Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Who are they?" Kunzite had her pinned to the wall; she didn't lower the sword, so its cool edge was still pressed against her throat. However, she loosened her grip on her hair and then let go, laying her hand flat on the wall next to Serandite. "Tell me who they are. The six you've met. Tell me their names. Who's the highest-ranking? Who does Charonite favor? Tell me."

It was a tall order, or set of orders, but one more look at Kunzite and it definitely didn't seem like any of them were optional.

If Kunzite knew it was a lie she gave no sign of it. At least there was that. Instead she looked like she was concentrating -- committing the names to memory, most likely -- and then gave another nod after she was finished. "Do any of you have any abilities," she pressed on, eyes still boring a hole through Serandite's skull, "aside from the weapons you wield? Do you have monsters at your command?"

She heaved what had to be an irritated sigh, but she didn't hit Serandite again; instead, she continued on, "Does Charonite keep you all so in the dark? You're at least twenty strong, Lieutenant. You might ask him to stop hiding things from you. If he cared enough about what happened to you to tell you about everything," gestured with her free hand and then returned to using it to trap Serandite between herself and the wall, "perhaps this wouldn't have happened to you."

The cavalier's eyes glinted with some unreadable but clearly intense sentiment. "You might be dead by now -- at my hand, behind that the negligent hand of your General-King." The word was contemptuously spoken. "I advise you ask him for an explanation, Serandite. Now continue."

"Putting your subordinates down to create a false sense of authority," said Kunzite, "is terrible leadership. And leads to situations like this." She glanced between Serandite and her fallen bunny and shook her head, in contempt and no small amount of disgust. "He should know better. I taught him better."

A sparrow could have fallen in the silence followed by that remark. However, a few moments later Kunzite went on as if she'd said nothing momentous: "You have two corrupted senshi in your ranks." Wait, she knew about Tisiphone? Two? "What was done with their starseeds?"

Kunzite didn't press her for further knowledge, but didn't lower the sword from her throat either. For a moment she seemed to be considering. It was troubling, the methodical sureness with which she'd gone about all of this -- it was like she'd done this before, done this quite a bit before, which was unsettling. She couldn't be older than eighteen.

"Do you know anything," she said calmly, and here the blade pressed ever so slightly harder into her skin, "of the fate of Prince Endymion?"

Kunzite stared at her for a moment longer: for that terrifying moment, Serandite could've been sure that that had been the wrong answer. But she took a deep breath and said, "That's something else you can ask your leader about."

Abruptly she took her blade away from Serandite's throat. But just as Serandite thought that she might be in the clear, Kunzite abruptly backhanded her again, the flat of her gauntlet hitting Serandite's face and spinning her head to crack into the wall behind her again. As Serandite's vision spun Kunzite seized hold of a chunk of her hair again and yanked her neck back, hard, causing Serandite to stumble with her as she stepped away from the wall. "Listen to this, Lieutenant," she was saying, "and don't forget anything that I've said."

They were both standing in the alley now, Kunzite's sword leveled at Serandite's chest with a firm grip on her; as she stumbled for footing, Kunzite pulled her upright by the hair. "Remember this. You will lose. You have lost before. You will lose again. It may not happen tomorrow," she hit Serandite again, "or the next day," and again, "but the Moon Court will not stand for this insult and the Earth Court will not tolerate this treason. We will hunt down every last one of you. We will find out who you are and kill you. And unlike us," she stared Serandite in the eyes, "you don't come back."

She shoved Serandite into the opposite wall and leveled the sword on her again, and didn't say anything for a moment or two -- another moment where it was beginning to seem terrifyingly possible that she would break her word. But instead she said, simply: "Tell Charonite that his commander sends his regards."

Then, without fuss, mechanically, she smashed the pommel of her sword into Serandite's other eye -- and then she grabbed her and shoved her towards the mouth of the alleyway.