Nephrite grunted and charged Zoicite, and it looked like this time he had him defeated. But Zoicite just stepped easily out of the way and brought his sword down on Nephrite's neck.
Pausing only inches away, Zoicite barked a short laugh and smirked. "Defeated again, Nephrite. Perhaps you had better practice some more?"
"How can you say that!" Nephrite sputtered. "I nearly had you that time, Zoicite!"
"Too much anger, Nephrite. You may be stronger than me..but you are far to stupid too ever defeat me. Practice, practice, practice!" With a short bow Zoicite headed off to his quarters. Nephrite tossed his hair over his shoulders and stalked off.
Rei watched the scene with mild interest. This happened nearly everday, Nephrite being defeated and pretending he wasn't. He was a such an arrogant jerk. Her thoughts slid back to Jedite. Where was he? He had never been gone this long.
Kunzite's stony figure appeared in Rei's doorway. "Come with me, Rei."
Rei? He had never called her that before! Something was up. Just play along, Rei. she thought. She got up and followed him out the door. "Kunzite..may I ask where we are going?"
No answer.
Rei gulped and followed him down the shadowed halls.
Jedite blinked. Where was he? What had happened? He tried to sit up and groaned. Of course. He should have known! Kunzite had to carry out the Queen's orders, and when he disagreed with them, he was drugged in order to force him to do it. That's why you never disobey the Queen, he thought bitterly. Now Queen Beryl's terrible plan would be carried out, and he had an even lower status among the generals.
Sitting up, he looked around. The Queen's chambers? The plan must be in action right now! Quickly he searched for an escape, a way to get out, to prevent this from happenning! There was an invisible barrier about a foot away from him on every side, with an icy chill to it. Kunzite's work, which ensured there was no way a weakling like himself could ever escape it. He was trapped. He pounded his gloved fist against the wall. Curse the Queen! I can't let this happen to Rei!
He gasped in horror. Curse the Queen? What was this girl doing to him!? She was just an idiot Sailor Scout! A part of the plan to take over the Earth, to get revenge for...for what? What was the point of doing this? The Queen had never said a thing about their motives, simply that they must do it. Maybe-
A frosty mist drifted into the room as Kunzite entered. "Will you come, Jadeite? Or will you dishonor yourself so much that I will have to drag you in?" His cold eyes flashed. "Because I will."
Stuggling to keep his composure, Jedite straightened and answered, "First of all, never call me Jadeite. And second...I will come. Allegiance to the Queen."
Rei struggled to figure out what was going on. First Jedite had disappeared all morning, and then Kunzite had called her Rei, and now she was alone in the Queen's chambers, supposedly waiting for the Queen to appear. I thought that I was doing well fitting in here...I guess I should have known eventually things would change. But now what? I cant turn on the Scouts, but I can't give up on healing the Generals either...
Interupting her thoughts, Queen Beryl and Kunzite entered the room. Rei could have sworn that the room managed to grow even darker and colder when they came in. Fixing her eyes on Rei, the Queen began, "Rei...I hope you've enjoyed your little introductory period here, but now it's time we get down to business." The Queen narrowed her eyes. "I do hope that you will cooperate, and make this easy for us." Taking a deep breath, the Queen explained, "Now you know the only reason that we have kept you instead of killing you right away was so that we could use you against your friends. I'm not going to bother to deny a blatantly obvious fact. You will join us, as a Negaverse General. There is no other way around it. We would never kill you, of course, you are to valuable. But you will join us." The Queen's fiery eyes rested on Rei, waiting for a response.
A million different thoughts flew through Rei's mind. She needed to stay, to heal the Generals, but joining the Negaverse seemed a bit extreme! She was sure she could handle it and fit in, but a confrontation with the Scouts would be inevitable. But the Queen sounded pretty certain...they must have a backup plan of sorts. Clearing her throat, Rei answered, "I could never against my friends, and I have no idea what makes you think I ever would!"
The Queen smirked. " I was sure you would say that. So I made sure...that you would agree. Kunzite, bring him in!"
Kunzite's pale cloak billowed behind him as he left the room momentarily, and returned with Jedite trailing him. Jedite's walk was stiff, like he was trapped, or...scared? No, that wasn't possible. His face portrayed only determination.
An ice dagger materialized into Kunzite's gloved hand and floated centimeters above Jedite's golden locks. A frown of embarrassement crossed his face and then was gone as soon as it had come, and his face was sheer determination once again. A dagger? What was the point of that? Maybe...no of course not!
Realizing Rei didn't understand yet, the Queen cleared her thought. "Rei...join us or Jedite dies. That's as simple as it is."
Rei gasped. Jedite die? They wanted her so badly they were willing to sacrifice one of their own generals? She couldn't believe it. The vision flooded her head once again. Jedite and her had once been lovers...but more importantly he had once served the Moon Kingdom. If there was any chance of healing him, ever, there was only one choice.
She knelt in front of the Queen. The words came to her, the same words she had sworn to Queen Serenity thousands of years ago...
"I, Hino Rei, the Princess and heir to the throne of Mars, The Sailor Soldier of Passion, Senshi of Fire, and Protector of Princess Serenity, hereby discard all previous titles. I swear to obey and be the humble servant of Queen Beryl, an agent of the Negaverse. My will and thoughts are henceforth yours to command and control." Finishing, she kept her eyes on the floor and waited for the Queen's response.
Cleary taken aback by Rei's response, the Queen blinked several times before speaking. "Kunzite...Kunzite release Jadeite."
Jedite sank to the floor after the barrier was released. Obviously he had been standing in it for several hours. "Don't call me Jadeite." he muttered.
Recovering, the Queen announced, "You may keep your previous name of Hino Rei, but all other titles must be discarded. Now you are a warrior of the Negaverse...you are Aragonite." A crystal stone appeared in the air above Rei. The stone was beautiful. The inside was a different color depending on the angle you looked at it, with a red tint over all of it. "This represents your life and soul here. If it is destroyed, you are destroyed. Kunzite?" A bluish-green stone appeared in Kunzite's hand. "This is Kunzite's stone, kunzite. Each of the Generals has one, and now you do as well. Take care of it."
"I will." nodded Rei.
"You will be trained by Jadiete, once -"
"Don't call me that."
The Queen glared fiercly and Jedite. "I will call you what I want. If you remember, you're stone is the jadeite, not the Jedite." Turning back to Rei, she continued, "You will be trained by Jadeite, once he recovers. You will also be moved to his quarters."
Rei wanted to laugh. Moved to Jedite's quarters? This could be interesting.
The Queen continued, "Of course, you will need to change considerably not only mentally, but physically. Report to me at sunset, and we will discuss these changes. Be packed and ready to move into Jadeite's quarters when you come. Aragonite, Jadeite, you are dismissed."
Rei left the throne room with a bow and went to her quarters. Beginning to pack, it slowly began to dawn on her what she had done. How was she ever going to get out of this? Closing her eyes, she struggled to hold back her tears. "Oh, Serena...I'm so sorry."
