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The week had passed quickly, and Blanche couldn't remember the last time that she'd looked forward to a day with any amount of excitement. So it surprised her that Thursday night, she was tucked into bed early and didn't even bother going out about the town on her usual solitary haunts. Ray had worried, Ray had checked her temperature, Ray had made bad jokes about her running off to meet the Dream Priest and tell all his secrets. That had gotten her pink head shooting up in the darkness of their living room and assuring him that it was certainly not the case, and she didn't even know all his secrets!

Friday, she'd never even gone home. Restlessly the young woman had prowled, gone shopping, eaten a fairly hefty dinner that had embarrassed her and at the same time made the princess think that somewhere, her mama was laughing. It was sad that the most exciting thing in her life right now was a slightly off-kilter, not-quite friendship with a young man who was sworn to serve one of her sworn nemeses. But what else was there to look forward to? She'd been unsuccessful in finding any senshi that might possibly be a reincarnated family member, and after that disaster with Beryl, Chibiusa gave them a wide berth. Not worth it at all.

So it was that at midnight the swings were creaking yet again under a slight weight, the lovely young woman in black singing a strange set of rhyming tunes that didn't quite sound like Japanese. It was slightly off-kilter, and anyone who spoke the language would not recognize the dialect. It was her own, particular to the 30th century, and it was soothing. Hector would show soon, or she would have to start over at the beginning. For the fourth time.

Peering down at the frozen concoction in her hands, it looked totally innocuous. Stirring the straw around it a few times, she lifted it and stuck as much of the red she could into her mouth and sucked out the insides for a taste test. It tasted a lot like ice, heavy with syrup, nothing amazing, but she found herself plunging the straw back in only towards the top and sipping up the foam with an interesting expression. She was trying just a bit too hard, and choked when the ice hit the back of her throat with a cough. "They did not teach me how to eat this." It was lightly strangled and ended on a small laugh. "Hi! What do you want to know about it? It was not much fun." Slurp, slurp, the Coke wound its way into her belly and for some reason, she started to feel incredibly relaxed.

Odd. But it didn't register to her as much strange, perhaps just a slackening of the nervous energy that had kept her going all day, bubbles burst when finally Hector had showed. "How to be fair ah...jus-tice?" The word was apprehensive, a word accrued from the World of Technicolor Television. "To be very calm. I am not good at that, am I?" Thinking, she was holding the slush between her hands and had almost forgotten about it. "A lot was to be a senshi. Uranus, Venus, Puu. Mama shows me how to control the crystal. Very important, the most important. How to destroy before you die." The woman's voice trailed, and the straw popped back into her mouth as Chibiusa realized she said a bit more than she ought, and was silently appalled. What was wrong with her?

"Did you only learn how to use that? No prince things? Only for the other prince?" Back and forth she swung lightly, barely more than two feet, black heels dragging against the ground with each movement. It was always about the swings, for them. So odd.

The straw fell from her mouth at the cup to her side as Black Lady rose from the swing, angry with Hector for the first time in awhile. There were insults that she could personally take, and she would shoulder any slander to Wiseman in silence. He was not always a good man, but he was good to her, and that was all that she concerned herself with. Wiseman didn't need to be good to anyone else. But to her parents? It was a line that no one crossed.

"My father died. Many times. Many many times. So bad that everything died. There was a long cold, and he and Neo-Queen Serenity cleared it all and brought the people to life again. There was much pain, much loss. Less than half of people lived. They did good, they got rid of the Black Moon Clan." The sigil on her forehead blazed with a dark light to prove her point, a small power used to make her look impressive. It was probably useless, but she did not care. It was important that he understand that things were not perfect. "Many died then too. They are a good king and a good queen, and did not deserve to die! More than I say for your queen, who did not a thing but try to kill them, and me, and destroy your world!" It would not, could not, be borne. What was wrong with him, to say such things?

"If I did not learn what you did, it is because I did not need them. No soldiers, only senshi. Friendship. Love. Do you have those, O Mirror Prince?" Her expression was haughty now, and her nose was firmly in the air. Black Lady was every inch a proud young princess, from the tip of her strange hairstyle to the very soles of her elegant shoes. The effect was somewhat ruined by the drink in her hand, and then, unsteadily, she wobbled. Adrenaline and anger had fueled her through that tirade, and now she felt weak? Sleepy? What?! A hand shot out to grab the swingset and steady herself. Thinking that the sugar and rapidly melting ice might help, the straw was placed back again for a deep gulp of the cola.

