766/Away From All The Fears

Away From All The Fears
Date of Scene:	30 December 2015
Location:	Dark Kingdom
Synopsis:	Zoisite sends youma to kill Endymion. Neither Zoisite nor the youma are the scariest thing in the room. ... Neither is Endymion.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Zoisite

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Zoisite has posed:
It's been days since Endymion's first, and presently last, visit to Earth. Days in which the individual Kunzite named has been a silent absence, undescribed, unknown. Except, of course, that Endymion knows he's one of his. Except that even if Kunzite was unsettled, Endymion has been unconcerned.

And now, approaching the place that Endymion's adopted for his work, he can feel that presence again on the fringes of his consciousness. Turned inward, hidden - skilled at hiding his energies and his aura. If it were anyone but the Dark Kingdom's strongest soldier, the presence would likely pass entirely unnoticed, invisible even to magical senses. As it is, it's not easy to place exactly where he is. Especially when the place is not without traffic of its own, or not entirely so. Youma tend to cluster around the throne room, rather than be haunting the corridors, unless sent out on some task. But a pale mask presses itself into shadows to the side of a passageway and bobs in silent respect as Endymion passes by.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
...which means that as he approaches that presence which for some reason apparently overlays a youma?? go figure!!, Endymion gives the respectfully head-bobbing youma a faint smile. He looks like he's going to keep on his way, certainly. But then he abruptly stops, directly in front of the masked youma if its back is to the wall, and he turns to look at it again.

The black-haired boy with the dull red eyes behind wire-rim glasses, dressed in a rumpled school uniform, nods his head in a proper greeting and says , "You look devastatingly clever. Come with me, please, I have something I need to figure out that I could use your help with."

He inclines his head in the direction of his workspace-- his office, really, whiteboard and all-- and waits for an answer; his expression is mild and he's preternaturally still as he waits.

Zoisite has posed:
Not necessarily overlaid, not precisely. That presence is somewhere nearby. But it would take effort to sort out exactly where; it's good at hiding. The two being the same is neither certain nor beyond the realm of possibility.

The mask that Endymion addresses is not equipped to blink. It bobs again politely, instead, and manifests out of the shadows, largely as a semi-formless, semi-humanoid blob of shadow. A pale shawl covers what might pass for its head and shoulders. It drifts forward, and repeats its polite bob a third time; if Endymion either moves on or directs it, it will accompany him or move as directed. A docile little monster, apparently, all quiet grace and patience.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
He'll need distance to be able to tell, if that. Either way, he'll find something interesting, he's sure. Endymion does indeed move on at the creature's agreement. Idly, as they walk, he looks for Zoisite. Just thinks about him, thinks about that presence, focuses on that familiar light in the same way as his forgotten self used to use Sailor Moon's heart as a beacon to guide him through the darkness; his mind skirts effortlessly around the white-hot gaping wound in his soul where his link with the Moon Princess was damaged.

And then they're at the door to his 'office', and Endymion opens it and gestures the youma in first, watching it closely to see where it turns, where it looks. And then the boy lingers at the threshold, pushing up his glasses and crossing his arms, leaning against the doorframe. "Okay. So the problem I need solved is, why would Zoisite be trying to ambush me?"

Zoisite has posed:
There. There, past the door - not at the level of the floor; perched midair, where his head must be bent a little to keep it clear of the ceiling. He can feel the presence without being able to see it.

And, caught, the presence makes itself clear. There's a warm little bright ripple of a laugh, almost affectionate-sounding, and Zoisite shades into visibility. Yes, perched, one leg crossed neatly over the other. Yes, head bent, the tail of his hair caught back and mostly out of his way, except for the forever-escaping curls that frame his face. "Oh, Prince Endymion-sama," he says, pressing a hand to his chest and bending his head a little further. "Your humble servant would never dream of trying to ambush you."

His smile almost sparkles.

"I'm just a spectator. Yaksha is the one who thinks you betrayed us."

And the shadow-creature is flowing back toward the threshold, suddenly, its shadow and shawl spread enveloping-wide, the eyes in its mask blank and wide and terrible.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Zoisite," Endymion says reprovingly, mildly exasperated, as the creature flows back at him. He's not even looking at it. It's going to envelop him, it's going to eat him whole--

He vanishes from Zoisite's sight before the youma's fully extended to consume him.

Then, "Sorry, Yaksha," comes the boy's voice, and there's a not-terribly-pleasant sound of impact and Yaksha's flying back from the door, probably right in Zoisite's direction, "I know you only know what you're told."

In the doorway stands a cold prince in heartbreakingly familiar armor, black-haired and red-eyed and wearing a cape as well as Kunzite does. The youma's injured enough to be unconscious, but... not enough to be dead, or to die from it. "If I've wronged you somehow, Zoisite, please enlighten me as to the nature of the offense."

And he's not entirely cold, is he? There's something about the muddy red-brown of his eyes that holds the reason Endymion would be exasperated instead of furious.

He closes the door behind him, not taking his eyes off the hovering General-- and of all things, his expression is wry. "Honestly, where have you been?"

