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The exhaustion was overwhelming.

A soft clink echoed throughout the subspace as weary legs pressed against the throne, the ancient monarch settling herself in the chair as the bleeding dagger in her grip found its resting place on the stone arm. It was still dripping, the blood fresh and dark, slowly oozing its way down, forming a puddle at the tip.

One arm reached over, slender fingers gently gliding down the other, fingertips tracing the fresh cut that lay parallel to the various pale scars scattered across fair skin. At her feet rested several bodies that had accumulated themselves into a pile over the past few hours - a young jogger, a businesswoman, an officer. Nothing linked any of them to one another, save for the fact they were all young women, all failed experiments who shared the same fate, gaping cavities within their chests where their starseeds once rested. Around them, a bloody circle was meticulously drawn, runic markings scattered around the edges in a ritualistic fashion.

She couldn't do this on her own.

It was frustrating, bitterly frustrating. Out of all the magic she knew, out of all the power she possessed, she could not accomplish this spell on her own. It was the only way - and she couldn't do it alone.

Orange eyes gazed out into the subspace, moving slowly across the silent monsters looming in the shadows, awaiting their Queen's next order. No youma could be trusted, not with this task. They were stupid, senseless beasts and she required something more intelligent.

There were her Generals - Obsidian, Linarite. Neither of whom she could entrust this particular task to, not with Ursula's past with Linarite, nor with Obsidian's lust for power. Uranophane was a tempting candidate, but would she betray her and take advantage of the situation as the others were so eager to do? Scheelite was devout, Wolframite as well...but devout to which entity, Ursula or Beryl? And even if they could be trusted, would any of them have the power she needed to make the spell work?

"Y-your Majesty?"

Her hand returned to the arm of the chair, fingers wrapping themselves around the handle of the dagger as her eyes darted upwards. Yards away, a pale faced Captain was doing her best not to tremble as her eyes remained glued to the pile of bodies lying before her.

"What is it?"

The intruder's eyes widened, shooting up to meet her Queen's before falling back down to stare at the dagger, refusing to keep eye contact. Beryl resisted the urge to sigh - her former Generals wouldn't have even blinked at the sight before them, much less pass out from it. Charonite's choice of recruits continued to disappoint her.

"It's...it's the General-King, ma'am, he's - "

A searing pain shot through her forehead and her free hand flew up to press against her temple. It was growing harder to fight the other soul within, the young woman's spirit crying out at the mere mention of her husband. It was pathetic, a growing, never-ending headache that Beryl wanted nothing more than to get rid of. This body was weak, useless, crippled with pregnancy by a man who had dishonored his duties to his Queen. The body was weak and the weaker it grew, the harder it was to suppress the soul within.

The dagger was replaced on the chair, her voice curt. "What about the General-King, Captain?"

Captain Pyrite was trembling by this point, a disgusting display to watch. But, despite the clear signs of a fainting to come, the young woman managed to remain standing and squeaked, "He's a-awake again, your Majesty. They're all awake."

The pain in her head was nearly unbearable by this point, Ursula screaming, begging, pleading to retake control. It was tempting (if anything, to rid herself of the migraine), but Beryl refused to pass up the opportunity. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.

"Thank you, Captain."

The smile was forced, her teeth gritting together as she rose from her throne. In a blink, she was gone, now standing at the bedside of Khalid Cilentani. Thankfully for the medical staff, no one was in sight, nor were any visitors present (though to be fair, Gunn Killingworth rarely received visitors, aside from the concerned Lieutenants that would come and check up on his distraught wife). Her uniform was gone, replaced by a dark skirt and white blouse, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. Despite her flawless appearance, she looked as though she hadn't slept for days. Dark circles had formed under her eyes and her shoulders slumped. The ends of her shirt billowed out, her pregnancy undeniable. Although Ursula's body stood next to the bedside, this was not the woman who had spent days crying over a comatose husband. Orange eyes remained dry, her lips pursed together, as if irritated at the inconvenience of being forced to collect her newly awakened General-King.

"Sleeping on the job, Mortalitas?"



