Darkury 9
I know, I know, Angsty April ended yesterday, but since it doesn't fit any of the prompts I'm going to post it now.
This isn't the angstiest of the chapters by any stretch, so that's something!
So just a reminder:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Electronic music was not what she would have chosen to listen to but, they were not here for the music. Mercury’s focus remained on the small computer in her hands, watching numbers and graphs and ignoring the people around her, including the blond at her side.
She had almost been surprised when Jadeite’s claim to have learned of a music festival proved more than a mere cover for him to sneak to the dungeons, but she supposed the other four had been manipulating Beryl longer than she had. Thus far the outing had proven profitable, and no real harm had been done to any of the civilians.
They were dressed as normal young adults; thanks to modern technology there had been no need to disguise her computer. She and Jadeite were stationed near the back of the crowd. Fortunately, the racket of the music was enough that ignoring his attempts to apologize proved simple.
The current band ended with an overly loud chord and some incoherent screaming, causing the gathered audience to go wild, and Mercury smirked as the readings on her screen spiked. If the energy now was a bit less than it had been for the previous bands, no one in the crowd seemed to notice. If they did their jobs right, everyone would be able to make it home, wondering if they were not already too old for such a full day, but there would be no other indications of the energy siphoned from them.
The cheers faded and crews hastily swarmed the stage to prepare for the next performance.
“The next performance is the artist we’re here for.”
She sighed as she set the diagnostics to run on the crystals and looked briefly from her computer to her companion. The blond looked as miserable as she felt, and she quickly looked away before she could begin to feel anything other than anger for him.
Glancing at her neglected program, she saw that it would be a violinist playing classical western music, a welcome change from the more postmodern selections.
Zoisite had managed to become the festival accompanist for any performers who needed such, insisting that such position had been won without any use of dark energy. Zoisite’s role in the festival, however, allowed the music to be infused with a bit of dark energy to aid in the collection.
This set would be different, though. Rather than gathering energy, Zoisite would focus the dark energy on the violist, drawing a bit on what had already been collected if necessary. If Jadeite’s evaluation of the woman were correct, then the transformation to a full youma would begin.
Clenching her jaw, she turned her eyes back to the screen and mumbled, “Great, let’s ruin someone else’s life.”
***
By the violinist's second song, Mercury was frowning at the numbers on the screen and entering commands to try to make sense of what she was seeing. According to her readouts, Zoicite was feeding a steady stream of dark energy to the violinist, but none of it seemed to be affecting her. Rather it seemed that the woman neutralized the energy without realizing it. Mercury’s frown deepened, and she shifted her attention to examining the musician.
After a moment, she cursed and grabbed Jadeite’s arm. “Get Zoisite out of there. Now.”
Jadeite seemed startled by the touch and frowned at her. “Why?”
“Just do it!”
The moment it took Jadeite to decide to obey without question seemed far too long, but when he nodded and his eyes glazed over, Mercury caught a breath she did not realize she’d been holding.
There was the slightest catch in the piano accompaniment--Zoisite must have stumbled slightly at Jadeite’s unexpected message.
The ear piece she wore buzzed, and she tapped it. “Mercury, what’s going on?” Kunzite’s voice was that of a general demanding a report, and Mercury used that to keep her focused.
“We’re targeting a Senshi.”
“Retreat then. Do we have enough energy to keep Beryl happy, or regroup?”
Mercury glanced at her screen, “If we can gather the crystals, Beryl should be appeased.”
“Good.” She could almost imagine his nod, “Nephrite?”
“I’m here.”
“Nephrite, get Zoisite safely off the stage. Mercury, you and Jadeite collect the crystals to the east, and I’ll get the rest. We’ll meet up outside the throne room.”
***
“What do you mean she’s a Senshi?”
