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In all their meetings, Athene had never deliberately tried to seek out Remarque and yet tonight the dark-haired eternal was doing just that. Well at least he was attempting to find the blond Dark Mirror senshi, although he hadn't had much luck so far.

It had all started with a call for 'assistance' that had pinged his phone whilst he was out on patrol with Ida and Liryn earlier on in the week - a call that had led to them making their way to a warehouse, however the warehouse had turned out to be a slaughter scene and the call for assistance had turned out to be a mad white-haired Prince's sick attempt to get their attention so that he could rant on about a senshi's supposed duty - which seemed to involve mass murder and adopting tactics that the Negaverse would probably be proud off.

It had made Athene feel disturbed enough to feel that he had to at least try and find Remarque and let the other know that he (and by extension his Court) needed to watch his back.

It wasn't a decision that he had made lightly - after all for all that he had always found the tall blond senshi okay, it didn't change the fact that the two of them stood on opposite sides of the war in which they were both caught up in. It was the wrongness of the whole thing that had finally decided him, a wrongness that had felt similar to the wrongness that he he had felt on the night that the Negaverse had decided to turn on the Dark Mirror and it was that more than anything that had solidified his decision to slip out.

He had done so alone, without telling either Orah and Liryn of what he intended to try and do, a part of him feeling that the pair two would disapprove if they found out what he planned to do, although it wasn't as if he'd had any success so far in finding Remarque.

After the last attempt had ended up leading to yet another dead end Athene had ended up in the park, sitting on one of the park benches as he looked up at the night sky, although his mind wasn't really on the stars despite them being pretty.

Five minutes he told himself. Five minutes, then I'll set out again and try looking for just a little longer.

It would be his last attempt for the night as if he couldn't find Remarque when he next set out then Athene knew that he would have to call it a night for the night.

Mayhaps it was the dead ends, or perhaps it was down to the poor sleep he'd been getting recently - either way however, despite normally being on the ball about auras, this time round Athene was so caught up on his thoughts that he didn't notice the other aura until it was almost on top of him.

Well no - that wasn't quite true - in actuality, it was only when the other voice started speaking that Athene realised with a sudden and rather visible startled start that he was no longer alone in the little corner of the park where he had stopped to take five.

The surprise was still visible in his eyes as Athene switched his attention from his (not really) contemplation of the stars to the the approaching blond, his lips quirking up into a one of his slight smiles, although it was on the self-deprecating side. After all it figured that Remarque would be the one that ended up finding him.

"Evening Remarque" his quiet voice was friendly as he greeted the Dark Mirror senshi, adding in answer to the other's comment about the stars "And I guess they are, although I wasn't really looking at them."

It struck him suddenly, that the two of them had first met like this in a park just over two years ago. He had been drinking hot chocolate at the time (which was absent) and also suffering from the runny nose of doom and making his way through a mound of tissues (both of which were also absent - albeit ones that were more welcome absences).

The smile faded as he admitted "Actually, I was hoping I might run into you."

"I..." For a moment a look of hesitation flickered across his face and then it was replaced with a serious look, the same seriousness reflected in his quiet voice as he admitted "I doubt what I'm going to tell you is something that can be called a pleasure."

After all what he, Ida and Liryn had found in that warehouse couldn't be called even remotely pleasant.

Athene continued speaking, although he didn't look at the taller senshi as he spoke.

"About a week ago, I was out on patrol with my team mates when we received a call for assistance. It was a call from Prince Castor one of our Royals."

For a moment his mind drifted back to the night, to Ida scouting the area whilst he and Liryn checked out the warehouse. To the metallic scent of blood heavy on the air.

"But it wasn't an assistance call - not really and it hadn't just be sent to us - it had been sent to all off us out on patrol or whatever that night."

Athene did look at Remarque for the next part his eyes solemn as he continued "What we found was a pile of bodies" before adding "Lieutenant bodies to be precise - Prince Castor and his brother had killed them all. Said it was a message and they said they were declaring war on Earth - well at least Castor's brother said that they were. The exact phrase he used was that the Dioskouri have declared war on earth."

