Three Eyed Turtle: Truths Best Left Be
dremdancer



	Dinner in the Crystal Palace was not going well.  The 
tension in the room was obvious to everyone, the large chamber
 full with the seven members of the senshi, the Royal Couple, as
 well as the ambassador's from the tenth planet, Nemesis.
	Serenity presided over the affair like the Queen that
 she was.  She remained as hard as the crystal that gave her
 city it's name, speaking warmly only to a selected few.
	Rubeus stormed out in the middle of it.
	Cooan hurried after him, an apologetic look on her face.
 Serenity smiled at her, ignored the looks that the other three
 sisters and those that the three remaining members of the High
 Family sent her.
	Three of the looks were of confusion.  Why should the
 woman who had barely refrained from snubbing them the entire
 night suddenly change her ways to actually smile, (smile
 *sympathetically* at that!) at a member of their Family?  It
 made no sense..
	One of the looks was of relief.  If she had deemed to
 smile at one of them, then perhaps the ice was breaking, and
 perhaps..Perhaps the war that had been discussed, in private of
 course, and never on this planet, perhaps it could be avoided.
	One of the looks was of hope and wistful hidden
 affection.  While he didn't know why there was the animosity
 against him and his, perhaps this was the change point..Perhaps
 there was still a chance..
	One of the looks was of hatred.  Carefully concealed
 away beneath a maroon fan, locked away behind a careless, crying
 laugh..The second's look had not been so clearly pushed back
 after all.  She knew what the little tart's *real* game
 was..She just had to prove it.
	Dinner was not going well.  It was a short affair, no
 read small talk to mention as there was when the ambassadors
 from the other planets, (declared to be self-governed in 2560)
 came to visit and discuss manners of state.  Talk was to the 
 point and diplomatic.  The answers were curt and quick.  Nemesis
 was *not* going to be recognized.  It's people were *still* outlaws.  If they wished
 To plea for mercy was a decision that was up to them, the Cleansing
 was always an option.
	The leader of the Family stood and spoke with eloquent
 voice, stating fully researched facts about the Silver Age. 
 When Earth had wished to be recognized there was no Cleansing.
 It was only the betrayal of Green World, the Only Home that 
 had caused them to be cast out.  Why was Nemesis any different
 to the Child of the Silver Age, the Light of Hope, and the
 Daughter of the Phoenix?  
	The Queen had no answer.  She did not respond and from
 then on dinner went downhill faster.

	Dinner was not going well at all, at all, at all. 

	One of the members of the High Family glowered silently
 behind her fan, wishing that she could defy her Prince and toss
 the glass of specially chosen white wine into the face of the
 Queen.
	One of the members of the High Family sighed silently
 behind his mask of detached disinterest, calculating just how
 damaging this was to be to his people and to the chances of
 there not being war.
	One of the members of the High Family withered
 unnoticeably behind his diplomat's face, wondering just what he
 had done to make the Neo-Queene look at him with such vengeful
 eyes.
	On the other side of the room the seven Sailor Senshi
 sat.  Four of them watched with an rightous air, none too well
 hidden, sitting in indigent silence, fuming wordlessly over why
 they even had to sit through such as thing as pointless and
 insulting as this.
	Two watched impassively, regarding it with the same
 disattachment that one of the members of the High Family was
 watching it with, one of them wishing that the whole affair
 would be over, one of them wondering about the actions of the
 others and what the Nemesis High Family was actually thinking.
	One of the Senshi watched with carefully masked eyes,
 trying to discern just why such things had to be, and why war
 was in advent if there was no true necessity for it.


***

	Dinner ended on a less then cordial note.  The Prince
 stood, thanked the Queen for her time, bowed slightly, asking
 her once more to reconsider.  There was more at stake here then
 she realized.  
	The Queen nodded, a superior acknowledging an inferior. 
 	Esmeraude bristled.
	The Queen ignored her.  
	Esmeraude whipped out her fan once more and began to
 plot different and rather painful deaths for the Child of the
 Silver Age.
