Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. I've given up on being original.LOL Umm... this chapter has some mild profanity in it but then so do the others so yeah... Just mentioning it again for the kiddies. Author Notes at the end, as always.

Chapter Nine

Sol blustered and cursed and raged and screamed and threw an emperor-sized tantrum, but in the end he gave in. Kunzite had always known that he would. Nephrite was right. Loss, when it was the best option, was permissible. Losses that were not equal or less than the gains were not.

He watched the Princess of Jupiter through slitted eyes, evaluating her, and found what he expected to, a warrior, a woman as strong as he. The other princess, the golden fury that lay on the table, matched her. Even the other two, Princess Mercury and Princess Mars, shared these characteristics. Had he been the one assigned to their capture, not Nephrite, he would have seen beyond what he had always been taught to think.

Kunzite had always known that the princesses were proud and strong and spirited, the galaxy knew. But he would have seen the magic inherent in their natures, the training that made them warriors. Wouldn't he? He wanted to believe that he would have but when he looked inside himself he knew he was lacking. Kunzite couldn't read people unless they were at the other end of his sword.

Silver eyes flickered to Nephrite. Did his comrade know something that he did not? Did he see something that made him abandon now, after Rose was nothing but a memory? If he did and Kunzite and Zoicite and Jadeite were making the mistake by staying with Sol would they have time to redeem it?

He let his gaze be drawn to Mina and sighed softly. Worlds lay in the balance and for once in his life Kunzite, born to lead, didn't know where to lead his men to. He closed his eyes and prayed. Not to a deity or some all mighty power but... but to the stars. Nephrite lived his life by their wisdom and they had never steered him wrong. The General had simply stopped listening after awhile. They did not answer and a bitter smile graced pursed lips. He was a fool. But, once again, silver was drawn to gold and his gaze narrowed thoughtfully. He had been willing to kill for Beryl and his emperor's unborn child but... Had their lives not been in danger, if they weren't in danger still, what would warrant the princess's death?

Nothing.

Kunzite bowed his head and listened obediently to the negotiations as he stood behind Sol who was flanked by Jadeite and Zoicite, staring down the unwavering Nephrite and fuming Princess Lita, content to wait to make his move. He couldn't decide fully his course of action but Kunzite always preferred to have back up plans.

"You will leave these walls unharmed and unhurt. You will have five days to go to your estates and to take care of whatever business you may have left in my Empire. After that allotted time you will be declared the outlaws that you are. I will set bounties on your heads and you will be hunted until you are dead.In exchange you will walk out of this palace without the mother of my child. You have my word on this Nephrite. Do you agree?" It wasn't a question. Nephrite nodded without really considering the terms. There was not subtlety here, no subterfuge, no deceit, or if there was it was open. Sol was a man who ruled by power, not diplomacy, that was Endy.

"Agreed," he murmured. His eyes flickered to Princess Lita. She fumed still but... she would go with him because it was not in her nature to calmly accept death. It had been acceptable to her to fight to her death when she had no other option but he had presented her with another choice now. If she stayed here she would soon join her friends, a living corpse, or perhaps not even that. If she came with him they would almost certainly fail but there was still hope, no matter how faint, that they would be able to do some good. Sol, face a furious mask, nodded brusquely at his response. Nephrite pondered his Lord for a moment. Sol was a puzzle of a man. His anger, while directed at Nephrite, was because he would not get to be the man who ran his errant General through. While Nephrite's fellows... His fellows raged because one of their own had betrayed them and the oaths that they swore. His fellows raged because he had done what all of them longed to do.

He was fighting for the right side now. In all the years they had fought he and the others had tried, desperately, to believe that while their cause might not be just it was natural. The strong swallowed the weak. It was the way of the universe. But now, now as he stood by Lita's side at the behest of his dead wife Nephrite knew, with a conviction that he rarely had, that all of their rationalization had been just that.

Excuses. His heart lifted. He was a marked man now but he was free in ways that he hadn't even known were chained. It frightened him, in a way, to think that he had for so long allowed his brain to lead him instead of his heart.