The General-King's eyes were closed. He could have been sleeping: or dead, he was still enough to be dead, his lips were chapped and there was a certain thinness to him from too long asleep. The eyes did not open for the Queen, which was deadly disrespect, surely -- but then he said, "My lady."

His voice croaked out like sawdust. Beryl could see the throat swallow, the tongue work to try to moisten the mouth with saliva so that he sounded less hoarse. As ever, Charonite sounded cold and stony, though they both knew that he would have rather been anywhere in a hospital bed after a coma-inducing curse that had landed him flat on his back. Useless, really. Completely useless. Maybe he was all the more irritated due to her appearance -- "I'd like to see my wife."

Trust Charonite to be making demands, even like this.



There was a hesitation, as if the temptation to finally cave in was too powerful to resist...and then she shook her head, the disgust obvious in her voice. "You will see her in due time, General. Your priority is your Queen, not your wife."

Another pause settled between them as her eyes met with his. He was pathetic looking, unfit for a General-King of the Negaverse. But he was all she had left - her last resort.

One hand shifted to the side and with a small wave, a starseed found itself dropping into her palm from the subspace. One of the precious few that remained, one of the few that was set aside not to be used for the youma production. No, this one was too special to be wasted, its pure, bright glow an immediate giveaway to what it was: a senshi's star seed.

Moving closer, cold hands dipped down to take hold of the weak man's, chilled skin meeting clammy. The starseed was pressed into his palm, then his fingers forced to close around it before she allowed herself to let go.

Her eyes broke away from his, settling instead on the bare windowsill across the room. "Eat it. You need the energy and I need a competent General-King, not a bedridden one."

Eyes shifted back to meet his, briefly. Her lips moved, then stopped, as she was clearly choosing her words carefully before she spoke.

"I have a...task for you, now that you have decided to grace the world with your presence again. A task you will be well-rewarded for - both you and Ursula."

She knew he was listening - what choice did he have? - and she knew he was far too clever to allow himself to be herded into a trap. Arms folded themselves across her chest as she shifted her weight. "Ursula is too weak for my needs - I cannot rule like this, not in this weak body, not in this...defiled vessel you gave me." The words were nearly spat out, the pregnancy clearly a high priority on the irritation list. "So I require a new one, but I cannot manage the transfer alone and I am left with little choice as to who can assist me. So I propose an offer to you now, Mortalitas. Aid me in the transfer and I will return your wife to you, unharmed and unpunished, despite her unruly behavior with our shared body."

Another shift and the arms settled on her protruding stomach. She was too tired for games, too irritated over the fact she required help from anyone but herself. One foot tapped its fashionable toe against the hospital floor and she tilted her head, all too Ursula-like with her impatience. "That is, if you can even manage to stand anymore."




Charonite's eyes flicked open. The pale grey was bloodshot -- you'd think with all that sleep he'd finally look something other than exhausted -- but they didn't scan over to her, instead focusing on some drip spot on the ceiling. "You're lying," he said flatly. "You'll never find another transfer, not with all the bodies I sacrificed to you. There's no better match. You lose Ursula and you lose your hold over me. Why would you willingly goddamn give that up?" (At least the 'goddamn' was back too.) "Why would you give me something like that for free?"

Subtitle obvious: give me the catch.



"You're treading in dangerous waters, Mortalitas, if you are implying that you would commit treason against me if it was not for the fact that I share this body with your dear wife."

The venom in her voice lingered, as did the unanswered question (perhaps she should have attempted it with Uranophane, after all?). Hatred burned from within, a small huff escaping her lips as she fought back the urge to use what energy she had left to extend Zoisite's punishment to his fellow dreadlocked comrade.

Finally, after another indignant huff, she reached down and began to roll up the sleeves to her button-down blouse, exposing the pearl-colored scars streaking her arms, alongside the fresh cut.

"As you can see, I have already attempted the transfer - several times, I might add - and they all have failed."

Her own eyes rested on the scars, each bearing a memory, each representing a wasted star seed, another corpse to litter the subspace ground with. "I am certain there is a better match but unfortunately, I can not locate it. Which has left me with very few options to resort to."

