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 Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 12:46 am
It took a moment for Charonite to answer that. He had sucked in a breath, staring at her as though he very nearly hated her -- which was unusual, because he'd stared at her before with dislike and weariness but never hate. Now it was hate. His grey eyes were the same paleness that they had always been, even when she'd first met him, like dry river stones. The four Shitennou had always had lovely eyes, Kunzite's startling in their blueness: his had just been eerie and pale.
"Don't," he said, with difficulty, "use my child against me. It's growing inside your body. My wife's body."
It admittedly was. "You couldn't win the last time with the four Shitennou -- all of whom were brilliant men -- because you used them like horses and not a cart," he said, and his snarling was dogged now. "If you let me train the officers for longer then we would have an army that will never let Serenity see daylight again. Instead you throw them like ******** cannon fodder in the face of a Chaos Seed for no reason."
His fingers were digging into the wall. "Power doesn't work like this," he was saying, and she could hear the ragged bell curve of his anger. "Give the ones like Wolframite and Uranophane a year and we'll have soldiers, give Tanzanite a year and we might have an army. Stop meddling with Wiseman unless you want to bury us both. Do you know what he's up to?" Another clang against the wall as his voice rose: "The same s**t you are! It's of no consequence!"
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Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 6:55 pm
She stared back into eyes that burned with hatred. It was not an unfamiliar stare, Serenity had stared at her the same way, as had the members of her court. That knowledge alone nearly set off the Queen's temper as slender fingers grasped and clutched on to the pillow beside her.
"Power. You want to talk to me about power when it's you that is holding it back from your soldiers? When you are the one letting them die, defenseless to protect themselves? Give them power! They're nothing more than children with toys until you do. You have more than enough at your disposal to ensure they're all protected and armed - how could any of them have stood a chance to begin with tonight, when their own General-King refuses to give them the strength to defend themselves? Do they even know what they're fighting for? Or are you sending them off blindly to their deaths, to die for an unknown cause? Do you even know what the hell YOU'RE doing?!"
The pillow went flying, landing with a soft thump against the carpet as cobweb boots swung off of the couch and onto the ground. Her head fell into her hands, fingers now running through long waves of orange as she sat there silently, her frustration evident.
Minutes went by with nothing said between either, only the sound of heaving breathing by both parties filling the quiet apartment. She struggled with her thoughts as he struggled with his temper. Finally, with a long sigh, her hands fell into her lap.
"I'm well aware that you could care less about me, Charonite. Or for the decisions I make."
Her head turned, orange eyes meeting with his once more. This was not a conversation he had expected to have and those words alone held an air of danger to them. "I'm not stupid. Your Prince favored me and your Captain favored me. You, the loyal Cavalier that you are, followed your Captain as he joined me in the rebellion, as he attempted to regain the planet both he and I gave our lives for. But your Captain is no longer here and neither is your Prince, which makes me question why you are still here with me. Why you are still serving a Queen you choose to disrespect so openly and seem to think so little of."
Elbows left her knees as she rose from where she sat. In her former body, she'd been tall - unusually tall. As a sorceress in Endymion's court, she used to laugh and tease at how she looked up to no man but her Prince...but that was no longer the case. Despite being several inches shorter than her General-King (or rather, a good foot or so now), her posture remained that of a woman confident in her abilities. Eyes were narrowed, arms were folded across her chest...yet she made no motion to move any closer.
Not yet, at least.
"Your wife asked you once, what is it that you fight for." One foot stepped forward, "She doesn't share the history you and I share. She doesn't know of a time when the Moon Kingdom was threatening to take over, when they had intentions of annexing our planet. Serenity, Endymion, the Cavaliers...none of that means anything to her. None of that means anything to any of these children. However, she fights because you fight, she fights for what you believe in."
Another step. Then another. "So let me ask you, Cavalier, what is it that you fight for, now that your Prince is dead, now that your Captain has betrayed us? Surely you're not content with the knowledge that you're losing your wife to me, that her body has become my own?"
A smile toyed at the edge of her lips but refused to show itself completely. "Two cannot live in one body and as I speak, her soul is dying. And it's dying because of a decision you made, no less. You took her love for you and used it against her. The one woman in this world who could tolerate being with you, who wanted to be with you...and you sentence her to die. How many others could you have offered me, how many other Captains or Lieutenants could you have delivered into my tomb...and you chose your wife, of all people?"
Eyes continued to stare up at him as she now stood only feet away. One hand reached out and without hesitation, took hold of one of his own. Cold hands embraced his, the Captain's small hands dwarfed by the larger ones of her husband. Turning his hand over, pale fingers gingerly began to trail down his palm as she spoke.
"I have the blood of soldiers on my hands and I will be forced to live with that knowledge forever. But can you live with the knowledge that your wife's blood will be on your hands? How will you ever explain it to your child, why their mother is not the woman sitting on the throne? That you were the one responsible for her d-"
His hand jerked back and out of her grasp, as if her touch had stung him. She laughed - the voice was Ursula's, which made it all the more unnerving, but the laughter was cold, mocking, unlike the laughter that would escape during reruns of Friends or whenever he'd touch the bottom of her feet.
