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“You were right, you know.”

The words filled the mostly empty chamber just outside of Beryl's throne room. They echoed off of the heavy double doors; black marble with a sparkling ocean of stones in varying shades of purples and blues. It was a gaudy, tacky display, but it was fitting for the equally loathsome woman who was undoubtedly lounging upon her throne behind it. There were no more eyes and ears for Queen Beryl. No more youma to eavesdrop and report every word back to her. Tanzanite thought of the woman, likely still furiously sulking, and it brought her some small amount of joy.

Her clawed hand rested upon the smooth surface of their once leaders eternal prison. Within, she could make out Charonite and Nealite's faces, and her eyes instinctively refocused to bring back her own reflection. It was as though her body was reminding her that this had been their fault. The spikes that circled her head like a wicked crown, the scales that crept across her temples and cheeks, it was all a reminder of who and what she was, and why Charonite had indeed been right.

She will never be the same.

It was Zinkenite's heartbeat that gave him away long before his footsteps would, and by the time he made it to the large antechamber, Tanzanite's face would already be turned up and waiting. Her grey eyes locked upon his cheek, brow furrowed as his racing heartbeat betrayed his fear.

“I hope you fell down the stairs, General. She's been having a bad day.”

Tanzanite had been making sure of it.

It was perhaps Linarite that formed the strongest bond between Tanzanite and Zinkenite. They had grown up within the Negaverse together, but even then Aree Cadence had always kept people at a distance. Linarite had been a fluke, the rare exception that slipped past Aree's guarded walls and into her heart. Now, there were no flukes. Tanzanite made no exceptions. Tanzanite's heart was an empty place, a hollow vessel that served only to contain the power she possessed. Her relationship with the General had always been professional, and it was only in their mutual loss of the bluenette General that had given them a real common factor.

Their grief, and their hate.

Tanzanite did not need saving. At least, not in her own opinion. They had strength, where Lina Knight had only weakness. They had power, where she had only her sniveling dependence on her pathetic prince. Tanzanites self-satisfied smile must have seemed oddly out of place, but she did not think to hide it.

“Stop looking at your feet,” Tanzanite said as she turned her attention back towards the crystal that overshadowed even her impressive height. She fought the urge to push the damned thing over, and pulled her hand from its surface so as to avoid the temptation. She clasped her hands behind her back and slowly approached him, unable to shake an almost military measure to her stride.

“It makes you look weak.” Tanzanite was surprisingly businesslike. She stopped a few feet short of him and said: “Who was the Captain, and who was the hostage.”

“Gunn.”

There was more emotion in that spoken word than Tanzanite would prefer. Tanzanite's clothing was not particularly modest, and the slits in her skirt revealed the cost of Gunn's handiwork. From mid-thigh to mid-calf, the pale skin swirled in sharply contrasting patterns with the dark youma's armorlike shell, ending in the sharp spines of her feet. Gunn had burnt her legs nearly to the bone, and where those flames had touched, Metallia's dark healing had left blackened scars of youma flesh.

He had Gunn, and he had traded her for Ilmenite. There was a flare of instinct, the surge of anger that she seemed to always have to fight to keep down. It felt like swallowing bile, trying to keep down the burning rage that always simmered beneath her thin veil of composure. Had she been Charonite, Zinkenite might have been lying on the other side of the room in an unconscious heap already.

Instead, Tanzanite simply lifted that human hand and rested it gently upon his shoulder.

“We all fail, Zinkenite. You let a hostage escape in exchange for the life of a fellow officer, and I am to blame for the deaths of Primase, Helicase, Dioptase, Marthozite, and Linarite.”

Tanzanite spoke the names as though she were reading a grocery list rather than confessing to her severe list of crimes against the Negaverse. There was no denying that it had been her own recklessness and arrogance that had caused the catastrophe with the Blood Moon Court. She seemed to carry the guilt as though it were a welcome burden. It was perhaps the only thing that made her feel any sense of regret.

“You will fail again, and you will cost someone their life, and I guarantee you will never make that mistake again. Do not let guilt cloud your judgment, or you become weak to the things they will promise you. You will follow in Linarite's path and listen to their lies, and take the easy path. You will wander, for they will promise you peace. An end to the fighting, because they don't have anything worth fighting for.”

