The price of mercy...

[kingoftruth]

Comments

truth and strength plz

[queenofkindness]

They are truly going ahead. A part of her had hoped that Nephrite would be wrong, that the sentence could be commuted, that something would intervene to prevent any execution. The loss of any life- any life.

The knowledge that this protects her princess is what keeps Mercury steady, though she's grateful for Nephrite's presence nearby. Trained not to fidget, she manages to hold herself still, but her face blanches of its color as soon as Beryl's sentence begins.

It's barbaric. Instead of a ritual of purification or a banishment, it's to be death. Instead of a quick, clean death, it's to be a drawn-out and horrific one. Why?! Despite her outward calm, her hands properly folded in her lap dig deep into her thighs. Sometimes, she believes she will never understand the primitive and wild people of Earth or their rough way of life.

[kingoftruth]

The side glance that takes in the sight of her, this timid woman under the guise of warrior, is dismissive at first. There is still a respect, in that look, for her intelligence and wisdom... but she has become someone he is beyond. She has become someone he cannot care for, because it would mean that he would spend far too long cradling and protecting her innocence. Perhaps that is why he has let her go so easily, into the arms of the younger shitennou. But it has nothing to do with the mild look to her that passes so quickly.

[queenofkindness]

It bothers her to see Kunzite in a way she'd never admit, possibly even to herself. And when she sees the arrival who seats herself beside him... Something twists inside her even before she takes the second glance that tells her who it is for certain.

She does love Nephrite. She loves him so much. She does. But to see herself replaced, by some other copy of herself, and such a dark copy. Kunzite really has changed, and she doesn't know how to help him.

Perhaps her eyes linger too long. But she nods, to herself it seems, and turns back to the proceedings before saying something quiet to Nephrite, to reassure herself of his presence beside her at least.

[kingoftruth]

There's not another glance for her until long after the sentence has finished, the fires quenched and deprived of fuel, and even then, there is still a smirk of deep satisfaction upon his lips, and the glance is merely cursory, looking over the royal stands as his companion moves away and towards the palace.

[queenofkindness]

There are one or two more glances from Princess Mercury towards Kunzite that she can't quite keep herself from giving that direction. He looks... happy about it, smug about it all. It makes her want to shiver. She approaches him when his eyes fall on her.

"Kunzite... About this... Are you really glad?" Her head turns to give the area of the pyre a very tentative look.

[kingoftruth]

It's a marked difference, between the woman who has just left and the one he faces now, that she must ask such a question. The nervous look in her eyes, the timid way she moves, the very aura that rolls off of her... It's something that had amused him, in times past, and intrigued him in wanting to peel back the layers to seek what hid beneath. Now...

"My enemy is dead and my master is safe." The words are simple. There is no malice in them, only perhaps the kindly and condescending tone of one speaking to a small child. "As is your mistress. I see no reason to be anything but pleased."

[queenofkindness]

She doesn't fail to notice the condescension. It makes her... sad, she supposes is right. Troubled. It makes it feel like she has no way to reach him at all, no way to help him stop being this angry and bitter man that somehow replaced the Kunzite she knew one day.

Sometimes she secretly wonders, now that she knows the nexus, if he's an alternate who's taken Kunzite's place after all.

"Of course I'm glad they're safe," she says carefully, "But doesn't this seem too cruel?"

[kingoftruth]

If that had indeed been the case... it is doubtful that they were be where they are now, that the prince would still be alive, and indeed that Mercury herself would remain so untouched. This is simply the man Kunzite has become, so shaped by the nexus, and by knowledge of other worlds.

"Cruel, Mercury?" Kunzite arches an eyebrow at her now, and it's perhaps more than ever that he feels as if he speaks to an innocent child, because in part, it's what she is. Despite her long years, she is so much of a child in her naivety. "Tell me how this is cruel, princess? She has been granted a more genteel death than I would have envisioned for the woman who dared to flaunt our king, and to harm our master and mistress. She has been given the dignity of a public execution, instead of squirreled away and murdered in private. She has not been touched by any hand in torture, and she still wore that foolish pride upon her death. Tell me, Mercury. How has this been cruel to her?"

[queenofkindness]

Because it's taking a life! But... Beryl would have taken the prince's and princess'. But it's still too cruel, burning to death! But... they decided on an execution, and the Silver Millenium won't interfere. But... But...

A thousand complications. She looks rather miserable.

"Why couldn't she have stayed imprisoned?" She does ask that question now.

[kingoftruth]

"That is a cruel fate in of itself. To remain forever imprisoned, kept to the deepest dungeons the Golden Kingdom has to offer. To live in squalor and degradation, and to forever be under the thumb of your captors. To be nothing more than the lowly trash of the kingdom, and to never see the sun again. That, Mercury, is cruel."

[queenofkindness]

"Are the cells really like that?" She's honestly surprised; as a princess, she's never gone there. And the cells used by the Silver Millenium are probably at least a step or two more habitable.

[queenofkindness]

She does understand. She does. She tells herself that over and over, and it is true- with her mind. It's her heart that never falls into line with what she knows. She squeezes Nephrite's hand, and manages a very small smile to tell him she'll be alright as long as he's there.

[queenofkindness]

"Mm," she nods hesitantly. "I know. But, even if I understand why it's happening, I hate this sort of sight."

"Does... does it really not bother you? At all?" They all seem to have stronger stomachs, be able to handle more brutality.