Hands spread out as she stepped back, her voice rising. "What am I saying? I should know better! You're a soldier, Mortalitas, that's all you've ever been good for. You're not a father, you're not a husband. All you know is your duty - what is love to you? What is affection?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but she was far from done. The laughter and mockery had left her face, replaced with hardened seriousness as she interrupted him, refusing to let him have a word in edge-wise.
"I digress. You don't fight for me, you fight for what I represent, what your Captain fought for. You fight to rid this world of its enemies, to renew the fallen kingdom your Prince betrayed. I'm willing to accept that reason. I'm willing to reward that reason."
Reward?
Her back turned to him and she made her way over towards the chair beneath the window. The same chair he had sat in as he'd waited for her to awaken, the fateful day he fused his Captain with the soul of his Queen. "I have no use for any more traitors in my army. Kunzite has betrayed us and betrayed his Prince by aligning himself with the Moon Kingdom. You have served me faithfully thus far. Remain loyal and you shall be rewarded."
She took her place in the chair, leaning her weight onto one of the oversized arms. Her face revealed nothing, merely staring back at his unreadable expression. His Poker Face, as Ursula would sometimes call it.
"You desire your wife back? Aid me in delivering the Kingdom back into my hands - back into the hands of the Prince's true bride - and you shall have your wife returned to you."
His stare was unwavering, obvious disbelief in his eyes. He had every reason to be wary. She shrugged her shoulders, tucking her legs beneath her.
"Do you think I want to remain in this body, knowing that it's been touched, that it's been loved by a man who is not my own lover? Do you think I want to give birth to your child, as opposed to my Prince's? Better yet, though - do you want your child to live in a world without its mother? Look what has become of the child you've already raised. He hates you. He wants nothing to do with you. You've failed him as a father - do you intend to do the same to this child? Wouldn't it be a relief to have her remain by your side, to help you be a better man, a man suitable for a child to call Daddy?"
Her words were poison-tipped arrows, meant to strike his Achilles' heel. She knew his concerns, she knew his worries and she had no issue with turning them against him.
"You have painted me to be an arrogant monster. That I discard my soldiers as cannon fodder on and off the battlefield. I am not so heartless, Mortalitas. I have loved a man, a man who betrayed his Kingdom and my affections. I tried to do everything I could to keep him by my side, just as Ursula was willing to do the same for you. Do you really think your Captain would have followed a monster into battle? He was an intelligent man. You are an intelligent man."
She paused, obviously struggling with the words now caught in her throat. "It was...wrong of me to speak ill of your child. I can see the venom in my words and for that, I apologize. They were words uttered by a desperate Queen afraid of losing all that is left of her Kingdom. Afraid that the one competent General she has left in her army is ready to turn on her as well."
Eyes searched him, waiting for a reaction. The strength of her voice had fled...had a weakened spot exposed itself?
"What else am I to think, knowing the men you followed are no longer here to follow? How can I be certain that you won't walk in Kunzite's shadow once more and betray me as well? I am no stranger to the treatment you showed towards Ursula - but unlike Endymion was towards me, as blind as he was by the Moon Princess's deceit, you appear willing to fight for the one who loves you. To remain loyal to her. And for that, I can compromise my own ambitions, my own plans. I can extend an offer to you, a reward for your faithfulness. The faithfulness of my last standing General-King in hopes of convincing him to remain loyal to the cause he once fought for. That he will continue to fight for."
It was unheard of for Beryl to apologize for anything. Beryl was never sorry for anything she did or said; she never felt she had a reason to be sorry for anything. Was she really so desperate to keep her General-King?
She wasn't sorry. Her words vocalized an apology, her expression gave away humility, but the Queen of the Negaverse was far from sorry for what she had said. She had always been a good actress - she had needed the skill, centuries ago when a woman was looked down upon for trying to make a name for herself in a man's world. She knew how to humble herself, to express humility and obedience when nothing but rage and hatred boiled within her blood.
She knew how to act and how to manipulate and her newest target for both talents was now being focused upon her own General-King. She needed him...for now. Without her full powers restored, she was dependent. And she hated it. She hated him for forcing her dependency on him, she hated the weakness of the woman she lived in. But she would make do with the cards she'd been dealt, up until the point she could do away with them all. He would die for his disrespect, he would die for humiliating her, for forcing her into this body and then turning around and dishonoring it by not only marrying her vessel but by being bold enough to create a child within it.
They would all be punished. It was only a matter of time.
Hands folded themselves in her lap, her expression calm, collected, where as Ursula would have been fidgeting and playing with her belt or gloves by this point. It was disturbing, watching his wife address him as such when Beryl typically took on her own form to speak with him.