Zoisite has posed:
The mask cracks under the impact; the shadows dissipate, the shawl dissolves into a nightmare mane of white hair over the fanged face of something horned, brightly-dressed, goblinoid. But the transformation into her true form doesn't save the youma any momentum. Zoisite ducks to the side, and the youma crashes into the wall, sliding to the floor. She's an earth youma, fundamentally, no matter her creepy initial disguise. A hit like that shouldn't have knocked her out.

The door closing behind Endymion shouldn't be a significant barrier to the three more youma in the hall, closing in as a second wave to take advantage of Endymion's distraction.

But Endymion is the Dark Prince of the Earth, and his corrupted nature rules that of the youma, rules that of the palace. Yasha sinks to the floor unconscious. The explosions that should have taken down the door in force and fire don't even scorch the outside, and are barely audible on the inside. Which leaves the Prince and the General effectively alone, inside Endymion's office.

For the second time in a week, Zoisite's stomach is like ice. He doesn't know where the conviction comes from: he should know this man. He should like him. (Never.) He should be ashamed to face him -- (never) -- be ashamed to have failed him. (NEVER.)

The tangle of emotions settles where it always does. Right back into suppressed rage, compacted down inside him into something that will let him still keep that smile, those blithely sweet tones. "Me?" He cocks his head, blinks guilelessly at Endymion. "Right where I ought to be. You're really not much of a trade up from Nephrite, are you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Don't be ridiculous," Endymion says irritably, moving toward his desk and around it to pull the whiteboard away from the wall and flip it. And he starts mechanically erasing the ocean of calculus neatly written on it. "No one can replace any of you. Also, you should really answer your voicemails."

This last is said flatly as he turns to eye Zoisite instead of just watching from his peripheral vision. And then he finishes cleaning the board and puts his eraser down, moving to sit on the edge of his desk. His ugly, ugly desk, carved horribly ornately from some beautiful ancient wood. It doesn't match the office chairs. Or the white-painted walls.

"So please. Tell me how I've betrayed you. I've been here less than a month, and you just got here. There hasn't even been time."

Zoisite has posed:
Endymion's back is turned at the right moment, but he can hear the roll of Zoisite's eyes clearly in the tone of his voice. "Oh, please. Nephrite could be replaced by a Muppet and nobody would notice a difference in his results." And then Endymion's looking at him again, and Zoisite purses his lips briefly and amends that. "Could have been. But he's very conveniently disappeared, hasn't he? Not that I'm upset. But I understand," and he gestures with two fingers in Yaksha's unconscious direction as the source of the information, "Jadeite might be. And he thinks it's your fault."

Another smile. Bright, white teeth. "Not that Jadeite's that much more use, himself. So I suppose I can't really blame her, if Queen Beryl likes you better."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Here, Endymion does a strange thing:

He looks away from Zoisite, and he's clearly troubled. "No. None of you. I'm not a replacement. He can't think Nephrite's disappearance is my fault... I wasn't even here. I haven't even met either of them, and I can't even find Nephrite. Is that why Jadeite's avoiding me? I should talk to him..." he trails off. And he's frowning, and there's something about his eyes...

Really, what color are they?

He looks up at Zoisite, and it's still hard to tell. Brown? A muddy grey? Surely they're not blue. "I need you all," he says in a tone that's lost, maybe desperate--

No: no, they are red. His eyes flare brightly, and fire should be hot, but-- this is a cold thing, devoid of life and humanity. The boy's voice is also cold, unfamiliar and clipped. "I am Endymion, Queen Beryl's love. I belong to her. After her endless wait, I have been restored to her, and will stand by her side as she brings the Dark Kingdom to victory against those who would stop us."

Zoisite has posed:
It's true: one of Zoisite's favorite games is let's-you-and-him-fight. And for a moment it looks like Endymion's taking the bait. That the bait happens to be true, that Jadeite said words to that effect in front of the youma that haunt Beryl's throne room, is just a bonus. It makes everything that much better.

Until Endymion looks up at him, and that tone strikes a chord that resonates -- not in Zoisite's heart. Not that. In his spine, where reflexes don't wait for confirmation from the brain. In the lizard brain, where fight and flight are determined. For an instant, he feels something he does not understand, and it strips away again the confidence he'd begun to win back.

Just in time for Endymion's eyes to flare.

Zoisite knows fire, knows it blood and heart and bone. That isn't fire. It looks like it; it isn't. And Zoisite, of all the generals, has made a fascinated study of love, a dissection and vivisection of it, pursuing that great taboo with a quietly mad zeal. Whether he knows what love is is debatable. But he certainly knows what it is not.

He draws a breath.

Delicate petals spiral.

And he's gone.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
As far as Endymion can tell, he missed a page somewhere.

They were talking, and now the bright-haired General is gone-- he feels like something skipped. But then he purses his lips and teleports away, himself: those youma can just wait out there for Zoisite until they get bored. Endymion needs to find Jadeite.

Maybe he even will.