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Dahlia indeed did not know of the Wiseman. Nor did she really know of Ares and the pain she'd inflicted. At least not on a personal level.. or a detailed one.. just words in passing in a line of history that barely phased her. Perhaps that was the reason she was not reacting as strongly as most.

It wasn't smart to question a General, especially not for someone so new. But Dahlia didn't always act upon 'smart instincts' and to be called out like that and chastized in a public setting.... Her eyes narrowed, ears pinned back as the light glimmered off of bared teeth.

"I take it you're questioning the General Queen then General."

"Anyone is capable of turning a new leaf whether you want to give them the benefit of the doubt or not." Her tail lashed even as her aggressive expression faded to something just mildly pissy. Taking personal insult, why yes, yes she was.

Attention turning from Uranophane towards the front of the room once more, she glowered from her place in Lyra's arms. Noone had to worry, Dahlia was entirely certain that as long as her and Masahiro were on the case nothing would be happening to any of their senshi. But then.. Uraophane probably didn't give a s**t about the 'senshi' portion of the group.

Sugilite had watched the mirror being revealed curiously, if anything could get her attention, it was an interesting enough new sight. Were they going to travel to space using a mirror? Nearly applauding as the reflections began to change in appreciation of the style, she was startled by the reactions of her comrades around her. Weapons were being drawn and orders were being shouted by some, while others just stood and watched intently. Surely they were not going to attack a mirror?

The people reflected in it mean nothing to Sugilite, figures out of the past to the others but new faces to her. Her ears strained to pick up on the conversation that had broken out all around her as she stretched up on tip-toe trying to figure out who these strangers were. Whatever was happening, it was much more interesting than the mild bickering that had been going on before.

Dahlias words had hit the senshi as hard, if not harder, than those around her as well. Involuntarily, Lyra found her breath quicken with her heart beat. She squeezed the cat in her arms if not a little tighter, looking down at the cat she held. Eyes seemed to try and pierce into the felines own pair, trying to find the meaning behind the words she just spoke.

It seemed the cat needed a slight history lesson, so she added on after Zinkenites words of everyone having their own reasons.

"Dahlia, you see that senshi up there with the long hair? The one whom Stands where our General queen just stood? That one, in particular, tried to kill me once. Would have succeeded too, without our general queens intervention." She paused, leaning down so only the senshi and closest to them could hear. "She was apparently, at one point my own leader." She bit her lip, feeling like she need not say more than that.

Looking up once more, she bore her eyes into the mirror... staring at it with a expression that would be hard to read if those surrounding her did not know her very well. It had traces of fear, anger, confusion.... most of all it was just rage. "THAT is why i do not trust that woman." Lyras own personal price in this matter, if this went the direction she was soon feeling it would go, would be keeping her own feelings of rage aside while following orders. Oh, and watching her own back all the while. No... she would never trust Ares.

Turning now, she listened to Wolfram... and could not help but also feel for him. He too had dealt with these senshi on a far more personal level...

From what it seemed, those raising their voices the loudest against this...alliance she guessed she would call it, had the deepest scars and grudges against them. Or so she had been told, she had yet to ask them personally.

The choice to forge an alliance with the Negaverse had not been a difficult one for Princess Ares to make. When she felt the grip of Chaos flowing through her, it was as if she had been reborn. She certainly felt, in many ways, precisely that: a newborn chick just beginning to wander from the nest. For so many eons, she had followed Nehelenia blindly, never knowing that the curse of the White Moon Queen had perverted the very foundation of the parallel existence. They had been living a lie, a lie that had led the Court to do many things that hurt the progress of Chaos.

It was like waking up one morning and realizing your parents were strangers to you.

The energy of the Dark Brimstone Crystal crackled within her torch, permitting her to hold the flowing images of the Dark Mirror Court in a lingering state beneath the safety of the mirror. If the Negaverse did not react to her presence, she would have been surprised. Ares never expected this to be an easy alliance. In her opinion, the truly powerful ones never were. It was a constant jockeying for power.

Beyond that, the Princess new that her Court was still too small to fight against so many enemies. Aligning with the Negaverse now would be the cushion she needed to flesh out their ranks with warm bodies. Any negativity that came her way because of it was well worth the price. Still, Princess Ares emerged from the mirror first. If a fist was to be thrown, she would be the one to take it, no one else.

