knows which Mercury too, by the fuku and her apparent age. She better have a good explanation for this. But maybe it was the nexus. His hands relax by his sides, but his shoulders are still tense, as if he isn't quite comfortable with such an encounter--and he's really not.

There's the tiniest twitch of his head, as if to shake it. Maybe to remind himself to be cordial, this is someone to whom he owes a great deal of thanks, even if he resents it, just a little.

[waterfell]

She hadn't done anything she did for him. Oh, maybe a little; she's never been good at separating alternates when her examples have shown her how similar they are, and maybe she saw a kinder expression in those blue eyes and didn't want these cold ones to suffer more. But mostly, it's his world, a world that hasn't fallen and that still has a chance. If it really can survive, she wants to see that.

And mostly it's Kunzite. And she thinks of him immediately, like the fool she can still be. "I didn't come to see Kunzite!" she insists at the same time, assuming he'll assume she is, and disapprove (the disapproval, she takes for granted).

"It was the nexus."

[kingofloyalty]

There's a smirk that thinks to come to Jadeite's lips, but he doesn't make the effort, and his expression comes out more annoyed than smug. "Are you sure?" he quips. "I wasn't thinking of that, but saying it immediately makes me wonder."

He glances away. "It doesn't matter anyway. You wouldn't show up in my room if you came to see him right now." Unless she'd lost her touch, but it's a jab he doesn't feel like making, not right now. He doesn't hate her.

[waterfell]

Mercury gives Jadeite a slightly sulky look. But there's no real point arguing it further than that when things are calm right now. No, what makes her silence more heavy is the thought of a sleep spell she learned in Econtra - and the thought of how little he'd want her to use it, even to get much needed rest. To avoid the refusal she assumes would come, she doesn't offer.

In a fit of kindness, she also doesn't point out that she could always go down the halls to Kunzite's chambers now.

"Your room looked too quiet," she says instead. "I thought I'd make a little noise."

[kingofloyalty]

"I suppose I should be grateful," he replies somewhat cheekily.

And it doesn't matter if she goes, does it? The eldest shitennou has been different since she came, but maybe she helps Kunzite, too. She helped him, after all. Nephrite only sees what's right in front of his face, maybe that's why he hates her after all. Jadeite has learned, since then.

And maybe he is a little grateful. But just a little. And he won't admit it. She's not a distraction he would have chosen on a list, to be sure.

[waterfell]

In a way, she hates him for it, how the people who were supposed to rally around him all did rally around him and are helping him heal back into something happy and whole. She knows better than most that the scars will never fully leave him, but... they won't be as deep as scars from wounds that were never treated at all.

She is, quite simply, jealous. And it's really a horrible and twisted thing, to find something to be jealous of in that. But the sighs, and the evening of quiet thought sorting through that emotion, will come later.

"If you're not sleeping anyway, we should do something a little more fun," she decides, ignoring his crack about gratitude.

[kingofloyalty]

...We? As in Mercury and Jadeite, she and he? As in, together? Why does she want anything to do with him? There's a flash of surprise, followed by a brow furrow like suspicion. He's silent as if waiting for an explanation, and finally he prompts her a little.

"Did you have something in mind?"

[waterfell]

Does he see anyone else here right now, or does he hear snoring coming from down the hall?

"It's your castle," Mercury points out. "I wouldn't know. What do you like?"

[kingofloyalty]

It could have been the royal we! Or...something.

"It's a little late," he points out in return. "So shouldn't you be mindful of that?" And while he can manage a good game of chess once in a while, he's heard of Mercury's chess-playing abilities (even though she still can't beat Kunzite, Jadeite's sure), he doesn't want to go against them right now.

"Besides, you made the suggestion."

[waterfell]

She will absolutely beat Kunzite some day. Some day.

"I can't help what the nexus does," Mercury says with smug innocence. It's not the first time she's used excuses like that to do what she wants anyway.

"What about outside? It's barely Spring, right? The water might still be frozen." Or could be in short order. "We can go sliding on it." She'd say skating, but that'd take a bit of effort.

[kingofloyalty]

This is some kind of cruel joke, isn't it? He'll end up frozen to the surface of the pond. Or frostbitten somehow. She hates him after all, and will freeze him under the water.

She could try, anyway.

It's a flat out weird suggestion, and the look on Jadeite's face says he thinks just that. But maybe...

"I'll try it," he answers smoothly. "But don't cry if you fall in."

[waterfell]

Those are all very excellent ideas and she will put them into practice at the earliest opportunity- against Dead Moon followers. Or maybe some more droids. Those had been satisfying.

Jadeite, Mercury will actually spend an evening taking their minds off things with. She can't help another prick of that resentment at the fact his world still treats her coldly, but he's also Jadeite, whose become one of her closest few people in her world.

"Let's go then!" And she makes to hurry from the room before he can change his mind.

[kingofloyalty]

This might end up being a bad idea. But for now, it might be interesting, and it's not being alone, even if it's being with her. But maybe he can find out more about her this way, and what the hell Kunzite sees in her. (Kunzite likes a challenge, he knows, but is that attitude really worth it?)

Jadeite follows her, and he moves to catch up. Once beside her, he glances at her from the corner of his eye skeptically. "Do you really know the way?" He wasn't sure exactly how much time she had spent here. Well, spent here outside of those rooms.

[waterfell]

And just where would Jadeite like Mercury to spend her time when half the people in the palace would probably consider killing her a service to the kingdom?

"I know it," she tells him. She's been here in the past life, and the present. The golden palace of her world even resembles it quite a bit, and she has a good head for directions. She heads unerringly towards informal doors leading outside.

[kingofloyalty]

Jadeite walks with her in silence after a slightly skeptical brow raise. But she seems to know her way, so it's fine, even if it does mean a lack of reasons for snide remarks.