	Serenity spoke simply, an edge of contempt in her voice,
 though not obvious.  Said that her decision was final and that
 she knew everything that was at stake.
	The Prince watched her with eyes that showed nothing of
 what he was actually feeling.  Esmeraude watched her with eyes
 that showered loathing.  Saphirr watched her with resigned
 eyes that saw everything except for the truth.
	The remaining three Akayshi Sisters watched in wonder as
 the Queen smiled at them, all three of them, -a second smile!-
 and wished them, though only them, good luck and goodbye.
	The High Members of the Family left, each in their own
 fashion.
	The carelessly placed masks over the faces of the
 Senshi, their Queen, and their King fell.  The Queen shuddered
 a touch, looked at her husband.  Told him that she was going to
 bathe. 
	The King smiled at her, rested a hand gently her shoulder
 and asked if he might join her.  She shook her head, she didn't mind. 
	Four of the Senshi smiled indulgently at their Leaders.
 Bowed courteously as they left, talked amiblicly among
 themselves for a moment about the High Family and then gave
 their farewells to the remaining three.
	Two of the Senshi nodded to their Lord and Lady
 silently, glanced at their counterparts with a hint of
 resignment as the four left the room and gave a warm farewell
 to the remaining Senshi.  They left as well, likely off to
 their own amusements and better, redder, wine..
	The last of the Senshi brushed midnight hair out of
 violet eyes and watched as her six sister warriors, sister
 angels left her alone.  She sighed audibly, and left as well.  
	She met with her Queen in the hallway beyond the wing of
 the Palace that housed the royal family less then an hour
 later.  Serenity brushed still wet hair out of her face and
 gave her another of the reserved warm smiles.  She spoke
 first, as always.
	 "You wished to see me, Hotaru?"
	Tomeo Hotaru, Angel of Destruction, Senshi of Death and
 Rebirth hesitated.  "..Hai, Serenity-sama.  I did."
	"What about, Hoto-chan?"  A nickname not heard in
 generations, likely not be so again for many more.  At least,
 not from the Neo-Queene.  Again Hotaru hesitated.
	"Milady..I did not fight with you against the Nemesis
 Family, so I can not tell the emotions that you must be feeling
 now."  She paused again, searching desperately for a diplomatic
 way of saying something that could never be diplomatic.  "I did
 however, note the emotions of the High Family during dinner. 
 Things did not go well, milady."
	Serenity shrugged, waved a hand vaguely.  "That can not
 be helped.  They are our enemies, Hoto-chan.  We mustn't forget
 that, no matter when they appear to us, or how."
	Hotaru shook herself, wishing for her Glaive for
 support.  "My Queen, they are not our enemies yet."
	Serenity leveled a hard stare on her.  "They will be. 
 Are you denying that?"
	Hotaru bent her head under that steady azure gaze.  "They
 would be our enemies, milady, only if they were never to hear a
 kind word from you."
	Serenity seemed taken aback.  Hotaru pressed her
 advantage.  "Milady, please listen to me, and remember to
 listen to yourself.  It has been centuries since we fought the
 Black Family, centuries since we battled at all.  Think you of
 the way that you spoke to them, to all of them..To the Akayshi
 Sisters you were kind, benevolent even.  To Saphirr-san you
 were neutral, not kind or uncouth, either one.  To Esmeraude
 you gave contempt as though she was not worth any more emotion
 then that.  To Rubeus-san you gave gloating triumph, rubbing
 his face in the fact that he was not your equal here, that he
 was inferior to you, goading his temper until he left, and you
 crowed at your victory over him even then.  To Demando-sama
 you threw his name back in his face, staring at him with cold
 diamond abhorrence, showing him in little ways that you did not
 care for him or his people..Think you lady of that!"
	Serenity had recovered by this point and took over the
 conversation once more.  "Senshi of Saturn, think you to
 criticize your Queen?  To tell her right from wrong?"