The sleeves were brought back down over her arms, her gaze rising to meet with her second-in-command's. "First, I could destroy Ursula's starseed and take this body for my own." Whether or not that would work, neither of them could be certain, "Second, I could take possession of the child - an unfortunate setback for both of us. And thirdly..."

She paused at that, moving to brush back her bangs, "Thirdly, I can form a new body, using Ursula. Call it a copy, more or less. It requires detaching our starseeds from one another, which makes us both vulnerable and is the reason I have not attempted this with any of my Generals or Captains. I am not a fool, Mortalitas. I am fully aware that, if given this chance, the majority of those I lead would take advantage of this and kill both Nealite and myself. You, however, are that exception."

The smile she gave him was grim, "Killing me would kill Ursula in the process. And being the devoted husband that you are, I assume that you would not destroy your wife to get to me. At least, it's a risk I am willing to take."

One hand rose and she began to examine her cuticles, though it was clear by the conversation at hand that her focus lay elsewhere than her fingernails. "It became clear to me, while you were sleeping, that Ursula cannot provide for me what I need. She resists, weakening us both. That is a risk I am not willing to take, not against the forces that oppose us, not against another Chaos Seed. I want my own body to do with as I choose and if I must kill you afterwards for committing treason..." her voice trailed off, her eyes leaving her hand to return to the disheveled man, "Then I will simply be forced to kill you."

The threat was there, plain for them both to see. "But I have shown you generosity in the past, let us not forget. You were allowed to remain with Tempus who, may I remind you, is yet another example of my personal generosity."

Her voice drew quiet then, as he failed to respond, a tinge of desperation evident as Queen Beryl herself seemed to have run out of persuasive things to say. "I want out of this body, Mortalitas, and I am willing to chance your allegiance to make it happen."



Her power was immense. There was one arena it didn't cover: although Queen Beryl could smell fear roiling off someone as though it was perfume, she could not read minds. Charonite had never been easy to read in any case, even knowing what Ursula knew and seeing what Ursula had seen. It was stupid. He had been an easy man to read so many times before, an unsubtle man, a man of straight lines: now his eyes were fixed on her, blinking away some of the sleep that had lain in them for much too long. Hospital bed exhaustion. Maybe it was going to be easier to get what she wanted.

"How do you know this will work?"

Chance your allegiance.

"There's more to Ursula than her meat shell, my lady," he said. "If this is one of your sorceress tricks, make sure it's one you know." Chance your allegiance. She had him.



If Beryl was relieved by his response, her expression failed to show it. Instead, her body language gave away her satisfaction, the pregnant redhead moving to settle herself on the end of the bed. One hand moved out to pat his covered leg, as if she were trying to reassure a small child.

"I would not risk my own life if I was not certain of the outcome, darling."

The voice's tone had warmed, sounding sickeningly of Ursula, yet twisted by the woman who had kept her captive within her own body. "The failures before were experiments, tests in hopes of an alternate route. This, I know will work."

One hand motioned itself, gesturing to the seed still in his hand. The grim smile had curved its way up into a true one, the Negaverse leader clearly delighted in the knowledge that she was going to get her way yet again. A spoiled child finally receiving her coveted pony. "And meat shell? Really, Charonite, there's no need to be crude. I know there's more to her - she wouldn't have become my vessel in the first place otherwise, now would she?"

Rising from the bed, heels clicked against the linoleum as she straightened out her skirt. "But love makes fools of us all, doesn't it? Shame you attached yourself to such a pitiful thing - your work was always your better half, I must say."

Once finished with the straightening, one hand rested on her hip as the other made yet another clear gesture in his direction - hurry up. "Ursula will be fine through the transfer, fortunately for you, as will your daughter. Minimal loss of blood, nothing terribly messy. You have my word."



The eyes flicked back up to the ceiling. Closed again. It wouldn't do to worry: he was already in her grasp, right between her fingers. She knew how he thought. He would never forgive himself if he hadn't taken the chance for Ursula to be free of her, for Ursula to have something like a normal life -- hah -- to undo a wrong he'd done back when things were different. As though they were different now. She'd seen his mouth tighten at your work was always your better half -- but all he said was, "Fine. What do you want from me?"

That was certainly a loaded question.



