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Following Elysion and the reappearance of the Prince of the White Moon Kingdom, Super Sailor Ares had immediately called a meeting of the Blood Moon Court. To the cadets, the shadowed figure of the Blood Moon Queen had not appeared in some time. Ares had almost forgotten entirely about her alter-ego, a figure created initially to gain her faction legitimacy as a court in a climate where that was the kind of leadership the average senshi expected. As time went on, it seemed less necessary. All Mercenaries knew the truth, as did the Inner Sanctum. Most of the cadets seemed to have taken the BMC message to heart: You do not have to be a royal to be a leader.

This time, the faction was only met by their Captain -- a figure who served on the board of their leaders but most often stepped to the front to speak. As always, the rest of the ISS had surrounded her on either side: Laocoon, Gaia, Zirconia, Birhan Isat, and Gunn. This was the face of the Blood Moon. These were the senshi who had proven themselves fatalistically loyal.

The meeting covered the usual things: missed patrols, Negas killed, Youma Kill of the Week, master plan updates, reports from each Task Force -- and then they came to special announcements. Birthdays were shared sometimes. Other times, people let others know of time they needed to take off for personal reasons. Sometimes people shared the sad loss of family or friends.

That day, though, the Blood Moon Court had a very special recognition to give:

Super Sailor Lyra had killed her first Negaverse agent!

Whenever this happened, Ares would bake a massive cake, invite the BMCer to the stage, and have everyone clap for them. She usually passed around a self-made card for people to sign and awarded the special Blood Moon senshi with three days off from patrol. Lyra got her recognition, and a few BMCers stayed after to shake her hand.

After awhile, it was just Ares and Lyra cleaning up the cake together. The taller girl dropped a stack of plastic plates into a garbage bag. There was only one piece of cake left. The rest had been given to the members before they left. Ares turned to smile warmly at Lyra. "Lyra," she said, setting the bag on the ground, "I am so proud of you."

Ares' expression didn't change. "The first one does," she said. It seemed like a strangely vulnerable thing for the Senshi of Smoke to say. She always prided herself on being so impenetrable. Granted, Ares remembered centuries of 'firsts' -- one for each form she had ever taken. "It stops being scary though. It becomes a source of pride."

The trash bag squeaked over the ground as she moved it. "Just think of how many civilians and senshi you saved by killing that one Nega. Now imagine if that was Tanzanite, or Zinkenite, or Scheelite, or Wolframite -- or any number of the Negas we have faced on the battlefield. A little death, a lot of life." Ares dropped a cup of punch into the bag with a flourish. "You are doing a service to the universe."

Ares set the bag she was carrying back on the floor, tugging the twist ties until the opening narrowed to a tiny circle. "No, think about the families. Think about those people who live with someone who would sooner use the energy in their starseeds for strength than protect them." She tied the red handles into a knot. "At first, maybe they wouldn't. Negas might try to protect those that they once loved. But in time as the corruption deepens, as it blackens them like a cancer, their family will stop being the people who raised them in life and start being the ones who cared for them after corruption." She hoisted the bag upward, dropping it off by the door. "Their devotion will move from their blood to the Negaverse." She shrugged.

"Lyra," she said calmly. "What do you know about the kingdom that I come from? My faction... before the Blood Moon."

Ares wasn't entirely sure why she was talking to Lyra about this at all. Any of those who still had memories of the old world knew the history of Nehelenia and the Black Moon Kingdom, but it was not something that she liked to publicize. People heard the word corruption and automatically assumed the worst of a person. "There are different shades of corruption, different ways it can happen," she said, lifting a white cloth and methodically wiping down the length of the table in slow, even strokes.

When she was corrupted, Ares did not kill her family. Ares did not rip the heads off of baby ducks to make a necklace. She did not shove old ladies down in the street. The Senshi of Smoke simply embodied the new power within her and wielded it wherever her Queen deemed necessary -- just as she did when the parallel senshi were untouched by the hand of Chaos. Ares did as she was told, corrupted or not. It had never been that big of a deal for her to find the pulse of Chaos in her veins -- not at first. Before she could learn what it truly meant to be possessed by Chaos, Nehelenia had been purified, and all the senshi with her. Ares thought she understood what it meant to be corrupted. She thought that she knew how to be filled with Chaos without being overtaken by Chaos. But she was wrong. She just didn't know it.

"There was a time when Queen Nehelenia made war with the White Moon Kingdom," Ares began. "That had not been her intention from the start. There was dissent in the Black Moon, and in order to hold on to her throne, Nehelenia knew that she needed a greater power than what she already had. Chaos offered it to her, offered her everything that she needed to command a universe that was splintering because of politics and intrigue, and she took it because she believed that she was strong enough to remain true to herself while channeling the powers of Chaos."

In her position, Ares would have done exactly the same. Her words were free of criticism or rebuke. She did not question the choices that her Queen had made; she never did. "I was one of her senshi. We were a Court. And so when she was touched by Chaos, so were we. No one shoved a hand in my chest and squeezed until I was tainted. Corruption flowed through us just as surely as it surged in our Queen's veins. This is hard to explain, but... we are mirror-bound. Our safe space is mirrorspace, and when Nehelenia filled herself with Chaos, it filled our mirrorspace with Chaos -- and then we, too, her senshi, were filled with Chaos." Gray eyes flickered to Lyra. "The Black Moon Kingdom has always been extremely connected. When Nehelenia died in this world, I felt it. I felt her go." Sadness pricked in Ares' nose, but she would not allow her eyes to water. There had been enough crying before. She was all cried out now.

The parallel senshi were different from their White Moon counterparts in many ways, ways that Ares struggled to explain. How could a White Mooner who had seen Nova or Tisiphone or Hel or Spinel or Alkaid or any of the others understand that Ares did not feel unlike herself when she was under the sway of Chaos? No, she couldn't. She just wanted Lyra to understand that the Negas who were corrupted could not be trusted.

"I understand what it feels like under Chaos. I was able to feel that without becoming a monster, or losing myself -- for as long as it took for my Queen to have the Chaotic influence removed from her by Serenity." Her voice was quiet, far away. "I am telling you this so that you understand. Not all people react to corruption in the same way." Was this true? Was any of it true? Ares sounded honest. The words sounded heartfelt, full of belief, even if those beliefs were wrong. "When I look at a Nega, I can see that they are beyond help. Humans are never strong enough to hold their own against Chaos, and they never will be. I was influenced by Chaos once. And so I can look at a person and tell whether or not they have lost the internal battle to keep Chaos in check." Ares stopped wiping the table. "All Negas lose that battle." She folded the rag in a neat square and then looked up to Lyra.

Ares picked up a final cup, nails brushing gently against the side. Her past was complicated, very complicated, and there was still darkness that she could remember. It was not a feeling that the Senshi of Smoke could readily explain. She was just happy that Lyra was willing to take her words at face value and accept them.

Then Lyra grew serious, and Ares fell silent. She took a few moments afterward to think about it, dropping the cup into the very last plastic bag and tying it off. The cinnamon-haired girl swung the bag over her shoulder. "I promise," she said -- and meant it. Anyone who followed Beryl had to die, senshi or otherwise.

The air was heavy with conversation. Ares decided to lighten it. "All right, let's take these bags out to the dumpster, and then we've got to get back to Crystal." In this way, just as quickly as the deep conversation began, it ended, and the Senshi of Smoke led the way out of the room without another word.