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A week had passed since the day of the Halloween Masque. Super Sailor Taranis spent the days avoiding the eternal senshi of hail, hanging out with Dani, and picking up as many shifts at The Corner Bistro as possible. When he patrolled, it was only on the preassigned shifts that he and Castor had worked out before all of this bullshit happened. The days passed fine, but it was the nights that made everything even more miserable.

Whenever Taranis closed his eyes, all he could see was Castor kissing Linarite. It didn't matter that he attacked her afterward. The senshi of sand saw the look in his friend's eye. There was sadness, sure, but more alarming than that, there was love. It was akin to the looks that he gave Dani -- the girl who Linarite had tried to kill.

So close. He almost had her. And then Castor intervened. Who was this person? Could he even be trusted? Sailor Polaris didn't think so and had said as much. A line was drawn in the sand, and right then, Sailor Castor seemed to be standing on the wrong side.

After a week of radio silence, Sailor Taranis texted Sailor Castor. It was simple:



They agreed to meet, and it was in that exact location that Taranis now stood: a playground that had been long abandoned after one too many kids went missing. Another symptom of the sickness in Destiny City. Sailor Taranis sat on top of the monkey bars, one hand gripping a fistful of sand, and waited.

Sailor Taranis heard Castor approaching before his feet even crunched on the playground sand. Like a boy meeting a girl for a first date, he found it hard to make eye contact. His mouth was dry, his hands clammy. There was a trembling in his knees that unnerved him. Castor had been a friend. Taranis really thought that. Sure, if they hadn't both been senshi, the odds of them even liking each other would be pretty remote. But for whatever reason, fate had thrown them together.

And now, it was throwing them apart.

One gloved hand gripped the pole. He hopped down from the bars, landing softly. Eyes fell to the other senshi's broken hand, then raised back to his face. "I need you to explain to me..." Taranis took a breath. There was so much anger in him, but he wanted to understand. He prided himself on his willingness to listen to an argument, to foster a debate. "I need you to explain to me what happened at the ball and why..." It was hard for him to say the words. "Why you did what you did. Why you kissed her." His hand tightened to a fist. "I am trying to understand."

It was an olive branch.

He loved her.

"You love her."

She tried to kill him.

"She tried to kill you."

She took Magellan's starseed.

"She took Magellan's starseed."

She is an agent for the Negaverse.

"She is a <******** Negaverse General servant-b***h to the most evil sack of s**t on the face of our planet."

One hand shot out to grip the air. "Not my problem? Goddamnit, Castor, she is a ******** Nega, and we are senshi. She is all of our problem, okay? You don't get to put her in a ******** corner and hang your goddamn name around her neck." Sailor Taranis took a step forward and dug his toe into the sand. It felt good, calmed him down just a touch. Was that what it was like to be connected to his sphere?

His hand fell back to his side. "I don't care if you ******** her. I don't care if she looked so great as she was ripping the ******** starseed out of some poor civilian's chest, and goddamnit -- that just did it for you and you couldn't help yourself. What doesn't do it for you, Castor?" Apparently Taranis had a favorite word when he was upset. "You told me that there is them and there is us. Well, Castor, kissing the enemy is not exactly the best way to inspire confidence in the ranks. Do you even care about what we're trying to do?" A snarl broke across his lips.

"I trusted you."

The words tasted like acid.

The sheen in his eyes darkened. Did it even occur to Castor that all of this could be an elaborate ploy? He was an eternal senshi. Taranis had seen corrupted senshi before, but never one with the power level that Castor possessed. What would he be like in the hands of Beryl? And how could he be certain that Linarite was not just a trap wrapped up in pretty paper? These were things he wanted to say, but in the grand sea of logical things to say, Taranis found only his own feelings bubbling to the surface.

"Do not compare Magellan to the Negaverse whore who tricked you into bed and is now after your <******** starseed." His arms folded over his chest. Taranis was trying to keep it together. He had always been rational, never the one to lose his cool, but Castor was pushing his buttons. It was hard for him to keep his hat on. "So long as you feel compelled to kiss her, you cannot be trusted to rip her head from her shoulders. I will do it."

Taranis took one step forward. His eyes narrowed to points. Castor was sick. He was sick in the head, and the only prescription was to reason with him.

"She. Is. A. Whore."

Or maybe to downgrade the entire conversation to some name-calling.

Sailor Taranis didn't take another step. Castor had done all the walking for him. He simply dropped his eyes to the ground, even if it meant staring down at their boots.

"You're right," he said. The words were empty. For a second, it might have seemed like a concession. Then his eyes lifted, razor sharp, and he said, "She was pure when she was a civilian. And now her starseed is black as tar because she is corrupt. I know it's hard for you to do, but try to see reason, Castor. Try to look like less of a ******** hypocrite." His hands fell to his sides.

Anger and concern and sadness and confusion swirled in a dangerous cocktail in his veins. It made his head spin, but Taranis kept talking. He was never short on words. His mind reeled back to what Polaris had said to him in his youma toxin-induced stupor. She said that they might have to kill Castor if he was in league with the Negaverse. The idea had stunned him at the time, but now he saw the logic in it. The senshi did not have the time to take chances on people who slept with the enemy.

If Castor didn't see that now, then Taranis would make him. "I wasn't the only one who saw you kiss a Nega. Watch your back, you ******** moron. Most other senshi won't forgive that kind of betrayal." Taranis raised two fingers and jabbed Castor in the shoulder. "But maybe you are better off to us dead than alive. At least then we don't have to worry about your girlfriend corrupting you." He jabbed him again.

Sailor Taranis bristled against the shove, but kept his footing. He was also a seasoned student of Hillworth, even if he was usually on the losing end of battles. He was more likely to be stuffed in a locker than to put someone else there. Still, he knew how to fight. He'd been in his fair share of them.

So he pushed back, raising the strength of the shove just a hair above Castor's. "You don't get to claim a kill. That b***h has wronged more people than just you. You don't have rights to her just because you planted your d**k there." He shoved again. What would Magellan do if she saw this? Honestly... Taranis sort of thought she would support him. Magellan wanted Linarite dead just as badly as he did.

Taranis pushed again, this time extending his arms out fully and leaning into it. "I'm not backing down. She -- what? -- broke your heart, or something? Well, guess what? SHE ******** KILLED MAGELLAN IN FRONT OF ME, YOU SELFISH ********>!" The words exploded out of him like dynamite. In a split second, all of his composure contorted into blind rage.

Without warning, Taranis threw a punch straight for Castor's jaw.