"Just your cooperation. You always were good at following directions."

Her hand raised and waved towards the starseed a third and final time, making it clear that he was to eat it. A General-King without energy would do her no good, but thankfully a senshi's starseed could quickly regenerate the energy he would need. Not completely, but enough to do her bidding.

"I will call for you when I am ready."

With that, she was gone, leaving him alone once more in his hospital room. Minutes passed by like hours - would this really work? Would Ursula finally be restored to her former self? Or was this a twisted lie, after all?

Soon enough, the familiar tug pulled at him and he found himself yanked into the subspace. Normally he did the pulling but then again, he didn't normally participate in bodyswitching wives and Queens either.

The chamber they stood in was empty. The youma had dispersed, the bodies on the ground gone. All that remained was the ring of runes across the floor, the blood dry, flaking off in parts.

This was not the practice of the Negaverse - no - the Negaverse used energy, it used monsters. This was dark magic, this was sorcery - all at the command of arguably the most powerful sorceress who once held a seat in the Earth Kingdom's court.

In the middle of the ring stood Beryl, still lingering in General Nealite's form. In her hands, a small orb was beginning to glow, the contents within unrecognizable due to the energy surrounding them. Had Beryl any reason to step forward, perhaps the General-King would have noted a limp in her walk. Perhaps if her hair had been any shorter, he might have noticed an uneven cut in its length. But she stood as still as a statue and her hair remained long, so any changes that may have occurred would continue to go unnoticed.

She was chanting, her voice in low whispers of a language long forgotten by the current era, a tongue only found in ancient books. The ball was glowing darker as it grew, slowly moving itself out of her hands to hover in the air. Her eyes were closed - if she knew the ball was growing, she surely wasn't watching it happen. As the orb began to distort itself and take shape, more dark energy was forced into the creation - a fuse of dark magic and Negaverse energy, combining to mold the new form.

Slowly but surely as he watched on, the orb extended itself, morphing into a torso, then with limbs and finally a head. As the creation finished shaping itself, it began to grow hair - long waves of dark orange - and color itself. Soon enough, a second Nealite stood before the General-King. A lifeless puppet with the body of his wife, a body his Queen would soon be taking over. A glamour wouldn't be hard to cast over it, but was that what the Queen had in mind to do, after all?

"Bone, flesh, blood and hair - now all that's required is a star seed."

Her voice was hushed, barely audible as she turned her head away from the soulless corpse and towards the former Cavalier. Orange eyes studied him - he was still weak, yet still powerful enough to separate the two starseeds. But did he have other plans in mind?

"Until I take possession of my own body, she will be linked to me, and I to her."

The warning was clear - Ursula shared the same fate as Beryl until both were completely separated. "When she and I first fused, her body became ours and it will remain ours until the separation is complete. You will detach the seeds from one another - it will take energy, of course, but the whole thing is simple enough. No spell, no magic words, just insert and remove."

Her stare never left his face and she took in a breath, as if considering for a split second to turn back on the decision.

But there was no turning back. Instead, she lifted up her hands, beckoning him forward with a gesture towards her chest.

It was time to begin.



He stood in front of her, only the barest quiver in his ramrod-straight posture betraying that up until a very little while ago he'd been completely comatose -- it was more obvious when he moved, the hunch in his shoulders and the slight hesitancy in the fingers. But Charonite's hand when it reached out towards her sternum was completely confident -- his eyes never left hers, his gaze never left hers, they stood on the threshold of mutually assured destruction as his fingers slipped through her ribcage like butter and wrapped his hand around her starseed. She could see the fine sweat break out at his brow. Both starseeds were uneasy detaching -- she could feel his fingers move one way, and then another, his eyes flickering down momentarily as though that would help. They didn't want to let go. When he finally had a hold on the slippery thing that was Beryl and not Ursula she could see the relief on his face as well, relief and a little bit of triumph --

"I've got it," he said (unnecessarily).

After that he drew back his hand, staring as though he could see the fine webs that still attached it to the Queen of the Dark Kingdom. This was the moment wherein the universe drew a sharp breath: what if he took his chances? What if he destroyed it? What if he was going to mutiny, betray her then and there, betray his roots as the cavalier Mortalitas rather than the General-King Charonite?