He prayed to the stars for the other Generals and asked his mentors to watch over them and lend them their wisdom. They would not join him in his treachery. Nephrite knew that too, even as they watched, gazes wistful. Wistful?

Cobalt narrowed as Nephrite studied the three men he had once known better than himself. Jadeite, oh he wore his usual detached self, face bored, but underneath there lay something else... Anger certainly and also envy? Zoicite, Zoicite had always been the easiestto read. His features were shuttered but green eyes showed his feelings to the world. Fear and longing. Kunzite. Kunzite could have been made of marble but Nephrite forced up his courage enough to meet his leader's steely gaze one last time.

Nothing.

Sol broke his thoughts. "I will call my soldiers to escort you out. Kindly remove your knife from the Sorceress's throat." The Emperor's voice, cutting, held warning as well and his threat was clear under the guise of simple orders. Nephrite removed the knife. Lita, at his elbow, hissed and he jumped. He hadn't known that she was so close. Jaded eyes glinted as Sol turned heel and strode away to call the guards.

"And what are our chances that our escort won't 'accidentally' kill us General?" She stressed General and he shrugged flippantly, enjoying the irritation that flashed across her bloodied face.

"Better than if we remain. Don't you agree?" Her mouth pursed as she glared.

"Bastard." He bowed low.

"No thank you Lady. I try to keep my blood line pure." Nephrite got to see first hand how quick the Princess was when the insult registered and she slapped him. He chuckled dryly.

"Thank you Princess, I needed that." Green thawed somewhat as she heard the sincerity under the sarcastic reply. Lita nodded. Sheunderstood and he marveled at that. Words were often the best weapon one had against reality and he had just been branded a traitor.

Jadeite stepped forward. "Nephrite," he former comrade said, tone cold. "The guards will arrive soon. Come." He was about to ask how Jadeite knew that when he saw the stone at his wrist pulsing with light. He stepped forward to follow Jadeite and turned at the doorway.

"Lita?" he asked, fighting the urge to command the princess tocome. There was no surer way to guarantee that she wouldn't budge. She ignored him, face pained as she knelt at Mina's side. Nephrite made as if to retrieve her when Kunzite blocked his way.

"Go," his leader said gruffly. "I will take Princess Lita to the sky carriage. I assume that Sol not expect you to walk to your estates?" Nephrite frowned.

"The guards..." Kunzite shrugged.

"I am trustworthy Nephrite. Your companion will not mysteriously disappear. Have Sol send summons when the sky carriage arrives. After all, this princess is not the dangerous one." Flinty eyes looked pointedly to the knife he still held, the edge of the blade red with Beryl's blood. Nephrite flushed. Jadeite unsheathed his sword deliberately.

"Come Nephrite, now." The threat was empty and the four men knew it but Nephrite, with another glance for the oblivious Lita, reluctantly followed Jadeite out of the infirmary.

Kunzite looked at Zoicite. "Guard the door." Zoicite frowned at the order and moved to object when Kunzite growled."Go guard the door NOW." Emerald eyes widened at the tone and urgency in it. Zoicite bit his lip before bowing hastily and leaving the room as well, closing the door behind him as he took up a guard position in front of the oaken frame in the hallway.

Lita looked up as Kunzite knelt beside her. Emerald flashed and she fought the anger that threatened to swallow her.

"Leave me be," she snapped. "At least do me the decency of waiting until I leave before you kill her. Let me remember her alive." Lita turned away, hiding her face from perceptive eyes. "Please..." The last was almost a plea but not quite, she was a princess, she had never learned the art of begging. Kunzite sighed and put a heavy hand on her uninjured shoulder, causing her to whirl, face alight with fury and surprise.

"Don't," he said shortly as she raised her fists to push him away. " Listen to me Lita... I don't want to kill this woman. I don't want to be responsible for her death." She looked at him blankly after he whispered the words harshly, unblinking jaded gaze suspicious. He waved at the unconscious princess.

"You think there is honor in that Princess of Jupiter? You think that I want to kill someone who is my equal while she sleeps?" Lita spat.

"There is no honor in death Kunzite, if anything else war has taught me that!" He stared her down until she broke away from the scornful silver in his eyes.

