She felt naked, exposed. Glancing down, she reconfirmed that her Captain's uniform was still in place, and yet the feeling persisted. Something was wrong.
When she looked up, she saw the reason.
There, on the throne, the throne Nealite had grown to know, sat the Queen of the Negaverse. Beryl. No longer did the monarch's soul reside within her, but instead had taken its place on the throne, housed in the body of a beautiful woman Nealite had never met before. Long, fiery red hair spilled over her shoulders, her expression as still and solemn as a statue's. Her skin was pale - similar to Nealite's own - but her eyes were darker, almost red, as though a fire burned within them.
And they were looking right at her.
This was why she felt empty. The soul had left her. She was freed from the clutches of Beryl? Then that meant... that meant her life was spared!
It only took moments for the bitter truth to hit her, the realization bringing reality back as she rose from the ground. She'd been kneeling - she hadn't even noticed she'd been kneeling.
Approaching the throne, the Captain dared to look the Queen in the face, orange eyes meeting with dark ones that continued to stare.
Finally, the silence was broken. "This is a dream, isn't it?"
The figure didn't stir from the throne. Instead, she merely smiled. It wasn't a comforting smile. It was a smile that mocked her, a smile that belittled her.
"In a sense, yes."
"In a sense?"
"In a sense."
Nealite said nothing as the Queen rose from her throne, her indigo gown dragging its hem along the ground with each step. There was nothing to say. How did one address a soul that had lived within her, that knew her thoughts, that had snaked its way through her memories and feelings - hell, her very soul itself?
"What is your purpose in the Negaverse, Ursula?"
The response was automatic. "To serve the Queen."
She was a soldier. She had never been anything more than a soldier from the very beginning. A soldier unaware that she even had a Queen to serve until the point she'd been asked to sacrifice her life so that Beryl could live once more.
"So why haven't you been serving me?"
"W-what?"
She faltered with her question, thrown off guard by the response. She'd given her life for this woman and now she was being accused of this?
"You've tired out that excuse," the icy voice commented, the Queen now circling her subordinate. When Nealite blinked in response, the older woman merely shook her head, "You treat yourself as a martyr. Sacrificing your life." The voice was low, mocking, "No, Ursula, you should be honored to be the Queen's vessel. This is no punishment. I could have chosen to reject you, just as I chose to reject the others."
"Why did you choose me? I mean, couldn't a senshi have been more powerful? Why bother with me?" The question had plagued her. Khalid had been unable to answer it. Only Beryl knew why.
The smile was there, sympathetic now, as if she were addressing a slow child. "I expected better of you. But you've made a mockery of my position. You've let senshi get away. You've let Kunzite get away, while having my power to use at your fingertips. You've seduced my General-King and you sit on my throne as if it was your own."
"That's not true!"
The argument was already weak, the voice behind it equally feeble. Beryl knew. Nealite knew. There was no point to arguing, but Ursula was stubborn enough, desperate enough, to counter the Queen. "I've tried, I can't use the power. I'm not you, I'm not powerful enough. And I didn't seduce him - he agreed willingly! He said I hadn't forced him, he chose to love me!"
The woman said nothing at first, as she moved to stand behind the other girl. Nealite froze where she stood, two delicate hands placing themselves on both of her shoulders.
"Why do you think he chose you, child? You're expendable. You mean nothing to him. If he truly cared for you, why would he have given you to me? Why would he have sacrificed your life so that you would die and I could be reborn?"
Nealite had no answer.
Hands tightened on her shoulders and the Queen bent forward, her mouth brushing against the officer's ear. "He's never even told you that he loves you. He says he cares about you. That he wants you. Of course he cares about you - you're the vessel for me. Of course he wants you, you're playing host to me. What man wouldn't want a chance to be with Earth's Queen?"
She was standing still, eyes closed as the Queen's venomous words whispered their way into her ear, sinking into her mind, trying to poison it. No, Khalid loved her. He loved her for Ursula, he loved her for her ...right?
The grip on her shoulders tightened even more, threatening to crush her paladrons. "Quit fooling yourself, Ursula. It's never been about you. It has always been about me."
"Why are you telling me this?" Her voice was breaking, tears threatening to fall as her eyes watered, "You're going to take over anyways, right? So why are you doing this to me - why can't you just leave me alone, let me live my life until you take it?"
The hands left her shoulders and Ursula's head turned, eyes following the Negaverse leader as she moved around the younger girl. Their eyes remained locked and it wasn't until she was standing directly in front of the Captain that Ursula realized the woman had changed. She now mirrored Ursula, though her hair was long enough to touch the ground. Her face was the same, her eyes the same bright orange, the indigo gown remained. This was the Beryl that Ursula became - this was the Beryl that Ursula held inside her.
The monarch spoke again, her voice significantly softer.
"I loved a man once, you know. Of course you know - you've seen my past, just as I've seen yours." As Ursula's mouth opened to argue, a wave of one hand from the Queen silenced her, "You've seen the memories. You won't tell him that you've seen them, but keeping silent over them doesn't make them any less real. You know of Endymion. You know of what happened and how he betrayed his people, how he betrayed his Earth. I won't allow room for mistakes this time, Ursula."
"Khalid is not Endymion." Her voice had hardened, eyebrows furrowing, "He's been nothing but faithful to us. He wants you to rule more than anything else."
It was the Queen's turn to argue, her own eyes narrowing.
"Charonite is faithful to me, you mean. But he is a human, just as the others were. Minds are impressionable, they're easy to manipulate. The human race is greedy - all beings are greedy. You cannot trust him any more than you trust Andrew, than you trust Khaldun or Aree. You're relying on people who would kill you in an instant if it put them in the position you're in. You're weak because you're attached."
"So detach me! KILL ME. Get it over with and conquer the world, win back your prince, do what you want! I'm your vessel, you said it yourself, so just get rid of me, already!"
Looking almost exasperated, the Queen shook her head. "As much as I would like to remove your presence, your soul is still just as much attached to this body as my own is. But I can suffocate you. I can drive you out, just as you've tried to drive me out. I can take control and leave you within, powerless. Do not test me, Ursula. It is important that as vessel to me that you are me. You are dependant to me and only me because I am the one that can seal your fate."
Stepping forward, one hand outreached itself towards the Captain. Before Nealite had time to react, the hand had already submerged itself within her chest, gripping tightly around the corrupted star seed.
"Do not forget that."
With that, she began to squeeze the seed, forcing a scream out of the younger girl as everything went black.
~
She lurched forward with a gasp, her eyes wide and terrified. Her hand was clutching at her chest, nails digging into the skin deep enough to form small marks.
Memories of the nightmare began to flood her mind. Beryl. Her words... Charonite. Eyes began to fill with tears - there was no way what she said was true. It couldn't be. She refused to believe it.
She turned and reached over, blindly moving to take hold of the sleeping man beside her. She needed to curl up next to him, she needed to feel his presence. She needed to touch him, to snuggle up and stay protected and safe in his arms.
But there was nothing there.
The numbers of the alarm clock on the nightstand blared a bright red 7:00 am.
He was gone.
Shivering, Ursula tugged up the comforter over herself and curled up into a ball. Shaky arms grasped tightly to her legs as the tears began to fall. Her breath was coming out in choked sobs, but there was no one there to comfort her, no one there to listen. There was no one there to judge her but herself. Herself... and the other soul that lurked within.