He didn't. He was too unimaginative. But that was unfair as well -- he was too stodgy, too set in his path, to do that now. He went and pressed the starseed into the body of the lifeless shell that she had made as the copy.

"Now give me back my wife," he said. "No. Give her back to herself."



As the starseed sank into her chest, the new body of Queen Beryl sank to its knees. It convulsed, arms, head and body shaking as the magic took its course and the new creation accepted the starseed responsible for bringing it to life.

Eyelashes fluttered open, Nealite staring down at her unmarked arms. No, not Nealite - Beryl. Beryl was staring at her arms, her fingers moving as if she'd suddenly realized they belonged to her. Within moments she was on her feet again, a small smile growing across her face as she continued to twist and turn, studying the body she now owned and the limbs now at her command - no second soul to fight for control, no screaming conscience in the back of her mind to subdue. The fight was finally over.

A second set of eyes opened, weary orange ones that had nearly given up on the world. She lacked the strength her doppelgänger now possessed - it was apparent from her stance - but her happiness remained clearly unmatched. The young General's arms were quick to move forward, extending out to wrap around the General-King's torso, her fingers grasping and clutching to the fabric of his uniform as though fearful he might disappear if she were to ever let go.

Her face pressed against his chest, burying into his shirt. Soon enough, the front began to grow damp, salty tears absorbing into the material now coated with the unmistakable smell of hospital antiseptic.

"I was scared you'd never wake up."

Her voice was raspy, choked by tears and nearly inaudible. "I was so scared."

She no longer had the power within her to protect those she cared for. It was Beryl that had saved Charonite from Kunzite. It was Beryl that had given Tanzanite her life back. Her power was unmeasurable in comparison, but that no longer mattered. Nothing mattered, save for the one person she continued to cling to, the man who had returned her life to her. Her husband. Her General-King. Her Khalid.

Slowly, her head moved away, tilting upwards to gently allow her lips to press against his jawline. They rested there for a moment, before he could feel her lips curve up into a smile against his cheek. Standing up on her toes, she breathed softly into his ear. "I told her you'd wake up."

One hand fell down and took hold of his, shifting them until both palms were placed flat on her stomach. "I told her that her Daddy would make it back to meet her."

The smaller hand rubbed against the back of the larger one, the young woman finally content. Her husband had returned to her, her body was her own again, what could possibly go wr-

"How touching."

The hand on the General's stomach stilled, her gaze moving away from her husband to meet with identical orange eyes that sent a chill down her spine. This was too simple - too good to be true after all.

The Queen of the Negaverse laughed, her own hands falling down onto her flat stomach. She seemed to take delight in the fact she was no longer with child, no longer forced to carry around a Cavalier's daughter within her. She possessed her own body now, she had her own control. And it was clear, unfortunately for the reunited couple, that she intended to test out her new control on the both of them.

"Your wife was returned to you as promised, Mortalitas." The smile was cruel, twisted. "She was not harmed during the transfer."

A pause, a wait and then the inevitable moment of truth. "But now the transfer is complete and I've grown tired of both of you. Far too long have you been a thorn in my side, but now that neither of you are necessary, I will be able to continue on as I please without all of these...annoyances."

Her hands rose and began to rotate, a dark energy orb appearing from within. This was the same energy that had nearly ended Kunzite's life months ago, but now it seemed to find the Killingworths as its newest victims - or did it?

Both hands frozen suddenly and the ball evaporated. The ends of her lips curved up. "No...that wouldn't be fun now would it?"

Raising one hand to her face, she gently pressed one finger to her mouth as she mused, "Hmm, let me see. Perhaps we should take care of Mortalitas first, Ursula? Or should you be the first to go - after all, he did just leave the hospital to come save you."

The voice was disturbingly playful, a cat toying with its mouse, "I could punish you as I did Zoisite but that's so terribly messy. I haven't been able to enjoy anything like this in a very long while, so hmm. What to do..."

Finally, her hands clapped together, the figurative light bulb burning brightly with her resolution. "I know what to do. As my final act of generosity - for assisting my return to this world, of course - I will allow you both to decide your own fates."