None of the Shitennou responded, so Mercury took a deep, exasperated breath, “The Silver Millennium was made up of all the planets in the Solar System, with the exception of Earth, of course.” She inclined her head respectfully toward Beryl. “Each planet had its own Senshi. The ones with which you’re familiar are not all of us. The planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto also had Senshi.”
Jadeite snickered slightly, earning an elbow to his ribs from Nephrite.
Mercury rolled her eyes. “Pluto is a planet regardless of what the scientists of this age claim. She’s also not someone you’d want to make angry. I admit that my memories of the four of them are vague, as are many of my memories from that time, but their duty was different from ours. We protected the Princess, they guarded the solar system against external threats.”
Beryl frowned, her nails tapping against the arm of her throne in a sure sign of her impatience. “Then why would one of them be a violinist performing at a musical festival?”
“The same reason I was a pre-med student. The same reason Re...Mars was studying to be a priestess.” She felt her own jaw clench, even as she lifted her chin. Beryl had to know there was nothing left she could do to hurt her.
“As far as one of them showing up now, I’d suspect that’s to compensate for the loss of the two Senshi.”
The queen growled, and Mercury found herself having to bite back a smile at that. “Then we have to press the advantage while we still have it. Forget gathering energy or even trying to get the Prince. I want non-stop attacks on the Princess.”
No one said anything until Beryl snapped at them, “Well? What are you waiting for? Go!”
***
“Zoisite, you rest. You used energy the rest of us did not.” The look Kunzite shot the musician was enough to forestall any protest.
Mercury saw Kunzite’s jaw clench as he studied the hologram of the prefecture. “If we’re to approach anything like non-stop, we will have to rotate and to sacrifice youma. However, we will have more opportunities to rest than they will.”
Nephrite leaned against the wall in the room, “And Tuxedo Mask?”
Kunzite’s eyes closed, “Capturing him may be the only way to protect him at this point.”
She could not help but raise an eyebrow as she looked around at them, observing the way Kunzite’s words seemed to defeat all of them. Nephrite slouched and leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling of the cavernous room. Jadeite cursed and would have attempted to put his fist through the wall if Zoisite hadn’t caught him, exhaustion and defeat in the green eyes that met Mercury’s.
For a moment she sympathized, before her thoughts turned to the Princess and she spat out, “And how will we protect the Princess? By capturing those for whom she cares? Who fight at her side? Or does she not matter?”
“Mercury!”
“Just give me my orders.” She stormed out of the room.
***
She was halfway to her room when she heard footsteps following her. “Leave me alone!”
“No.”
Spinning on her heel she turned to face the other, “What do you want?”
“To talk.” Zoisite took a step toward her, “I know this isn’t fair, Mercury. We all know.”
“You know what isn’t fair...it isn’t fair that I have...”
She was interrupted by Zoisite crossing the distance and gently laying a hand over her mouth. “Not out here. You can rant and yell at me all you want, in the privacy of your own quarters.”
When she nodded, she was released. She turned and resumed her path, not bothering to care whether Zoisite followed.
***
She had not immediately resumed ranting when they reached her room. Rather she ignored Zoisite as she went about straightening non-existing messes.
The fourth time she went to straighten the covers on her bed, Mercury found herself caught in strong arms.
Zoisite held her tight and spoke softly, “It’s not fair. It’s not fair that you sold your soul to protect an innocent. It’s not fair that Beryl’s orders leave neither us nor you leeway regarding the Princess, but wiggle room for our Prince. It’s not fair that you have to fight your sisters. It’s not fair that...”
“Don’t.” Mercury had allowed herself to relax into Zoisite, but did not know that she could handle hearing any more.
They stood there in silence, Mercury’s eyes closing as one arm moved from around her waist and long fingers began to run through her hair.
“I thought Kunzite ordered you to rest.”
A soft laugh met that and lips met the skin on the back of her neck. “He didn’t say I had to sleep.”
She moaned softly as the other began to tease the sensitive skin with teeth, “I wish...”