It was a bit like the feeling she had after that fight with Beryl, but she hadn't expended nearly enough energy in just that silly forehead light trick. So very odd, but it was something for later, with Wiseman. Showing a true weakness now would be insane. "Too mad. Too much." Hopefully he bought it.

"I never saw her justice. Only pain." Her voice was weary, soft, the drink nearly gone. She was desperately trying to stop the spinning in her head and leaned against the solid metal pole of the set, pressing her cheek to the metal. Nothing changed, and with distress, she noted that all her drink had run out. Alright, it wasn't dehydration, couldn't be the sugar. She'd ingested almost a full cake on her own once, there was no way a single slush drink could have done that to her. "But it maybe is how you say. I do not know now, I am sorry too." Reaching out, her hand touched his lightly. Chibiusa would have probably gone over to nudge him, but didn't trust her legs to hold her.

"There was blood, but I did not learn it. I do not like blood. Clean death." There was pure truth in her statement, strange coming from a woman such as her, who killed without batting an eyelash. "They do not hurt then, not anymore." Everything felt so strange, her eyes and arms were heavy, but not so heavy that she couldn't move them. "I feel very strange. Hector, do you feel okay? I do not know what is wrong." It was the tone of a little girl who doesn't understand why her tummy is upset, why she was fine last night but wants to cry this morning, she feels that ill. Ruby eyes were bewildered, she'd never learned the trick of putting something in your food. It would have never occurred to her. Though after last week's strange taste test, it should have.

In many ways, Black Lady was painfully sheltered.

Hector's voice sounded strange and far away, it was like being in the Time Gate again. That depressing black void where nothing and everything existed, the place that she had run to when the world started falling apart around her. This remembrance started the young girl, and she acted much like the deer Jesse Alvarez had accused her of being, flee or die. She tried to mentally run away from the darkness and her body moved as well, disregarding the dispassionate advice from the mirror prince.

"Hec-tor, you have to...have to help me!" Arms outstretched she moved forward and had to grab at something to keep her balance. What was happening? Was time suddenly wiping her out? No! No, if she kept moving, if it couldn't find her, it couldn't destroy her! Hair and fabric whipped around as her body turned swiftly left, then right. "This is not sick! This is bad!" Oh, if she only knew. Lurching again, she tried to run and was reaching out for the violet-eyed young man like he was her anchor and the tide was going out. Her own were glassy with the narcotic slowly taking over her nervous system, and that was the problem. It was working slowly. Her terror wasn't helping, blood pumping and heart trying to fight the lead fingers weighing it down to speed and match her movements.

It was almost comical, like watching someone dance drunkenly on a curbside, but at the same time so heartbreaking and pathetic. She was terrified, and didn't know where to turn. "Hector!"

He was too calm. Far too calm. Something was wrong, had he helped? What had happened? But he'd caught her, so that wasn't terrible. No, but maybe he was going to...was his sword out? He wouldn't do that. He could have done that already. Maybe his brother found out? Live by blood, not by love. Blood. Not love. Her head spun and whirled and in the end, tears were budding in her eyes and an arm wrapped around the cavalier to steady herself, and to keep him near.

There was only one person now she could trust. Only one man she could count on entirely.

Fingers reached up and innocently touched the glittering gem of the inverted crescent brooch at her neck. It was shades darker than her eyes, a ruby that had been imbued with a special spell. But reconsidering, her fingers simply slid up to her face as if she was feeling a numbing sensation in it, another jittery movement. "Thank you..." Her voice was weak, the drug was finally overwhelming the princess's mind. But it was too late.

As the final words left her lips, the arm vised around Prince Hector and teleported them straight into Ray Gordon's living room. The curtains were drawn, the bed neatly folded away again into the old sofa, a large pink rabbit sitting in the corner. Her knees thudded lightly against the floor , and her voice raised sharply. "Wiseman!" No, she couldn't have the English teacher come rushing out of his room, this was work for a higher power. Then, softly, almost with a hint of amusement: "I have you, Hector." It was the last thing she said before darkness claimed the young woman and she tumbled to the nondescript carpet, black gown flaring around her in an almost perfect dramatic picture.

Hector was alone in the lair of the dreaded Death Phantom with the man's loyal Princess unconscious at his feet. As things went, it was damning to an unknown degree.