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Eternal Sailor Avior

Avior's arms were still within reach of Taran, up until he moment when he felt Kiuchi take his arm. He stood back up then, and smiled, giving the boy his own sort of squeeze. There were so many questions given at once, comments, memories, pains coming up from listening to this worlds demise..

It hurt, deep in his chest... That plague that destroyed his own planet sounded far too familiar. The very thought had his hands sliding down Kiuchi's arm, curling his fingers around his thin wrist to steady himself for a moment. Whether it was rage or pain bubbling in him, he wasn't sure, but it made his heart race.

"I pity her, I do... In our grief, we choose to do crazy things, things that would even question our own morals and thoughts, but... What she had done was too much. " He turned to Crocus, giving him a slight nod. "It makes sense if that's the case... When I was awakened, I was 'baptized' in the mirror. In, then out... Maybe as if a coating of color and power was placed onto me. But the very idea of how we were 'created', the very first of us, I do not know..."

Although he hadn't noticed Laverna until now, her being the quiet thief in the shadows.... He couldn't agree, nor disagree with her, so he remained quiet, struggling with his own feelings on the matter.

"Whether our power is our own, or hers, either way, we managed o use it for good... To protect people and to try to help maintain peace on both sides... So whether you distrust us or not, Taran, that fact remains fact."

Magic was flying all over the place, and before Leto had a chance to react, Altea screamed and threw her tantrum, effectively stomping away their attacks with a shockwave. Long crystals grew from her fingertips and she swiped her hand across the air sending dagger-like crystals at the group. Being at the forefront meant that she was an easy target, crystal shards slicing into her bare arms when she raised them to shield herself. The barrage of attacks kept coming however, which made the Senshi of Camouflage incredibly proud- the Dark Mirror Court would stand down to no one. Now seething with anger, Leto was probably about a millisecond from powering up into her Royal stage-- Except she was hit from behind with someone's magic, and suddenly a feeling of calm overtook her. She stopped and took a moment to breathe, to settle herself. She no longer wanted to rip Altea's limbs from her body, instead she wanted to regroup, find another way to go about getting home. Which... Quite frankly wasn't like Leto at all. But there was no fighting magic, she would just have to wait until it wore off.

Unfortunately for Leto, by the time Kibby's magic wore away, Altea was screaming at them again and throwing more crystal shards carried by a sharp wind. This time she was unprepared. One lodged itself in her shoulder, another sliced across her face and likely would've damaged her eye if she hadn't shut them. Each hit by the crystal shards was like a tiny bullet penetrating her skin and Leto would be damned if she showed weakness in front of this crazy b***h and her own Court. Her entire body shook with body anger and pain and she took a step forward, fists clenched so tightly her fingernails were digging into her palms. But Altea turned and ran, locking the group in the dungeon with the strange man, sealing their fates with crystals forming over the door.

Sticky blood dripping down her brow and cheek, as Leto took a look around and make sure that everyone had gotten out of the fight in one piece. No one seemed to be too seriously hurt by the crystals, which, considering they were unprepared for a fight, was pretty damn good. Using her camo-printed overlay to wipe away the blood, she listened to what Taran had to say... And suddenly Leto felt a horrible, twisting feeling deep in her gut.

Ghost-like monsters made from crushed glass.

Planets previously full of life, dead.

The Chaos Seed. A shard that mirrored her world.

Mirrorscape. Absorbing energy.

You get your power from it, don't you?

The words had Leto reeling. She could feel Tantalus' eyes on her before she felt his hand grab hers. She swallowed hard before she turned her red eyes to him, her expression one of apology, "I don't... I don't really know. It's complicated. Parts of it make sense..." she shrugged her petite shoulders slightly as she whispered to him.

How could she possibly explain? She knew very well that Ares had gone into the Mirror as a Parallel White Moon Senshi and had come back out filled with a Chaos no one had ever seen before. It would make all the sense in the world if the timing matched up- did Ares unleash Chaos into this place when she was reborn as a Dark Mirror Senshi?

It seemed that the Court as a whole was in denial of what exactly they were when it came down to it, all of them appearing mortified that they were a part of this. They may not be the Negaverse, but in Leto's eyes they were Chaos one in the same. Their uniforms and the feel of their energy signatures solidified that fact.

As Taran continued on, Leto was sure that Ares had some hand in all of this- that the creation of her Court caused Chaos and darkness. The one person, the one uniqueness that he mentioned. But there was no way in hell she was willing to divulge that information to a stranger she didn't trust. She glanced at Remarque for a moment, trying to make eye contact to see if they were even remotely on the same page.

She had a lot of questions for her Queen, but deep down she knew none would ever be answered- not even Leto who had been a part of the Court since it's conception would never truly know what Ares did or experienced when she went into the Mirror that night-- but she was beginning to piece together what exactly that brought on to this universe, wherever it was that they were. It was all starting to make sense... She very distinctly remembered feeling the connection being ripped away from her when the Chaos enveloped her starseed; Did their own homeworlds experience this so-called plague when they were baptized? Did they do this when a Dark Mirror Senshi was created?

Instead of ask all of the questions that were running through her head, all Leto could do was stare at Taran- her eyes cold and angry. She didn't care if she was Chaos, or evil, or any of those things- but she now had to worry about the rest of the Court. It was bad enough Navi and Chariklo had left them, if the Court became uncomfortable with who, or what they were at their cores... How many more of them would leave her?

And it would be all his fault.

Sailor Sadalsuud

Whilst Taran said that he didn't think that they were like Queen Altea, a part of Sadalsuud found it hard to tell if he really believed it.

But if truth be told Sadalsuud was finding it hard to tell what or who to believe.