“I know. But perhaps we can both find a bit of light, even if just for a moment.”
This isn't the angstiest of the chapters by any stretch, so that's something!
So just a reminder:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Electronic music was not what she would have chosen to listen to but, they were not here for the music. Mercury’s focus remained on the small computer in her hands, watching numbers and graphs and ignoring the people around her, including the blond at her side.
She had almost been surprised when Jadeite’s claim to have learned of a music festival proved more than a mere cover for him to sneak to the dungeons, but she supposed the other four had been manipulating Beryl longer than she had. Thus far the outing had proven profitable, and no real harm had been done to any of the civilians.
They were dressed as normal young adults; thanks to modern technology there had been no need to disguise her computer. She and Jadeite were stationed near the back of the crowd. Fortunately, the racket of the music was enough that ignoring his attempts to apologize proved simple.
The current band ended with an overly loud chord and some incoherent screaming, causing the gathered audience to go wild, and Mercury smirked as the readings on her screen spiked. If the energy now was a bit less than it had been for the previous bands, no one in the crowd seemed to notice. If they did their jobs right, everyone would be able to make it home, wondering if they were not already too old for such a full day, but there would be no other indications of the energy siphoned from them.
The cheers faded and crews hastily swarmed the stage to prepare for the next performance.
“The next performance is the artist we’re here for.”
She sighed as she set the diagnostics to run on the crystals and looked briefly from her computer to her companion. The blond looked as miserable as she felt, and she quickly looked away before she could begin to feel anything other than anger for him.
Glancing at her neglected program, she saw that it would be a violinist playing classical western music, a welcome change from the more postmodern selections.
Zoisite had managed to become the festival accompanist for any performers who needed such, insisting that such position had been won without any use of dark energy. Zoisite’s role in the festival, however, allowed the music to be infused with a bit of dark energy to aid in the collection.
This set would be different, though. Rather than gathering energy, Zoisite would focus the dark energy on the violist, drawing a bit on what had already been collected if necessary. If Jadeite’s evaluation of the woman were correct, then the transformation to a full youma would begin.
Clenching her jaw, she turned her eyes back to the screen and mumbled, “Great, let’s ruin someone else’s life.”
***
By the violinist's second song, Mercury was frowning at the numbers on the screen and entering commands to try to make sense of what she was seeing. According to her readouts, Zoicite was feeding a steady stream of dark energy to the violinist, but none of it seemed to be affecting her. Rather it seemed that the woman neutralized the energy without realizing it. Mercury’s frown deepened, and she shifted her attention to examining the musician.
After a moment, she cursed and grabbed Jadeite’s arm. “Get Zoisite out of there. Now.”
Jadeite seemed startled by the touch and frowned at her. “Why?”
“Just do it!”
The moment it took Jadeite to decide to obey without question seemed far too long, but when he nodded and his eyes glazed over, Mercury caught a breath she did not realize she’d been holding.
There was the slightest catch in the piano accompaniment--Zoisite must have stumbled slightly at Jadeite’s unexpected message.
The ear piece she wore buzzed, and she tapped it. “Mercury, what’s going on?” Kunzite’s voice was that of a general demanding a report, and Mercury used that to keep her focused.
“We’re targeting a Senshi.”
“Retreat then. Do we have enough energy to keep Beryl happy, or regroup?”
Mercury glanced at her screen, “If we can gather the crystals, Beryl should be appeased.”
“Good.” She could almost imagine his nod, “Nephrite?”
“I’m here.”
“Nephrite, get Zoisite safely off the stage. Mercury, you and Jadeite collect the crystals to the east, and I’ll get the rest. We’ll meet up outside the throne room.”
***
“What do you mean she’s a Senshi?”
None of the Shitennou responded, so Mercury took a deep, exasperated breath, “The Silver Millennium was made up of all the planets in the Solar System, with the exception of Earth, of course.” She inclined her head respectfully toward Beryl. “Each planet had its own Senshi. The ones with which you’re familiar are not all of us. The planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto also had Senshi.”
