Author's Note: This is a story about the Dark Kingdom, its generals and leaders, its rise and eventual fall. Not until much of the story has been explained does this story become somewhat of a lemon; and even then, it can hardly be classified as such. Yes, I am under the impression that Kunzite is the eldest and most powerful of the Dark Kingdom generals, but for the purposes of this story, I have instead given that character to Nephrite. That is my only change; the two will keep their physical features and basic characteristics, but their ages and power levels are now switched. The story itself is rated AA(14), and there is plenty of homosexual content (including kissing), so don't be surprised when you read it. ^.^ By the way, this fanfic is based upon Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, which was created by Takeuchi Naoko. Characters belong to her and such companies as Toei and Bandai, but the storyline, ideas, and any other characters are mine. July, 2000 (updated November, 2000). ----------------------- The Palace Gardens Written By Ken Hand, writing as Blair Morgan blair@zoicite.com ----------------------- Part One ----------------------- Naiveté is a terrible thing, really it is. To be naive is to be innocent, and to be innocent is, to some degree, to be helpless; as helpless as I am now, sitting lonely in a bitterly cold place. But that's how all children start out, isn't it? Naive, innocent, helpless... The day was in autumn, October, I think, when our parents, King Azure and Queen Arial, gathered us together in the palace gardens, and sent the servants away. The day was in autumn when we looked upon them with our innocent faces, and they looked upon us, with their majestic gazes. They loved us then, truly, they loved their beautiful children; they proved it by so boasting of us to all their friends and acquaintances. I will forever be grateful to them for that love, love that so many children never receive at all. Mother, with her beautiful brown hair worn up in such a way that took years off her age, spoke first. Her voice sounded as delicate as that of a violin, yet as firm as that of a powerful goddess. "My four boys: Zoicite, Jedeite, Kunzite, Nephrite, your Father and I must away tomorrow for the Moon." All my naive innocence, terrible, yet somehow adorable, urged me to object, but Father raised his hand. "We have received an urgent invitation, delivered by our beloved Lady Beryl, that must be honoured as soon as possible. We shall return after three days; though perhaps before then." He paused. "Lady Beryl shall be in charge while we are away." With that, Lady Beryl stepped from the shadows beneath an old oak tree, and nodded her hideous head at us. I shivered at even the notion of her presence, though at twelve years old, I knew to not speak against her. Instead, Kunzite, my second-to-eldest brother, stepped to me and placed his arm around mine. Forever will I be grateful to him, as well for protecting and loving me, and playing well the role of big brother. Jedeite, however, admired Beryl in such a way that quite separated us from him. Not that Kunzite and I were not already distanced from our other brothers; but when Beryl arrived, several years ago, with all her impressive magical power, Jedeite almost overnight turned alien to us. Nephrite stayed always indifferent, or so I thought, but Kunzite and I never trusted Beryl, ever. Lady Beryl stepped closer to us, closer to Jedeite, and looking directly at him she hissed, "I trust there will be no" (pause) "mishaps, while your parents are on the Moon." "Of course not, Lady Beryl," Jedeite replied quickly, and Mother and Father looked at him. I could not read their eyes, and to this day, cannot tell what they were thinking about him, on that autumn day. It was soon time to bid Mother and Father adieu, and so we did, all of us tearful. They waved as they rode away on their matching white unicorns, and Kunzite held me tighter when they were nearly out of view. "They'll have returned before long. Don’t worry; by then we will have finished our lessons in Cicero, and we will impress them with all our new knowledge." I smiled, marveling of how he could take such a major unanticipated departure so lightly. Silently we walked in the gardens afterward, where, with all our naiveté and innocence, we thought we were alone. Kunzite was 15, but adolescence only enhances the naiveté of a young prince, who is just beginning to see the workings of other worlds. Back then, however, I hardly thought so, and I depended on him to know everything. We sat beneath a prospering young beech, not far from the withered old oak Beryl had stood under during our tearful farewells. In the distance, I could see Simetra, my favourite royal cat, wrestling