	Hotaru did not meet those unflinching eyes.  "Iya,
 Serenity-sama."
	Serenity's voice softened.  "Then what were you
 attempting to do, Hoto-chan?  What did you wish to have me see?
 They were our enemies in the Past as well as our Future, they 
 shall show their true colors soon enough.  Just wait and you
 will see."
	Hotaru's voice was low.  "Milady, have you wondered
 why..why of all of the Family only the Sisters accepted the
 Cleansing?  The others refused, looked at you and all the
 Senshi with contempt and hatred.  Milady..You looked at the
 Sisters with kindness and they asked your Past form for a port
 in the storm.  They accepted the Cleansing.  You looked at
 Saphirr with eyes that showed him nothing except regret, and
 if he did not accept the Cleansing for the love of his brother,
 then he at least rejected the ideals of his clan, of his Family.
  You looked at Rubeus with savage superiority, here was one place
 where he could not harm you, could not harm your child.  He not
 only rejected the Cleansing, he was driven insane by the quest
 of vengeance and revenge.  Lady!  You looked at Esmeraude-san
 with no emotion whatsoever, but your voice reflected your
 weariness, your bored state of mind when she spoke.  You
 belittled her and insulted her Prince, and she rejected the
 Cleansing and was humiliated by you and your Past self,
 destroyed by treachery and deceit.  And the last of them,
 milady, the last whom you hate most of all, whom you showed the
 most of your emotions to..In an attempt to do what, my Queen? 
 Drive him away?  Demando-sama was ever known for his
 persistence, if not for that quality then he would not have been
 able to unify the clans behind him.  Lady, you snubbed him and
 his people, rejecting ideas of a treaty beneficial to both
 parties and one that you would have accepted had it not been
 for the person offering it!  Serenity-sama, *onegai* think of
 what you have done!"
	The Neo-Queene's voice was hard once more.  "Senshi of
 Saturn, Avatar of Death, Angel of Destruction, I have heard
 your say.  If you mean to imply that by my actions tonight that
 I have doomed our people to a war which we know will be of
 terrible cost then you are sadly mistaken.  We were doomed to
 this, as they were doomed to their deaths when they choose the
 path that they did before, in the Past, when they choose to
 attack a helpless child.  This war is on their heads not mine.
 I would advise you to stay away from the Palace for a few
 days, Senshi.  You are dismissed."
	Serenity left, pale in her gossamer gown.  Hotaru
 watched her leave, wondering just how they had come to this. 
 "Such ideals the Messiah held..Such hopes of love and light
 that were hers..I wonder what ever happened to them?"  She
 whispered, watching the retreating figure as it vanished into
 one of the myriad doors on the south side of the hall.
	Tsukino Usagi, Messiah of Mercy, of Light, of Love, and
 of Hope and Forgiveness, had lived a long, long time ago. 
 Hotaru watched as the door closed, hiding away the woman whom
 the Messiah had become.  The second Messiah, Messiah of Dark,
 of Destruction, of Hope and Rebirth turned and walked down the
 hall, heels clicking on the crystalline floor, small bell-like
 sounds being made with each step.
	She left, watched as the young Small Lady darted out the
 door behind her, crying silently and running in her white gown
 modeled after her mother's, fleeing towards the door to the
 outside gardens.  Hotaru let the Neo-Princess go, events had been set
 into motion.  She went to her quarters and drew a small key out
 of the hidden dresser in her east wall.  She raised it, closed
 her eyes and wished.  Opened them to look at the Time Gate and
 the Time Gate's solitary guardian.
	Sailorpluto, Senshi of Money, of Knowledge, of Wisdom,
 Angel of Time, and Guardian of the Gate looked at her, startled.
	"Konnichiwa, Setsuna-mama."  Hotaru whispered, voice low
 once more, but for a differing reason.  
	Setsuna gave the ebony haired woman a one armed hug,
 juggling the Garnet Rod with practiced ease in her free hand. 
 "What brings you here, Hoto-chan?"
