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Fallon did not intend to go to the Halloween Carnival. It wasn't that she would not have enjoyed working at one of the bakery booths -- she would -- but the teenager was not in any place to be social. At first, after Tartaros, Fallon thought it would be difficult for her to slip back into her fuku and hit the streets as Sailor Ares. In truth, it was being Fallon that she couldn't stand. Her old friends were all but forgotten. It had been a month since she had talked to Audrey, even longer since she'd seen Jada. Her pony, Taillevent, had been all but totally abandoned. She still paid the stable to care for him, but months had passed since she had actually ridden him. Fallon quit all of her extracurricular activities, even gave up her leadership position in French Club. Most surprising of all, she stopped cooking. Period.

Who was this girl?

That night, Fallon had not been Fallon. She was Sailor Ares, stalking through the shadowed corners of Destiny City like she had been born there, hidden under a cloak of blackness. Nothing she did was without purpose. It was no accident that she ended up at the entrance of the carnival, hidden in the high boughs of a bending oak tree. Ares had been following Johnny since he left his house, picking quietly along, searching out a moment to confront him.

In the aftermath of Tartaros, they had spoken, but barely. How could that be? How could the only two parallels left not run to each other for comfort? The initial answer was obvious: because this was Ares and Laocoon. They weren't exactly known for their tenderness. Still, Ares had tried to reach him through the mirror, tried to connect and plan, but Laocoon had tuned her out.

He was not going to be allowed to do that anymore.

When Johnny stopped at the sign, Sailor Ares made her move. It was a simple one. She jumped from the tree above him, landed neatly on one knee at his feet. The senshi of smoke straightened swiftly and fixed him with a heated glare.

Her words burned with fire. "Laocoon," she said. The word was a swear. It was dangerous, it was stupid. It was a threat. Even with civilians too far away to hear, she was putting his identity in jeopardy. It was her way of letting him know she meant business. "We need to talk." Her eyes dropped down to his feet, then back up. "You look ridiculous."

Well, good, this was off to a lovely start.

Sailor Ares had a poker face on, her mask of confidence, but it faltered when Johnny denied his identity. A snarl broke her cool. "You dare deny our Kingdom with the dead bodies of our comrades layering the ground all around us." She spit the words out. It made her sick to say it, even sicker to see how his eyes avoided hers, how he was still trying to push her out even with her right there in his ******** face.

Two boys walked down the path that ran by the sign where they were waiting. They smelled like booze. The taller of the two stopped and stared at Ares. "Oh my god," he said, the sharp odor of whiskey spanning the air between them. "That is the kind of costume I like to see." A slack-jawed grin crossed his lips.

His friend elbowed him in the side. "Man, don't waste your time. No terrorist costumes are allowed inside the carnival, and I want some ******** cotton candy. I'm not missing out on cotton candy so you can try your weak game out on some chick." He kept walking.

The other boy approached Ares and Johnny. She narrowed her eyes before he could speak. "I will rip your balls off and force feed them to you if you don't get out of here." Her voice lowered an octave. "Now." At first, the drunk kid laughed, but Ares fixed him with a glare so sharp that he stumbled backwards, hands raised in defense. She didn't stop glaring until the two boys were safely out of earshot.

Then that glare flew right to Johnny with the same intensity. "I am not some pesky girl who you can cast off like a bad habit." She straightened. "I am Sailor Ares, and you, whether you like it or not, are Cavalier Laocoon and we are all that is left of everything we have ever known." Emotion threatened to break into her words, but she held it in check.

Her eyes dipped to the ground, then raised back sharply. "Alexandros would be ashamed of you."

Johnny made several mistakes at once.

1) He made a Star Wars reference that Ares did not understand.
2) He turned his back on her.
3) He denied the existence of their Prince.

Fun time was over. Ares was ready to break some ******** skulls. One skull, in particular.

Without warning, the senshi of smoke threw a lightning-quick punch straight for Johnny's jaw. There was no softening it to account for his civilian form. She hit him with the same ferocity that she would have struck Wiseman if he was still around for her to attack. There was no mercy, and judging by the cool rage boiling in her eyes, there would be none to come.

Oddly dressed as she was, Ares had the benefit of being a girl. Most bystanders would intervene if they saw a guy punch a girl in the face. But the reverse? Not so much. Studies had shown that people were less likely to get involved in fights that appeared to be relationship spats as well, and to the naked eye, it probably looked like the two costumed characters were an arguing couple, not two supernatural allies working through some tough issues. This was a fortunate thing.

For Ares. Not for Johnny. For Johnny, it kind of sucked.

Sailor Ares held her ground, relishing the time it took the cavalier-in-hiding to compose himself. "What do I want from you?" she echoed, each word more scathing than the next. "When I ask you to remember your Prince, a man who ruled your home for eons, who led you into battle, who created your very purpose for existing, I want you to be honest and have some courage. You're spineless, Laocoon." Her voice swelled louder on his cavalier name. It was, again, a threat. "And it disgusts me." She put both hands on her hips. "Hector would never act like this." It was a reason she had liked him so damn much.

The senshi of smoke allowed Johnny a moment of recuperation. "Now tell me. Say it. Who is your Prince? Who is our Queen? What is our Kingdom?" Her eyes narrowed darkly. "And where have you been?" As far as Ares knew, Laocoon was all that was left of their world. How could he leave her alone? How could he ignore her when she was reaching out?

She would not be ignored anymore.

That was it. That was it.

Sailor Ares had never been particularly nice or patient or loving. She had never remembered birthdays the way she should, or thanked people enough for what they did for her. She wasn't the best about saying the right thing and had a tendency to judge everyone before they could be given a fair shot at making a connection. But there was one thing that Ares was absolutely fanatic about: loyalty.

And right then, in that moment, she wanted to take the words that had just fallen out of Johnny's mouth and force them down his throat until he choked on them.

There was a single moment of hesitation. Then Ares gave into her anger. One hand lashed out, grabbing Johnny by the collar and forcibly throwing him into the woods that butted up to the carnival. She didn't need an audience for this. No sooner had the crash of his body hitting grass sounded, and she was on him again, grabbing him by the hair and yanking him to his feet.

"FIGHT BACK," she shouted, teeth gritting against her rage. Ares propped him against a tree and then threw a punch into his gut. "Prove to me that you are worthy of our legacy." She aimed the next for his left kidney. "Show me the might of the Black Earth. Show me the might of the cavaliers." Her head rocketed forward, slamming into his forehead like a sack of bricks.

The only reward Johnny got for peeking out was a punch to the eye. Sailor Ares grabbed him by the wrist and launched him into a tree several feet away. If she wasn't careful, she was going to do more than bruise and cut him. Bones could be broken when a civilian was handled this way. That fact didn't seem to phase Ares in the slightest.

She stalked slowly toward the place where Johnny landed, pausing for a moment. Then she kicked him sharply in the side, right between the ribs. "Fight me," she said coldly.

Then she kicked him again, flipped him over onto his back, and spit in his face.

"Fight me."

Triumph blossomed in the deepness of her gray eyes. This was what she wanted; this was where home was. Standing there in front of Cavalier Laocoon, Sailor Ares felt transported back to the Black Earth. She could remember countless days spent sparring with her boys, the cavaliers, even Laocoon. It was the happiest she had been in weeks, just to see him point his sword at her.

Ares could be sort of weird.

A smirk broke across her lips. "I'd love to see you try." Without warning, Sailor Ares leapt into the air, fist raised, and attempted to catch Laocoon on his sword-arm side.