She had believed in Queen Altea, had trusted the woman who she thought had saved them and who had been so kind to them.

Or had at least appeared to be so–

But the woman at the end, the woman who had locked them in with Taran seemed so at odds to the woman that she had thought Queen Altea to be - and parts of Taran's tale had sounded familiar - too familiar.

And whilst she had believed in Miss Kitten when she had said that she was special, maybe the cute little black kitten had been wrong - maybe..

Maybe it was just the mirrorscape - mirror space, maybe...

Remarque's words cut through the growing negativity of her thoughts, something in his words having her looking up startled, something about the conviction in them striking a chord.

Because he sounded so very certain.

And he had promised her hadn't he? He had promised her that they would all find their way back.

And whilst she might not have been sure about Taran and was perhaps wrong about Queen Altea, Sadalsuud trusted Remarque.

"I don't know how much help I can be but I'll help" and Sadalsuud's quiet words - her admission - were for Remarque and Sinope both.

Because if Queen Altea really was going to attack the Earth, then she had to at least try - even if the thought of going up against someone who could dispel magic with a foot stomp scared her.

Terrified her really, especially since she didn't exactly have super awesome or super powerful magic.

But Earth, Destiny City, was home - was where her parents were and her friends, was where...

For a moment she glanced around those of the court gathered in with her, at Remarque, at Sinope next to her, at Kiuchi and Crocus over close to Avior because Earth was their home too and then she looked back at Taran and there was a lot more certainty in her green eyes than there had been before.

"I want to know what we need to do to get out of here too" she said to him as she pulled out her white, strangely weightless crystal and showed it to him "And do you know by chance if this would be useful?" Adding "Queen Altea tried to lick one of these but said it was disgusting - that she hadn't seen one of them before."

Because perhaps something that the Queen - that Altea thought 'disgusting' might be helpful to them.

The resolve a few of the Dark Mirror Senshi seemed to have developed seemed to bring some relief to Taran; he didn’t quite smile, but he looked like he was just slightly more at ease. If he was going to trust anyone, at least let it be someone who had something to lose if they failed.

He looked to Sadalsuud and answered apologetically, “I don’t know what weapons you have brought with you from your world, but if you can use it against her, do it.”

He didn’t seem to have any more information; there was nothing necessarily suspicious about his answer, but he didn’t seem to give it much thought.

Their time was too short to waste on pointless conversation; if he didn’t know, he wasn’t going to bumble through an answer. Instead, he replied to something he knew he could talk about.

“I have no doubt that we’re looked in here for good. If she’s used her crystals, there’s no breaking through. So, she’ll think she’s got the lot of you trapped in here with me. But it doesn’t matter how strong her defenses are on the outside—there’s a duct in here that you can escape from. On the second cell when you walk in, on the left.”

He nodded towards the cell; the cell door seemed like it was closed, but it wasn’t locked. There’s a loose stone in the ceiling. It’s large, but it’s a slightly different color than the others. It’s not as heavy as you think it’s going to be, and you can push it backwards—towards the cell to the right, so it’s out of your way if you’re climbing up. You’ll have to crawl in the opposite direction to get out. It’s dark, but there’s only one path, so if you follow it to the end you’ll reach the foyer. You’re going to be a few feet up off the ground, but the only thing covering this is a portrait on the wall. It’s going to be mounted to the wall, but a good shove will be enough. Just don’t fall out if you’re the one doing it. I don’t know if she’ll have guards out there, but if you see any you’re going to have to destroy them—you can’t let her know that you’re out. Or, at least, not until you’re ready for attack. You can’t give her any time to prepare. But,” he hesitated. “I don’t know if I can give you any information to guide you from there. Her room is upstairs, but I don’t know if that’s where she would take solace. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. All I can say is that you can stay here and catch your breath, I’ll answer anything I can if you think it will help. But you can’t take too long.”

He was grim; still trapped in the crystals, his fate was all but sealed. He had survived for this long, but there was nothing to be done now. He couldn’t help them; even if he wasn’t trapped, he looked like he was too weak to be more than a liability.

He wanted to help, that much seemed to be clear, but all he could do was put fate in their hands.

The Dark Mirror Senshi were going to have to finish this on their own.

Sailor Kiuchi

"Just knowing how to get out of here helps a lot." They could , he hoped, take it from there. Knowing how to get out and where it would leave them was a big plus, provided they didn't get caught right after leaving the portrait. If they didn't get caught right away they might be really well off. Slowly, gently, he stood and went to retrieve the pillow he'd left on the floor of the dungeons. Banishing it off to subspace, where his compact was, he slipped the crystal he had into the sash part of his uniform. It might come in handy later, though how he didn't know.

"Her guards...are they easy to fight? I mean....do they break and shatter or....how do we deal with them if we have to?" Would they be hard to fight and kill or what? That was what he was trying to ask without asking it. He knew some didn't like the idea of killing but right now he wanted to get home and if they had to kill a Queen to do it....he would help if he could.

"If we win...hopefully you'll be free." But then what? This planet was dead...and his, from the story, didn't sound to good either. But the purple haired man didn't sound like he was expecting to live, at least that was what he was picking up from this all. Returning to the group he looked over to Crocus and Avior. "Will stay with you both for this..."

Eternal Sailor Avior-exiting

It felt wrong to leave... It felt wrong to move away from Taran, the man clearly suffering bu... But he knew there was no time to lose.

Though knowledge was important, there were just some questions that couldn't be asked. Not now when there was so much to do. Laverna was right. No time for tears.

"Alright.. Let's get going... I'm sure home is just in sight now. Just... One obstacle left." He nodded to Kiuchi, then to Crocus. "I have you both. Onwards, I suppose."