He sighed, "And although I think that their main target is the Negaverse, they've made it clear that they're going to go after chaos." And now they were to the crux of the reason why he had been trying to seek the other out. "I don't know what that status of whatever it is that your Court has with the Negaverse," especially he had seen their supposed allies turn on the Court. "But they didn't just kill those Lieutenants Remarque - they slaughtered them..." He could still hear the snap of bone as Castor had casually trod on one of the corpses. "And I'm not sure that someone who can casually do that is going to make a distinction between one sort of chaos and another." Wasn't sure that they would even care to.

"I..." for a moment it looked like he was going to add something and then he shook his head. "I know you're big in the Dark Mirror Court so I wanted to let you know."

So you can protect your Court. He left the last six words unsaid. He had probably said too much as it was given that for all their interactions, for all that Athene thought the other okay and for all that some of his Court had helped out the White Moon during Vespa's purification it didn't change the fact that they still stood on opposite sides.

Athene didn't regret seeking Remarque out though, whatever the eventual consequences turned out to be. What Castor was planning to do - was already doing was wrong and his conscience wouldn't let him keep quiet on this.

"Prince Castor wasn't like this when I first met him" Athene admitted. "But that was three years ago give or take." It had been in the aftermath of the City Council meeting that had been called during the period when all those civilians had suddenly and mysteriously gone missing. The one that the Negaverse had invaded and people had died.

Athene had only been a base senshi at time and one with no real opinion of the Negaverse. Well okay there had been that one time with the blond paintbrush-wielding Lieutenant, but that encounter hadn't been enough for Athene to do more than come to the conclusion that said Lieutenant was crazy.

The meeting had changed that, had been his first real experience of death and it had been there that his strong dislike of energy-stealing had formed.

But although he had joined the other Order members in powering up and trying to stop the Negaverse he hadn't exactly conducted himself with any brilliance - in fact he had been pretty pathetic and he knew it. Had known he needed to get stronger - which was why when he had received Prince Castor's message about the senshi training session he was putting on he had jumped at the chance.

It had been the first and last time Athene had encountered the Prince. Well at least until the warehouse last week.

He looked at Remarque "But I can't claim to have ever known the Prince well, nor would I disagree with your assessment of the man that I met last week." Not when he'd had similar thoughts himself.

His quiet voice turned solemn as he said simply "Thank you" when Remarque said he would pass the message along, shaking his head when Remarque asked him if Castor had harmed any amongst the White Moon. "As far as I know, no, but Castor and his brother were quite clear on the fact that the message wasn't just directed at chaos, that it was directed at us too." He wasn't quite able to hide the disgust in his voice "You see apparently we should all be doing our duty by going out to find and kill chaos agents."

Athene sighed suddenly feeling tired, feeling old for all that he was only nineteen "And yes Castor's brother was also very, very clear about what would happen to those who they considered in their way - anybody in their way."

Although Athene hadn't specifically used the word threat, it was the unspoken implication.

Athene nodded at Remarque's statement about not agreeing with killing, the taller senshi hadn't struck him as one who agreed with killing. Certain members of his Court yes - hard for him to think otherwise when he had seen them in action when they and the Negaverse gatecrashed the combined Senshi and Knight meeting that Princess Polaris had organised almost two and a half years ago - but Remarque no.

Words kind of seemed more Remarque's trade, although Athene didn't doubt that the blond could back those words up - after all having read the Primer he knew full well that the other was one of the three Dark Mirror Court Royals and there was no such thing as a weak Royal Senshi - no such thing as any weak Royal really be it Senshi Royal or General King.

"I guess it's pretty obvious what my stance on killing is" he said at last simply, after all he'd never really hidden his views on the subject. Another sigh and then he added quietly in answer to Remarque's comment about Castor coming to his senses "And I hope so too, although I can tell you that not all of us in that warehouse agreed with the Prince and his brother over their assessment on our supposed duty in this war."

He stood "And I'm glad I managed to find you" It was growing late though and he had to get back. "I hope next time our paths cross that the circumstances will be more pleasant."