Secret
Started here:
I Don't Wanna Wait
Continued from:
Revenge is Sweeter
Endymion had told Kunzite to stay away from the battle. He insisted on sending Jadeite and Zoicite alone, leaving Kunzite and Nephrite to defend the kingdom. Nephrite remained on the outskirts of the palace proper, quelling small flares of rebellion as best as he was able, leaving Kunzite to remain with the Prince. It was not in Kunzite's nature to disobey an order, but then again, is that who he really was anyway?
The troops had been sent to march forward towards the West, where the sun would be setting within hours. Jadeite and Zoicite had planned to move somewhat to the South, losing a couple hours of day and gaining a few miles so that the troops would have time to rest before the sun rose and they had to continue on. The borders of the kingdom had become dangerous whether through fact or fiction. Stories travelled through towns of creatures who emerged from shadows at night, leaving bodies behind in their hunger. Others said that it was rebel soldiers protesting the alliance with the moon. A few new rumors had started with people saying that it was the Prince's own men who killed the townspeople - innocents who simply wanted to know that their Prince was safe and not a hostage of the moon.
Kunzite knew that Endymion would be away at the Moon kingdom for at least the whole night if not into the early hours of dawn. He was there to further plead for assistance for his planet from the alliance thathad already determined they had done enough to help. Surely while he was there he would not be able to help himself from finding some comfort and solace in the arms of the moon princess.
As he rode out towards the battle, he knew that all would be lost by the time he found himself there. Things had been changing in him, he could feel differences in the space all around him. Perhaps it was the latent magic that the Senshi had spoken to him about. Maybe even it was her magic that clung to him though he tried to free himself of it. Just the thought of her name was enough to make his jaw clench with tension. The image of her beautiful face was enough to erase all ration from his mind. She played with him, sometimes playing the loving woman, and other times pretending to be the cold hearted soldier he know that she could not really be. In the darkest recesses of his mind, he wanted to hurt her, to break her for what she had done, for the doubt she had planted in his mind.
Sitting astride his horse, back straight, reins gripped in both hands over the saddle's pommel. A cool wind stirred the air around him, his midnight blue cape shifting against the current. In the horizon, the sun was in the final stages of setting, only smudges of pinks and oranges visible under the weight of the nearly blackened sky. Although the colors were most likely cast from the smoke radiating off of the burning town that tinted the sky The stars were invisible; the moon was cloaked under a hazy vale. It was clear that there were going to be many casualties that night. No army of men could fight these creatures born of nightmares. Worse, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his fellow Shitennou fell as well. They would never leave their men behind, rather staying, valiantly fighting until they too were overcome by the enemy.
The air grew cooler around Kunzite, but he remained still at his vigil, wondering if he would know the precise moment of the loss of his brothers or if it would not be until their bodies were recovered that he would know for sure. His ears rang with the light lilt of a woman's laughter. It sounded as if it were all around him, not coming from one direction or another, just all encompassing. It was not until he felt the arrival of a new presence that he gave himself the gratification of sanity knowing that it was not only in his head.
"What a brilliant battle they all fight," a woman said, standing next to Kunzite's horse. She reached out to stroke the stallion, her hand retracting as the horse jerked its head, threatening to bite her. Kunzite tightened his hold on the reins of the horse, keeping the animal from rearing up.
Kunzite looked down at the woman, almost not recognizing the redhead now at his side. Her hair was wilder, the curls floating around her small body that was concealed behind a dark, forest green cloak. "You finally emerge from whichever shadow it was that swallowed you," Kunzite said, his voice dry and devoid of emotion. "I've had many questions for you, yet it seems that you chose to go into hiding as soon as I returned from my little visit to Venus. Of which I have been told I should thank you for."
Madelyne pushed some curly strands from her face as she looked up at the tall soldier. "Your Princess of Venus seems to have answered more of your questions than I would have."
"You knew all along what I was. What we are"
"You failed to realize all along what I was."
"You were my sage."
"I was your servant," she spat. "You tried to use me, to use my secrets to control me. That is, until I was able to learn all of your secrets. What it is that makes you...you."
Kunzite's eyes narrowed. He dismounted from the horse, moving to stand within inches of her. "What did you do, witch?"