A second passed - then another. "Come on now, if neither of you can decide what's to be done then I suppose I will have to think of something - do try to make it interesting, will you?"

Nealite's head turned and pressed once more against the General-King's jacket - the shudder that ran through her was unmistakable. After nine grueling months of playing host to this woman, was everything going to end... like this?

She felt his arm wrap around her hip, a protective comfort dearly missed during the long, agonizing months they'd been apart. No one said a word for several more moments - what could they possibly say?

If there was just some way to stop her, some way to save the baby...if only they had enough time to think it thro-

Time.

That was it.

"Seal us away."

Both the General-King and the Queen stared at her as though she had sprouted a second head. Well, a third, if anyone wanted to get technical. Under his breath, her husband questioned her. "Ursula?"

Glancing up, her eyes met with his and she smiled. "It's alright, darling."

One hand moved up and caressed his cheek, her gloved hand lingering as she stood up on her toes and briefly kissed his lips. Pulling away, her forehead pressed against his. "We can be together this way - not now, but later on, all three of us."

He remained quiet, his expression refusing to give away his thoughts.

"You won't have to wake up alone this time, Khalid." Her second hand rose up and took hold of his other cheek.

They stared at one another, his eyes questioning her as she smiled back in return. Finally, he nodded his head and she pulled away to face her - her, the woman who held their lives in her hands, the Queen who saw it fit for both of them to die.

"You know you'd only be delaying the inevitable? Once you wake up, I'll simply kill you then."

The General's chin lifted defiantly. "That's a risk we're willing to take."

Beryl smiled and Ursula did her best not to look away from her own face staring back at her. A cruel copy that would no doubt take advantage of her new appearance.

"Perhaps, in centuries to come, I will pity your miserable lives and spare you by the time you awaken. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

"I suppose we will."

The Queen laughed softly at that, as though she found the answer amusing - she probably did. They were fools but now they would be fools who would be out of her way. Death now or death later - death would be inevitable, so what difference did it make to her?

One hand rose, a soft glow emitting itself from the tip of her staff. As she began casting, Ursula took her remaining seconds to press against her husband, snuggling against him as both of his arms found their way around her, tightening themselves. Tucking her head beneath his chin, she closed her eyes and breathed one last final sigh.

"I love you, Khalid."

"I love yo-"

The beam struck without warning, the couple instantly sealed within a large crystal chamber similar to the very one that had housed Beryl for over two decades. Both frozen in time, their daughter pressed between them as they clung to one another.

The task was over as quickly as it had begun. Within moments, her hand waved and the tomb was shoved to the side, sentenced to linger in the corner of her chamber until either she or time decided to release them. And she had no intention of ever releasing them.

It was then that she heard it.

"Release me."

The voice was unmistakable, loud and demanding within the confines of her own head.

"It's about time you woke up."

Her response was brief, the tone angry, but the request was nevertheless obeyed.

Lowering herself down to one knee, a gloved hand pressed against the marble ground. Beryl's eyes closed and she willed the energy to pass through her, beginning slowly from her starseed until it reached her fingertips. From there, it absorbed into the surface of the marble, a dark cloud physically moving beneath the stone as a shark within water.

She felt the enormous power leave her, but said nothing. Beryl was truly in command of herself once more and she would be damned before she allowed herself to be controlled yet again - not this soon.

"Metalia."

The cloud shifted beneath the surface, moving to crawl into the crystal walls of the room. It swum through the stone, gliding across the ceiling until it settled into the center.

The stone cracked, the sound echoing through the halls of the Negaverse subspace. Crystal began to shift as the Queen rose and stared warily up, towards the giant stone that began to move itself in place. It took mere seconds for the giant orb to form, but soon enough the Chaos Seed had reinstated its place within the subspace, as it had centuries before.

"My Queen. So you have decided to handle things yourself, now?"

The end of her long staff settled on the ground and the redhead smirked. "I have."

"Then things will hasten, now that you have your own body to control?"

"They will indeed."

With that, the Queen was gone - vanished from the Negaverse to assume the identity of Ursula Killingworth, her determination to rule the world now stronger than ever.