Jadeite snickered slightly, earning an elbow to his ribs from Nephrite.
Mercury rolled her eyes. “Pluto is a planet regardless of what the scientists of this age claim. She’s also not someone you’d want to make angry. I admit that my memories of the four of them are vague, as are many of my memories from that time, but their duty was different from ours. We protected the Princess, they guarded the solar system against external threats.”
Beryl frowned, her nails tapping against the arm of her throne in a sure sign of her impatience. “Then why would one of them be a violinist performing at a musical festival?”
“The same reason I was a pre-med student. The same reason Re...Mars was studying to be a priestess.” She felt her own jaw clench, even as she lifted her chin. Beryl had to know there was nothing left she could do to hurt her.
“As far as one of them showing up now, I’d suspect that’s to compensate for the loss of the two Senshi.”
The queen growled, and Mercury found herself having to bite back a smile at that. “Then we have to press the advantage while we still have it. Forget gathering energy or even trying to get the Prince. I want non-stop attacks on the Princess.”
No one said anything until Beryl snapped at them, “Well? What are you waiting for? Go!”
***
“Zoisite, you rest. You used energy the rest of us did not.” The look Kunzite shot the musician was enough to forestall any protest.
Mercury saw Kunzite’s jaw clench as he studied the hologram of the prefecture. “If we’re to approach anything like non-stop, we will have to rotate and to sacrifice youma. However, we will have more opportunities to rest than they will.”
Nephrite leaned against the wall in the room, “And Tuxedo Mask?”
Kunzite’s eyes closed, “Capturing him may be the only way to protect him at this point.”
She could not help but raise an eyebrow as she looked around at them, observing the way Kunzite’s words seemed to defeat all of them. Nephrite slouched and leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling of the cavernous room. Jadeite cursed and would have attempted to put his fist through the wall if Zoisite hadn’t caught him, exhaustion and defeat in the green eyes that met Mercury’s.
For a moment she sympathized, before her thoughts turned to the Princess and she spat out, “And how will we protect the Princess? By capturing those for whom she cares? Who fight at her side? Or does she not matter?”
“Mercury!”
“Just give me my orders.” She stormed out of the room.
***
She was halfway to her room when she heard footsteps following her. “Leave me alone!”
“No.”
Spinning on her heel she turned to face the other, “What do you want?”
“To talk.” Zoisite took a step toward her, “I know this isn’t fair, Mercury. We all know.”
“You know what isn’t fair...it isn’t fair that I have...”
She was interrupted by Zoisite crossing the distance and gently laying a hand over her mouth. “Not out here. You can rant and yell at me all you want, in the privacy of your own quarters.”
When she nodded, she was released. She turned and resumed her path, not bothering to care whether Zoisite followed.
***
She had not immediately resumed ranting when they reached her room. Rather she ignored Zoisite as she went about straightening non-existing messes.
The fourth time she went to straighten the covers on her bed, Mercury found herself caught in strong arms.
Zoisite held her tight and spoke softly, “It’s not fair. It’s not fair that you sold your soul to protect an innocent. It’s not fair that Beryl’s orders leave neither us nor you leeway regarding the Princess, but wiggle room for our Prince. It’s not fair that you have to fight your sisters. It’s not fair that...”
“Don’t.” Mercury had allowed herself to relax into Zoisite, but did not know that she could handle hearing any more.
They stood there in silence, Mercury’s eyes closing as one arm moved from around her waist and long fingers began to run through her hair.
“I thought Kunzite ordered you to rest.”
A soft laugh met that and lips met the skin on the back of her neck. “He didn’t say I had to sleep.”
She moaned softly as the other began to tease the sensitive skin with teeth, “I wish...”
“I know. But perhaps we can both find a bit of light, even if just for a moment.”