"So I promise you now - remain loyal to me and once we succeed, I shall find a new vessel to reside in. A more fitting, suitable vessel. One that has no love, no family to call her own that would miss her when her soul departs from this world. But betray me, Khalid, and you're betraying your wife and child. You would be sacrificing your wife and child, knowing that you now have the option to save them both. Be a better man. Be the husband and father you fail to be now. Swear to serve me and in return, I will return to you what you sacrificed on my behalf. I will give your child the mother it needs. The wife you need."
She smiled at him. It seemed genuine, which made her words even more suspicious. But she said nothing more, turning her head to look out the window into the darkness of the evening. There was no way to be certain that what she promised was true. He had no idea if she was capable of switching bodies. She had in the past, though, so wouldn't it be plausible for her to do so again? Why offer it, if she had no intentions of keeping it? Or was this some sort of trap to keep him in line?
It was indeed a broken promise, an offer made that she had no intention of fulfilling. But with Ursula's mind cut off from her thoughts and the General-King standing before her with a mystified expression, neither Negaverse officer would ever find out, not until she wanted them to find out. No, despite the predicament the couple had put her in with their marriage, Beryl had plans for the child. Plans that involved neither parent. And it would only be a matter of time before she could act on those plans. Time was all she needed.
Turning back around from the window, she settled herself further in the chair as hands moved to rest on the arm.
"Wiseman was a factor we did not plan on, but I am confident that with my power and your tactical direction, we will overcome him as we will overcome the Moon Kingdom. We don't have a year for you to build Earth its army. You've wasted two years already and we now are forced to deal with that failure. But I am no veteran of war. I am no soldier. Despite my own opinions on the matter, I will uphold the silly truce you made with Wiseman and leave my followers in your hands. I expect to see results, General, and I expect to see them soon. Your life and the lives of your family depend on it and I will not tolerate any further failure from you."
Head tilting slightly once more, she moved one hand to casually scratch her neck. "Have I made myself perfectly clear?"
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Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 8:04 pm
Charonite was still as a block of marble now, unbending. He did not move. He had settled into a posture that she'd seen all too often lined up in a courtyard grey with morning sun as the men took their posts -- as the Captain, pale-haired and upright, surveyed his men -- hands behind his back, wrists crossed. A soldier. What emotion he'd betrayed was far away now.
"As crystal," he said.
His stonewalling had never been so interesting as Nephrite's or Jadeite's or Zoisite's or, most of all, Kunzite's -- one might imagine that there really was nothing behind that blank mask but the desire to do his duty. She knew more than that. It would have been more satisfying to watch his anger. "I will execute my duty. There will be no more failure. Do you require anything else, my lady?"
She was always my lady, never my liege. And the words were concrete blocks stacked on top of each other in dull array.
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Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:00 am
She laughed softly at that, as though enjoying an inside joke that only she understood. The hand left her neck and motioned towards him, a mocking gesture of a royal dismissing their peon. "Nothing more, Mortalitas. Simply the world."
By the time her hand had returned to her lap, her posture had changed drastically. Upright shoulders now sagged, their confidence lost, the almost sneering smile having dropped, replaced by a slow dawning of horror.
She was shaking. He could see it in her hands, her legs, her torso - even more so when she powered down, replacing her pristine uniform for the pajama bottoms and t-shirt she'd been formerly lounging in.
Eyes immediately left his, but she kept her chin up, regardless of how much she was shaking. She was embarrassed, humiliated. The change was instant now, uncontrollable from her end. The Queen was able to take over whenever and wherever she chose, Ursula helpless to stop it. Helpless to stop the barrage of words that pained her to hear her own voice say. Words meant to strike down the one individual in the world she would give anything for.
She said nothing as she rose from the chair, bare feet padding their way over to him. But she didn't touch him. She didn't talk to him. She refused to even look at him, although she could feel his stare on her. Instead, one hand moved out, fingertips running themselves over the fresh dent in the wall, the remaining evidence of his earlier anger.
"We'll get it fixed in the morning."
Her voice was soft, barely a whisper. Hands moved to straighten up the crooked pictures, then returned to the dent for a second brief glance.
"We'll get everything fixed in the morning."
Turning around, she made her way towards the middle of the living room, leaning over to pick up the fallen cushion. It was the same cushion he'd gifted her for Christmas. That tacky purple cushion with silver lining that she treasured more than any teddy bear or Barbie she'd ever been gifted as a child. It was Cushion.
"Everything will be fixed in the morning."
She made it as far as the couch before falling to her knees. Crumpling into a heap, she pulled up the cushion and pressed her face into it, muffling the broken sob that escaped her lips.
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Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:11 am
The couch sagged as his weight joined hers. After a moment, his hand was on her back, his fingers pressed up low on the nape of her neck as he splayed them there. Her sobs echoed through the apartment. He did not say a word. Charonite sat there as she cried into the cheap slippery fabric of the cushion, cried and cried, like the twenty-two-year-old girl she was.
"There are debts," he said, "never cleared."
And he left her to weep.
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