	Somehow the nickname did not seem quite so vile as it had
 on the lips of the Neo-Queene.
	"Setsuna-mama..Was it all..was it all necessary?"
	Setsuna sighed, passing an ancient hand over an ancient
 face before looking back to the woman whom she had raised as a
 daughter.  "No.  No it was not."
	Hotaru nodded, closed her eyes to keep the tears from
 coming.  "Then why, Setsuna?  Why did it have to happen?  Why
 did there have to be war?"
	Setsuna knelt in the blue green sand around the Gate. 
 Hotaru sat next to her, tucking her legs aside.  "There was war,
 Hoto-chan, because the Angel of Hope could not forget, and the
 Messiah of Mercy could not forgive."
	"Did she have to change, Setsuna-mama?  Why did she have
 to change?"
	"She had to change, Hoto-chan, because that is what
 Queens do.  She had to become the leader of her people, and a
 thousand years will change anyone.  Not even Serenity could have
 avoided it.  Towards the end I don't think that she would have
 wanted to."
	Hotaru blinked, wiped away a tear that had escaped. 
 "Tsukino Usagi would not have changed."
	"No..Tsukino Usagi, the True Messiah would not have
 changed.  But this is not Tsukino Usagi.  We live by the creed
 of the Neo-Queene, and it is the Neo-Queene who sentenced me to
 the Gate, and it is the Neo-Queene who damned a whole people."
	The tears were coming faster now, too fast for Hotaru to
 wipe away.  She stopped trying, folding her hands in her lap and
 letting them fall onto her dress, turning gray fabric black. 
 "Then why, Setsuna-mama, do we have the Neo-Queene and not the
 True Messiah?"
	"Because the True Messiah, Senshi of the Cosmos, Angel of
 Mystery would not have been able to handle the death and
 destruction that the Silence wrought.  The title of the True
 Messiah has been passed down, and will be again until
 Sailorcosmos is required once more to right that which has gone
 wrong."
	"But she is needed now-"
	Setsuna shook her head.  "No.  She will be someday.  And
 it will be then that Tsukino Usagi will rise once more and begin
 everything anew.  For Tsukino Usagi will right everything, even
 Time itself, when Time Falls."
	Hotaru looked at her surrogate mother with shining violet
 velvet eyes.  "She will rise again?"
	"She is like the phoenix, our Rabbit is.  She will rise
 again, but only in our darkest hour.  And then the Angel of
 Mystery will weep, and Time and Space and all that exists within
 their borders, will vanish into the void, only to begin anew."
	Hotaru nodded, gathering herself together as she felt a
 pull on her soul, a reminder of an event that she knew was
 coming.  She stood and brushed the sand off of her dress before
 hugging Setsuna, who also had made her way to her feet, leaning 
 on the Garnet Rod for support.  
	"Come back soon, Hoto-chan.  It gets lonely here."
	Hotaru smiled, promised that she would, and returned to
 her quarters.  She tucked the key back into it's private drawer
 and left her rooms.  
	She made her way to the garden, where the Neo-Queene
 Serenity stood in a crystalline case, made of diamond and quartz,
 an ironic symbol of her people and the people that she had
 snubbed.
	The White Prince, Shiro no Ouji, Leader of the High
 Family and all of the clans of Nemesis stood in front of the
 encasing crystal, a wistful look upon his face, one that
 vanished as soon as he Felt Hotaru's approach.
	He turned to her, a pair of black jeweled earrings that
 he had not worn during dinner now apparent on his lobes,
 sparkling with Dark energy.  "Senshi of Saturn."  His voice was
 without emotion, the same as Hotaru's visage.
	"Demando-oujisama."  Hotaru let her voice show no emotion
 either.  
	He spoke again, and those eyes that had raised his people, 
 had moved her own to war, an event not seen by any since the 
 Banishing nearly six centuries past, those eyes, those heliotrope 
 eyes were shadowed for a moment with..regret perhaps?  That could
 be it.  She hoped for the best and decided that she had identified
 that fleeting emotion correctly.  "Senshi of Saturn, tell the Senshi
 of Mars that her post is required again.  There will be war."