"Not in death Lita but in combat, in battle there can be, there must be. Tell me... Why are you going with Nephrite?" She started to insult him, started to snap back but stopped. There was a ponderous gravity to his questions that demanded truth. Lita swallowed.

"Because if I die I must die fighting." Kunzite sighed.

"Yes and in that fight there is honor of a kind. That is the code I was raised on when I was learning to be a warrior. I have never killed a man or a woman unless they were armed, unless I could grant them that brief moment of redemption. Its bloody honor, bought with pain and tears and guts but it is true.

I have always granted that last fight unless it endangers another code that I was raised on before my birth, a code that my ancestors lived by. I swore an oath to protect this Kingdom and Empire. I have promised to do anything, anything, to ensure its survival and to protect that oath I would kill an unarmed man, or, a sleeping woman.

She is dangerous to us because she has magic Lita and only because of that." Lita's gaze narrowed.

"I have magic too Kunzite. I believe you found that out from first hand experience." He nodded in recognition of the truth in her words before continuing.

"Aye princess. You have magic but it is weak. You could barely fend off one man. What could you do against an army? Let me ask you this... could you fight Beryl as Mina does? Could you present such a challenge that the Queen of Darkness would give her life simply for the pleasure of smothering that much good?" Her silence was all the answer he sought.

"Neutralize her magic and wake her, unbind her from Beryl. Do that and I swear that she will not die sleeping. Grant her that last battle Lita." She looked at the General incredulous.

"You saw me General Kunzite," she said, voice biting. "I 'barely had enough magic to fight one man off.' I don't have the kind of power it would take to do something like that, or the knowledge." He stood and his hand reached for his sword.

"Then she will die," he replied simply. Lita stared, aghast, and saw the resolve in terribly sad, yet unyielding granite eyes. His features were composed but bitterness twisted his mouth and anger at her helplessness clenched his jaw tight. He drew one inch of steel before she was on her feet.

"Try princess," he said, his own voice pleading. Lita shut her eyes and clenched her fists at her sides before dropping them.

"Very well. Sheath your weapon until I have failed General." Kunzite hesitated a moment before complying.

Lita held Mina's hand and bit her lip, unsure as to how to start. She reached deep within herself and quailed as she found her magics totally depleted. And yet the soul of Jupiter was still there, silent, and relief flooded her at that. Jupiter had broken down the wall of Serenity and Serena's death and once broken, it could never be resurrected. The planets had provided their guardians with powers so that they could stand alone against the darkness. They had stood together for the Moon Kingdom. But before the planets had united and offered their allegiance to the Moon they had united.

They were bound, by friendship, by magic. Serena had brought them together and while Serena's death had shattered the circle that their allegiance made smaller promises, smaller bindings were still present. Lita squinted her eyes shut in concentration and reached, gathered Jupiter's presence to her soul and held it there, fluttering, an emerald shield, before attempting to pierce the darkness that surrounded Mina.

Tendrils of angry magic latched onto her consciousness and Lita gasped as pain sot through her mind. The pain vanished though as the tendrils that sought her were blasted away by searing light. Rushing white power enveloped her and Lita caught the strains of music, wild, light and yet as fierce, as air. It spun around her, testing, seeing, and at last recognizing. In the maelstrom of Venus born power stood Mina, soul encased in her own shield of golden stone, a protection against Beryl's magics which even now sought purchase in this place of goodness.

Emerald flashed and touched gold. There were no words here, with this bond, but there was understanding. Gold reluctantly blinked and started to gutter when green intervened. There was a long pause before the gold condensed, contracting into a brilliant sphere of power, the magic of an entire planet. Lita and Jupiter waited and staggered as the light shot past through their collected defenses and settled, a cloak under the emerald, warming Lita's soul.

Lita gasped as she dropped Mina's hand and broke contact, reeling. Her eyes snapped open and never noticed as Kunzite caught her, keeping her from hitting the stone floor. She had other things on her mind. Venus sang with Jupiter, a duet of planetary voices. Raw magic, a gift from Mina, ran unfettered through her body and Lita's body arched in response, unable to control it.