She was not there to hear the words of Sassolite, Lyra, Zinkenite, Bismuthite, Hematite, Uranophane, Chromite, Wolframite, or Jarosite -- those who reacted negatively -- or even Serandite, Fluorite, Alunite, Benitoite, Dahlia, Painite, Sugilite, who reacted with cool heads. She waited a few beats after the gate was lifted, and then the Princess of Smoke swept out of the mirror, bringing with her a cloud of dark gray air and the overwhelming chaotic aura only a royal senshi could possess.

Ares face was carved of marble, hardly reacting even with the tension thickening in the air with each passing second. She let it boil, let it rise. The only movement she made was to take another step forward, just in line with Tanzanite, and hold her torch at her side. "I did not expect happiness to see me in this place. That would be foolish. But I do expect warriors to understand the necessities of war." Her voice was not hard, just firm. There was no rage, or rebuke. She understood why they felt the way that they did. She just expected them to get over it quickly for the greater good.

"I cannot change what has happened in the past. I am not the sort of person who dwells on impossible situations. Before you existed in this life, I existed in another, as a regent of Chaos in the way that you, too, serve the side of Chaos. Queen Nehelenia led us in war against Serenity, and we lost." The words were bitter on her tongue. If only Nehelenia would have brought them all through the mirror back then... perhaps things would have ended differently. "When Serenity sent Nehelenia back to her Court through the mirror, she did so with a price -- a curse. She poisoned Nelehenia and all of us into believing we were born to serve Order. I lived that lie with the other Black Moon soldiers for far too long."

In her mind, Ares traveled back to the meetings of the Black Moon Court, how they discussed the corruption that had overtaken them, how they planned to rebuild themselves. It was all lies. It was all manipulation. If Ares saw Serenity now, she would rip her heart out and force her to eat it.

For now, she needed to tell the Negaverse this message -- a message that they could take or leave, knowing full well that Tanzanite had agreed to this alliance. "My actions in the past were done because of a curse on my people, a curse that I have since been liberated from. Instead of facing me on the opposite side of a battlefield, we now share a similar cause." Her mouth fell into a hard line. "I know this alone will not be enough for some people, so."

In a sweep of robes, Princess Ares disappeared through the mirror. She was gone for perhaps thirty seconds and then reappeared suddenly, clenching a handful of dirt in her hand. It spilled onto the floor at her feet. "This is dirt from the surface of Requiem." Ares lifted a heel and dragged into through the pile, scattering some closer to the Negaverse agents in the front row. "I may choose to go there at any time because of the resourcefulness of one of my court members. She left a mirror there for my travels, and now it is a doorway into space that I can access as freely as I did the one just behind me."

The ruler flicked another piece of dirt from her hands. "Requiem is a name you may be familiar with -- a senshi who once served Order. And now, through the power within my crystal, has been saved and brought to the true cause of Chaos." A clawed hand gestured to the lingering form of the Senshi of Burial floating in one of the mirror.

"Whatever harm I did to you in the past was because I was unaware that I was on the wrong side. I understand that this will cause... friction for many of you." Her eyes roved to a few faces. "But just as corrupted senshi now serve darkness, so do I. And my intention is to bring all senshi to our cause, to deliver Earth to the Negaverse -- and the Moon too, I have no desire to wallow in the stink of that princess -- and the Dark Parallels will return to outer space to rebuild the lives that were taken from us."

Princess Ares straightened. "In the name of Chaos." There was nothing else for her to say, not now.

"******** the fairly level tone, General Hematite was practically frothing at the mouth. Serandite’s conflicting order had insulted him, certainly, but it was nothing compared to this. He may not have been in a state to help rescue the hostages some months ago, but he’d heard plenty about the effort, and the fights, and he knew what these senshi were capable of. They were the quintessential enemy of the Negaverse. Wild-eyed, incredulous, the only thing that had stopped him from interrupting Ares as she made her entrance was his sheer disbelief at the unfolding events. He refused to address the senshi ruler, barely giving her a direct glance. He let his eyes roll off of her as though she were no more interesting, no more important, than what she had just thrown on the ground. Instead he addressed the crowd of Negaversers from within the middle, casting his dark eyes around the mixed expressions. "She brought dirt. Wow, guys. That proves everything! Of course we can take her word for it that she had to run all the way out to outer space for that! Because you know we don't have piles and piles and loads of dirt just lying around Earth or anything. What a liar."