	Hotaru nodded, what more could she do?  He turned, twilight
 and midnight cape flickering in the slight breeze that was always
 in the gardens.  Somewhere she could hear Small Lady crying. 
 Hotaru stepped forward, raised her left hand in suppliction.
	"Matte.  Onegai, Matte, Shiro no Ouji."
	He paused, turned back to face her once more.  "Hai,
 Senshi no Hakai?"
	"She wasn't always like this.  You must believe me on
 that, Demando-sama."
	He laughed, a surprisingly bitter sound.  "Then tell me,
 Tomeo-san..Is she always so abrupt with a-" And here he paused
 once more, his face tightening for an instant as the diamond
 mask that he had worn since the moment that she had seen him
 crumbled into dust.  He met her eyes, his gaze the same shade as
 her own, the same intensity, the same desperation evident in it.
 "A would-be suitor, I suppose I should say, or is it me?"
	"It is you, milord."  He sighed and the mask went back
 up.  Hotaru continued to speak.  "It is you for reasons that I
 can not possibly explain, but that you will understand by the
 time this is through."
	"One would almost think that you have lived this before."
	"One might," She agreed.  "But I haven't."  'Not this one
 at any rate..'  But the thought was kept hidden under the
 tightest of Sheilds, that not even the White Prince, the
 strongest telepath born of the Golden Age, could read without
 her knowing of it.  To his credit, he did not try, even though
 she was sure that he knew that she was not telling him the whole
 of the truth.
	"Gomen ne, Senshi.  For I fear that things have been set
 into motion that will not be changed, for good or ill."  He
 nodded, smiled sadly, a smile which she returned.  He moved away
 once more and vanished, cape going last.
	Hotaru watched the Queen, wondering vaguely why Chibi-usa
 so long ago in the Past had said that the Queen had been frozen
 in her crystalline prison by the Senshi instead of by the
 Prince.  But then the Small Lady was very young just now, easily
 confused..  And she did not know the naive and oh-so-*wakamono* 
 Neo-Princess.  Hotaru had not seen her very often since her birth,
 lest that the knowledge of the Future would change the course
 of the Past. 
	She envied her prior form the carefree times that she
 would spend with the Neo-Rabbit of the Moon.  
	Hotaru left the gardens, left her Queen in her crystal
 and went instead to a small, hidden room deep within the Royal
 Family's wing.  She ignored the other senshi running past her,
 towards the gardens, away from the King's private chamber where
 he had been discovered in a deep coma, a result of a psychic
 attack, as well as spinal damage that no one truly knew how he
 had received.
	She instead went to the small chamber and drew up a file,
 set the silent monitor to play.  It lit up, the security camera
 from the gardens playing for her, from three different views. 
 She watched as the Small Lady ran into the rose garden, hid
 beneath a bower and began to sob.  She watched as the Neo-Queene
 came out after her, looking for the girl, mouth moving though no
 sounds emerged from the speakers next to her save for the slight
 hum of machinery.
	Hotaru watched as the Shiro no Ouji stepped into the
 garden from the other entrance, watched Serenity's face fall
 into revoltion, watched that revoltion turn to delight as the
 White Prince's visage shattered at her words.  He was pleading
 with her, begging her for something.  Clemency for his people
 perhaps, a reason why there was this obvious hatred towards him
 maybe.  It didn't matter.
	Serenity said something else, spoke for a long moment,
 her pale face twisting as she carefully pronounced each syllable.
 Serenity turned away from the Prince, held one hand up to the
 light and studied it for a moment before turning back and adding
 a final phrase to what she had said before.  Hotaru wondered
 what her Queen had said and then was glad that she didn't know.
  	Whatever it had been, it was the final straw.  Demando
 looked blankly at the Queen, a look in his eyes that Hotaru
 would never forget, and he raised his hand.  The Neo-Queene's
 eyes widened and she stepped back away from him, one arm going
 out in a vain attempt to protect herself.