She laughed, her voice deep and rasping as her green eyes shone with secrets. "Did I not warn you against the Venusian? Did I not tell you that she would be your downfall? I saw the future, soldier, I saw our future. She made you weak, distracted you so that you could not see what was happening around you. All you could think of was her and that you must have her, but I prophesized that you could not have her."
"I had her."
"You had me."
Kunzite paused, memories flashing past his eyes quicker than he could process. The blonde haired goddess had appeared to him in his room that night, only moments after he had seen her standing out in the rain, her dress soaked, wet hair clinging to her body. Everything had been there in front of him, but he didn't see it. It wasn't the same girl that he had seen in the courtyard that had come to his room. The Senshi of Venus had always been quiet in his presence, never offering up more than she wanted to, never making it easy for him to tell the difference between her truths and lies. But in his room, he had been able to tell her lies, the ticking of her jaw, the same tick he had seen on someone else many times before. The bold words, the dark green cloak. Even that evening, when he had been so crass with her, kissing her and grabbing her like she was his to take, and she had slapped him because she had never given herself to him let alone so much as kissed him.
"What did you do?" he whispered, his voice catching in his throat.
"I wanted to have a proper send off, my king," she answered with a mocking smile on her lips, using the play on his title when addressing him. "She caused the blocks on your magic to crack. I don't know what she did to you, but it was very difficult for me to correct. Even when Jadeite first discovered what he was capable of, he did not have the same reaction as you. Perhaps the Martian was kinder to him with her touch."
He grabbed her upper arm, fingers wrapping tightly against the cloak that hid her pale skin. Touching her sent a wave of repulsion through him. "What did you do to me?" he demanded, his eyes noticing the familiar beryl stone amulet hanging from her neck as the front folds of her cloak separated.
"I took a piece of you," she answered. "I took the part of you that makes you Kunzite. I will take you, and I will take the other Shitennou." Her hand came up to rest on the amulet, sharp razored sides threatening to spill her blood as fingertips slid along the edges. Kunzite watched her fingers, remembering as though through a fog how she had placed that cold metal in his hand. He could almost remember the feel of the metal as it cut across his palm, his blood spilling onto the metal and stone, but no mark had remained leaving him to believe it was a waking dream that any of it had happened. "They follow you because they must, and now they will follow me. Will you stand with me? Will you continue to be their leader?"
"I would sooner take my own life than give it to you," Kunzite growled, no longer caring about restraint.
"Your life stopped being your own many lifetimes ago, you just are not able to see it because of the magic that binds you," she smiled. "But I digress. There will be no need for such a dramatic task. I'm sure given the chance, your brothers will be able to convince you of where you will stand."
"They will not fall to you."
"They have already fallen, Kunzite. It's too late."
"Madelyn-."
"It's Beryl," she hissed, her arm slipping through his hand so that he no longer held her. "I answer to a new lord now. You should consider my offer, Kunzite. I will not give you this chance again."
Kunzite stepped back from her, confused thoughts racing through his mind. Madelyn's - Beryl's - this woman's, deception. The Venusian who he treated so poorly. His prince, safe on the moon for the time. The people of Earth rebelling when they were deceived into believing that they had been abandoned by their Prince. His brothers, the other Shitennou, possibly now fallen in battle. He needed to get away from this woman, he needed to clear his head from the onslaught of thoughts and memories clouding his mind. He needed to see for himself whether or not his brothers still stood.
As he seated himself on the saddle and reached for the reins, he froze, a chilled sensation filling him. Darkness began to seep into the ground around him, his horse stomping nervously, unable to find a direction to safety. Fingers made of shadows reach up with the speed of cannon fire, digging into his legs, then arms, then everywhere, reaching in through his mouth, suffocating him as he fought against being pulled down. The horse panicked, and unrestrained by its rider, bucked, kicking its legs high in the air, sending bits of dirt and small rocks flying, its rider flying from its back as it took off running in a desperate gait.
The shadows swallowed Kunzite before he could make contact with the ground, leaving no sign of the struggle save for a set of hoof prints indicating no particular direction of travel.
Continued in Nobody Wins