And yet... she was a guardian because she was strong. Strength was not necessarily power and she had none of the second left but of the first... Physical strength was gone, drained from her fight with Kunzite, but mentally... She was tired, tired from the trials of the last five years, weary even, but she was the Princess of Jupiter. And when she commanded it the planet answered and, in a battle of wills, she tamed it. Tamed it as a falconer does his eagle but she did tame it.

Venus came and Venus was subdued and Jupiter flashed pleasure at its chosen guardian as she calmed magic she was never meant to know. For Mina. Mina...

Lita struggled out of arms she didn't bother to identify as she stood, and then fell to Mina's side. The Princess of Venus's shallow breaths deepened and color filled pallid cheeks. Eyes fluttered and then, then opened to reveal yawning fields of sapphire. The woman on the table next to Mina stirred as well, pale face also filling color as Beryl returned to the world of the living. She had, unconsciously, tied her magics and life to the fight with Mina's powers but Mina was powerless now. The battle, undecided, was finished.

"Well done Princess of Jupiter," a voice that, while never thawed, was warmer than she had ever heard it. She turned to Kunzite.

"Your word," she gasped, "That she will live and die... forgiveme, fight with honor. And Rei and Ami... Swear that they will not die laying down." The warrior bowed low to her, wincing as his wounds, already sore from their fight, complained of the action.

"You have my oath Princess of Jupiter. And Lita..." She looked at him and he wondered if she knew it but her eyes... her eyes were emerald with golden ringed pupils. "Do not judge Earth by its ruler but by its people." Lita managed to nod before sinking to the floor, at last so exhausted that not even her legs could support her.

"Kunzite..." The oaken door opened as Zoicite entered and stared at the nearly collapsed Lita. His eyes flickered to his leader. Kunzite's weapons were sheathed and he met Zoicite's gaze unashamed. Whatever had happened to Lita had been by her own hand.

"The sky carriage has arrived." Kunzite nodded sharply.

"Please escort Princess Jupiter and then return here and check on Princess Venus. I expect that she will regain her senses soon. I must attend Beryl. Tell the Emperor that she is awake and that from what I have observed Princess Mina is powerless and his unborn child is as yet unharmed." There was bitterness that flashed in his steely gaze when he spoke of Beryl. It was well hidden and had Zoicite not know Kunzite for his entire adult life he would not have seen it. But he had known Kunzite and he did see it.

"Sir," he replied, delivering a formal salute. Kunzite blinked, his version of surprise, as he realized what Zoicite implied in the gesture. It had been a long time since respect had been an integral part of their friendship. Kunzite smiled. It held secrets, words that could never be spoken, but secrets were Zoicite's specialty.

"Be careful with Princess Jupiter. She had taken many things upon herself." With the cryptic comment Kunzite moved to attend the waking Beryl. Zoicite knelt at Lita's side and touched her arm hesitantly. A spark of power flashed between them and Zoicite's gaze narrowed. He smiled as well, teeth bared, before gently gathering Lita in his arms.

She was heavier than he would have thought and she tried to protest but could barely manage to open her eyes. Gold flecked green
told him all he needed to know and he held her closer, careful not to aggravate her wounds. He ignored Sol's imperious demands as his armed burned with the unanswered summons of his Emperor and walked slowly, evenly through the halls of the Earth Palace, his attention on the woman he carried. Their hope, both Earth and the universe's slim butstill fighting hope.

Author's Notes: Hay ya'll, I made it through chapter nine. I was absolutely stumped for the first part of this chapter so if it sounds kinda forced that's why. I kinda had minor writer's block and while the cure for it is to just write, no matter how bad it is, I have about a hundred other, mostly non SM stories, that I'm working on as well. Therefore what I choose to stare at is this story or that one and not this one. Consequently it took me forever to get this done but I kinda got reinspired towards the end. Hopefully you could tell. =) Next couple weeks to a month are hectic for me but I'll try to get new installments of something out to you guys. Also the site revamp is going slowly. Shrines take forever but keep poking around and you'll see new stuff eventually. Till next time. Cya ya'll!
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