	The energy wrapped around her, silver and violet and
 pink, the colors of his aura, the colors of hers, molding
 together before forming an unstratchable surface.  He lowered
 his hand and stood silently, unmoving, watching the result of
 what he had done.
	Hotaru stopped the picture at the point where she herself
 had entered.  She had no need to see that.  She knew what
 happened from there.  She felt suddenly as old as Setsuna, and
 wished vaguely that she were Small Lady, leaving for the Past to
 give herself a new identity and a chance to heal, and to forget
 the harsh words that had been spoken.  
	Why hadn't the Small Lady spoke of this event or the other?  
 She had made her mother out to be a martyr, almost a saint who
 had been sabotaged and taken by surprise while she had been
 innocently out looking for her musume..  Perhaps to the seven-year-old
 that was what had happened.  
	It didn't really matter, Hotaru decided, looking at the
 stilled picture of the frozen Queen, the crying child, the wistful
 Prince, and the just entering Senshi.
	It didn't matter at all...None of it.  She stood, took
 the small file, copied it onto a disk and deleted it from the
 main frame of the computer, hacking a touch to make certain that
 no one would be able to revive it later.  Hotaru took the disk
 and left the small chamber, making certain that it was as it had
 been before she had entered, that no changes had been made.  
	The cycle had been set into motion again.  Things would
 continue as they had for only the kami-sama knew how long. 
 Hotaru returned to her rooms, slipped the disk into the small
 drawer where she kept the Time Key.  She lay down on the bed as
 the first of the bombardments of the Nemesis war ships began. 
 She felt the strange flickering in Space-Time as the Small Lady
 fled her home with the Ginzuishou, felt as the four Inner Senshi
 linked hands and the Shield fell into place over the Palace and
 the surrounding lands.
	She felt as the Citadel was erected and wondered if the
 Shiro no Ouji had felt the same regret that she had, or if
 Tsukino Usagi would have, had she ever known the true story
 behind the Nemesis affair.
	The Messiah of Dark, of Death, of Destruction was a
 Messiah of Hope as well.  She decided that the Angel of Mystery
 would have felt regret..And took that thought with her into
 slumber.





finis.




Author's Notes

	Ano..this story was inspired by a picture that I made
 when I was fiddling around the other day with Paint and .JPEG's.
  I was cutting and pasting different images, and formed one of
 the Neo-Queen and of Demando-ouji-sama, where she is standing in
 front of him, looking rather smug and saying *something*, you
 can just see it.  Demando's eyes are shadowed so that you can't
 see what he is thinking, but the two images sparked the idea of
 this fic.  For whatever reason I added to it later on.  It
 didn't seem quite finished, and I had an image of Hotaru
 gesturing to one side, a pic that would work well for a webpage
 logo.
	So I added that and everything fell into place.
	The Angel of Time I got from Jill and Lena, domo..I don't
 know if it is canon or not, demo it sounds really kakoii, ne?  
	The Senshi of Mystery, Sailormoon is from the manga.  All
 of the Senshi were the Senshi of something, Sailormoon was of
 Mystery.  She was also known as Sailorcosmos in her final and
 most powerful form, and Sailorcosmos is really kakoii too.  I
 like the manga explanation of Chibichibi far better then the
 anime..
	What else?  Shiro no Ouji means White Prince, another of
 the really great titles that I got from the authors of the most
 wonderful Black Moon fics to be found *anywhere*.  Senshi no
 Hakai means Warrior of Destruction, and wakomono means young. 
 When Time Falls can best be explained in 'Diamonds, Roses, and the
 Heart of the World', which is being revised and should have the first
chapter posted next week, with *many* changes.  
	I think that's it.  Ja, minna, I hope that you enjoyed this 
ickle ficlet!  


dremdancer
dremdancer@hotmail.com


8-17-99