The mere mention of Linarite's betrayal twisted Tanzanite's features into a deep frown. That, too, had been her fault. She should have killed Castor the day she had met him. How different their world would be now, if she'd only had the strength.

“The easy choice and the right one are seldom the same, Zinkenite. We are outnumbered, outpowered, and they awaken more Knights every day. Of course you failed. Get over it.”

“You made the right choice.”

Tanzanite's voice was firm, her confidence absolute. Any of those who had survived the Blood Moon Court's capture would have said the same. No one knew better than the General-Queen what would have happened to Ilmenite had he fallen into their hands, and even her hardened heart would never let that come to pass. From head to toe, she bore the scars of their wicked actions, and the damage that could not be seen had been infinitely worse. There was no room for doubt or argument in her tone.

She would not listen for even a moment to the idea that leaving someone behind to endure that could possibly be right.

“You did for Ilmenite what Queen Beryl should have done for us. Had she your selflessness, perhaps General-King Marthozite would still be with us.”

Oh, but I am... the man's voice whispered in her thoughts, but Tanzanite ignored it. Now was not the time for distractions, not when Zinkenite would soon have to report that same story to Queen Beryl. Would he be the next to suffer at her rash and selfish hands? Tanzanite looked solemnly back to Nealite's closed eyes, the slight set to her brow that spoke of both sadness and content. It was a feeling that Tanzanite would never know, for she had chosen a path far different from that of her friend.

Considering their current positions, it was difficult to say who had made the better decision.

“When you go in, do not tell her it was Ilmenite.”

The words were a warning, and Tanzanite set her hand upon the crystal as though to let the pair within serve as another. That the two were close was no secret, particularly not to a woman who could sense the location of any officer at any time, whether in powered or human form. They had done well not to show it, save a few quiet remarks here and there, but there were not many secrets within the Negaverse. Even the best kept of them eventually came out, and there were always consequences.

Linarite had kept hers well, and now she was dead. Now, her body had been taken over by the Knight, as though they'd had any right to erase her life. To erase what had ultimately been her choices. Charonite and Nealite were forever imprisoned for daring to have a weakness in one another. It always came out in the end, and somebody always paid the price.

“The Queen has never shown a great deal of tolerance for weakness, General. Unfortunately, her definition varies quite a bit from most. I've always fallen short of her standards,” she finished the sentence with a small smile. No, Tanzanite had never been quite enough for Queen Beryl. Endless devotion and the sacrifice of her own life in the name of the Queen she'd once worshipped like a God had never quite reached whatever bar Beryl had set for her officers. Nobody ever did.

Fortunately, Tanzanite no longer answered to her.

Unfortunately, many of them still did.

Tanzanite smiled, but it was a hollow expression. Something done more because she felt like she should than any real impulse. To most, she should have passed even Queen Beryl's tests with flying colors. It had once been her single driving force, to defend and serve that woman. Nobody ever passed Beryl's tests in the end, however. Like Zoisite, Jadeite, Kunzite, Nephrite, Charonite, and Nealite before her, Tanzanite would have been struck down where she stood had Beryl still possessed the power over her to make it so.

It was that same fate that she feared to Zink. There was no loyalty strong enough, no victory great enough that it would appease Beryl's obsession. Tanzanite returned the bow with only a nod. She respected formalities. After all, despite their often close connections with one another, the Negavese remained first and foremost an army sworn to the defense of Earth.

That black hand raised, and hovered in the air as a single claw pointed to the doorway.

“She's in there.”

There was a slight sadness to the words, an ominous tone that spoke of her own worries. It was not Beryl that Tanzanite feared, but those over whom she still had control. Zinkenite had served the Negaverse loyally. He had helped lead the charge on the Blood Moon Court's hidden safehouse. Where Beryl had sat upon her throne, safe within the caverns of the Negaverse, Zinkenite and others had run headfirst into danger to save their comrades.

It was admirable, and Tanzanite offered Zinkenite a quiet, reassuring smile.

“Be careful in there, General.”