On a quest

[nephenie]

Nephrite is on a quest to regain his Shitennou powers again.

He's damned tired of feeling sorry for what he has become. If this place can offer a chance for him to get back what he has lost, then by all means he will do whatever it takes.

If Nephrite succeeds, then he will surely make people pay dearly for the shame he has endured.

...yes, that

Comments

[waterfell]

"It shouldn't take long," Mercury answers, not even glancing at Nephrite immediately. She inputs a few more commands on the hand-held computer she's carrying, and before long, she finally has what she's looking for.

"There should be a rift near the bridge," she says. Just like in her world. "This way."

(ooc: continued from this convo)

[nephenie]

He follows her as she leads, hands shoved in his pockets. He looks around, spots the bridge she refers to. Nephrite frowns.

"Are you sure?" he asks. There seems to be nothing wrong with the bridge. How the hell will they know where to look?

[waterfell]

Mercury nods. Of course she's sure. If they walk anywhere populated, she's pretty sure to attract staring in her senshi uniform, but she doesn't seem concerned with that right now. After all, she needs to find this place. Before long, a beeping and a flickering point on the visor readout mark the location.

"It's there," she says. By now, if Nephrite squints really hard, he can probably see it, too, like a heat-induced shimmer.

[nephenie]

He squints really hard...

...and finds nothing.

"I don't see anything." He sounds a bit put off. "If this is a ploy, Mercury--"

He leaves that off as a threat, hoping she would forget he has no powers that can be used to follow through that threat.

[nephenie]

(cont'd)

Kunzite forces him to think back on that fateful day, even the days leading to it.

He tells of his mission as a Shitennou - finding the ginzuishou and the princess, about the senshis - even mentions how his Kunzite abducted his own version of Mercury as well. But he emphasizes on how Mercury gets freed from Kunzite's power, and, arrogantly, brags on how he, Nephrite, manages to save the freed senshi from Kunzite's wrath.

He then speaks, in a softer voice, how he has lost Beryl-sama's favor, which resulted in him being the sacrificial lamb in her game of getting Endymion for herself.

Nephrite finishes the tale with eyes cast down.

"So you see," Nephrite says, "I have every reason to kill Beryl-sama." He cannot drop the honorific, not yet anyway.

[earthvictorious]

How very interesting. That fool of a girl never mentioned certain parts of this story before. Obviously, it has not happened in his world as she is still clearly within the Dark Kingdom. But if she knew about Nephrite's disgrace and fall and loss of his powers, she knew about this, too.

Kunzite, meanwhile, fully expects to know every bit of relevant information that his subordinate knows. Why has she withheld it? Has she been planning something? Is that why she has brought this Nephrite here? Is Nephrite even playing a double game to incur Kunzite's wrath against Mercury in payment for her antics earlier

[nephenie]

"...what?" Nephrite gives him a blank look.

He has been talking about Beryl-sama for some time now, and Kunzite chooses this moment to say what he did. Which, considering Beryl-sama is not within Kunzite's grasp, is pretty stupid and unrelated to what Nephrite was saying.

[earthvictorious]

Oops, did Nephrite say something after talking about Mercury? Kunzite finds the idea of his slave plotting behind his back more immediately relevant than rambling about a dead queen who can no longer trouble his world.

Kunzite brings his focus back to the next matter at hand, with a last glare at Nephrite.

"I do not plan to free Mercury," he specifies. "As for the witch, when she is gone, the shitennou will become strong again."

[nephenie]

"Opportunities...?" That word alone offers more than what Nephrite is hoping for.

At least now he has a purpose, a goal.

He is dangerously, deliciously close to regaining his former life again, and to make amends and changes that he has been deprived of.

Nephrite was so close to paying homage to Kunzite by kissing his feet.

But hell will have frozen over before that happens.

Or at least, until he has his powers back.

[earthvictorious]

Oh, he can tell. Kunzite is very good at reading people and their motivations and desires. He tilts his head slightly, still arrogant, and asks somewhat smugly, "How about that? Would you like that

[waterfell]

If the worlds are similar enough, anyway. It might be a wild goose chase, Mercury realizes. But it's not as if Nephrite has many choices. He must either take the risk, which may do him no good but which may solve his difficulty, or he must certainly stay as he is.

"If you don't do it," she remarks, "There's no chance of doing anything but sweeping floors for a very long time."

[nephenie]

He bites the inside of his cheek to stop himself from answering the girl. As it is, Nephrite realizes that any attempt he does to make her shut up will more or less incur Kunzite's anger and/or amusement, and he doesn't want to lose the only hope he has got.

"Do you have any idea where the stones are?" he asks. He momentarily thinks about a possibility: had Kunzite found these stones, and had he taken his to increase his power?