"We," he made a sweeping gesture at the army, turning toward Tanzanite, "are at war with the senshi. According to you, General-Queen, they destroyed and cursed the city we're all ******** standing in right now! And oh, you didn't bring just any senshi here. You brought Sailor Ares and her band of short-skirted gorillas. How dare you insinuate the Blood Moon trash have any honor - any integrity - any use but to be cut down immediately! You try to put our lives in the hands of senshi who want us dead, because you have what, you’ve forgiven them with your great big youma heart? Has Wolframite? It didn’t sound like it. Daring to imagine they have the ability to keep their word, what happens when we let them loose into space afterward, how long before Earth is in the same position as before, subjugated by these bloodsucking aliens and this new sadistic Serenity of theirs? Did you think about that, General-Queen? We can crush the Zodiacs now, and these mirror bitches will rise up in their place.”

He stood there, taking a few deep breaths to make up for how much he’d been all but bellowing. He still gripped the sword like it was the only thing keeping him alive through this outburst. It seemed like most of his energy was spent, but there was still that flame of insanity burning in his eyes betraying him. He’d stopped yelling, but his voice carried in the uncomfortable silence.

"Stay, if you want to put your safety in their hands. See where it gets you. I refuse to have any part in this bullshit 'alliance'. I haven’t forgotten who the real enemy is."

He turned away from the Youma Queen and cast a glance around for familiar faces in the crowd, anyone he could even possibly win over with his angry appeal. He made brief eye contact with a few before he swept out of the crowded throne room, hoping they’d see sense. As for the rest, well, it was their choice what to do. He had a sinking feeling that rational thought had long since been discarded.

General Hematite didn't get as far as he might have liked. Ares pumped her wings in a sudden rush, leaping high into the air. She landed beside the Negaverse officer, grabbed him forcibly by pinning both arms behind his back, and then rocketed back into the air with a buffet of wings. The two spiraled like a rocket across the room, disappearing through the mirror.

They were gone for about 45 seconds.

The mirror wavered again, and Princess Ares emerged, her hand now gently gripping Hematite's wrist. There was a bleeding cut on her forearm, though its cause was unknown. "General Hematite," she said, voice cold, "how did you enjoy your first visit to outer space?"

Her eyes avoided Tanzanite's. The General-Queen would not be pleased at her actions, but Ares assumed she would understand them. Hematite said many unacceptable things. This was the best way Ares saw to deal with it, at least for the safety of the alliance.

"I can take anyone else who doubts what I am saying. I have no need for Earth or the Moon, but you would be fools not to consider the possibility of a doublecross. I understand that." Her gray eyes flashed with fire. "But you need the Dark Mirror Court, whether you choose to accept it or not -- this is mutually beneficial alliance. A strategist can see that. An emotional teen would ignore it."

Her voice receded back. This was Tanzanite's meeting, but Ares would not be disgraced. She could not allow herself to be spoken to that way. It sent a message of weakness.

Had Bismuthite any power or sway over anything, the moment Ares made an aggressive move or laid a hand on a fellow Negaverse soldier there would have been blood. That was not the way you tried to win people, people who detested you already, over. In fact, the moment Ares made to move on General Hematite, the captain took one quick step towards the two, but stopped himself.

Why? Well, there were two kinds of fear that marked his trepidation; Fear of the much more powerful being, and fear that he would be acting alone and make a fool of himself. Also he, like Hematite, had been skeptical. Dirt proved nothing. He wasn't eager to get a first class trip to space, however.

What was left of his foolish pride he would very much like too keep, thank you very much.

Instead, he followed the rise of Ares and Hematite into the air, and then to the mirror where both disappeared. His gaze then turned, wide-eyed and fierce, to their General Queen, as if expecting her to do something. Was not this action proof that they were not truly interested in becoming allies? Not that Bismuthite wanted anything to do with them anyway. Besides seeing them all dead. 'Allies' or not.