playfully with a squirrel. "Kunzite,” I began, uncertainly, “I feel insecure with Lady Beryl in charge of us. I know that's absurd..." "No." He looked at me, his deep gray eyes smiling down upon me. "Your distrust is common with everyone here, besides Jedeite. Be certain that you are not alone, and that she cannot harm you." The light and magic of the garden seemed oddly to disappear as he spoke, and a cold breeze suddenly assaulted me. Kunzite placed his arm about my shoulders, but I knew he was chilled as well. Simetra had disappeared, as had the squirrel. So there we were, sitting alone in the palace gardens, cold, innocently speaking of a person whom we knew nothing about. But, in all our naiveté, we trusted her, unknowing of just how harmful she could be, to everyone around her. When my gaze shifted randomly to the withered oak, upon which no creature ever frolicked anymore, I could have sworn I saw movement in the shadows. But, naively, I didn't tell Kunzite, and convinced myself that we were private and safe in our pretty palace gardens. That eve, after at last falling into an endless abyss of dreams, the loud voices came and attacked me. I didn't hear them at first, and never at all clearly. They mixed themselves within confused images of balls and dances and waltzes, all pieces of the puzzle that calls itself my dream. In a beautiful ballroom on the Moon, Kunzite approached me in a green robe, a worried expression staining his pretty face. I rubbed my eyes. "Quickly, Zoicite!" he said, shaking me until I fully understood where I was. He took me by the hand and led me to the palace nurse, whose two beds were occupied by Mother and Father. Jedeite and Nephrite had already arrived. King Azure and Queen Arial made an attempt to look calm, but instead their pain only became more obvious. They couldn't speak, Kunzite told me, so an attendant explained to us what had happened. "A monster intercepted your parents' path to the Moon. They managed to escape on one unicorn, though the unicorn died as soon as it returned here.” She paused. “Your parents are in life-threatening condition." How coldly, uncaringly did the attendant speak of such tragedy! Instantly images of my dreams reappeared in my head, carrying me away from the sudden news. Everything in the dreams, though, seemed wrong now. Everyone was screaming at the dances, the ballrooms had become wild nightmares full of daggers and weapons, and our kingdom was but a mere mirror that seemed to shatter when I thought of it. I must have somehow fallen, for now Kunzite was helping me back to my feet, and held me as I cried when we were informed that our parents would die. They had entered a coma, and within the hour, would exit the coma, into what Kunzite said was a "long sleep". I knew what he meant, why couldn't he say it, they would die, die, die? And as I sobbed, throwing a tantrum in all my naive innocence, I didn't realize that Lady Beryl was nowhere to be seen. I would learn later that she claimed she slept soundly as my parents died, and no one had informed her of what was happening. Or maybe she wasn't in the kingdom at all. Nephrite, being eldest, inherited our kingdom, our palace, and our pretty palace gardens. Jedeite, a prince still, decided to marry Beryl, making her princess. Kunzite and I still walked in the palace gardens, though they began to suffer from neglect. Kunzite insisted to Nephrite that they be better attended to, but no matter how much work was done, they still sagged and withered terribly. At last I told Kunzite to stop bothering Nephrite, he was a busy person (whom in all my naive innocence I still trusted and loved), and that the gardens were simply mourning the deaths of King Azure and Queen Arial. He reluctantly agreed. And so our lives continued. Beryl and Jedeite grew extremely close, often locking themselves in Jedeite's bedroom for days. When I peeked in the keyhole (a habit Kunzite detested and called disrespectful), I could see nothing but black, but I often heard Beryl's unique hiss, transformed to a sort of singing voice, crooning something to the always-silent Jedeite. Nephrite I never saw, though Kunzite told me that he had grown taller, stronger, and had changed the throne room. I tried to accept every change as best I could, and Kunzite encouraged and helped me to move on, but ultimately I knew I could not. Nothing seemed right anymore, everything was thrown off, everything was wrong. But in all our naive innocence, Kunzite and I never spoke about the subject in great detail, assuming Nephrite, our dear brother, would take care of us. How very wrong we were. In all my twelve years, I had never once seen the palace dungeons. The thought of them frightened me, and Mother and Father probably preferred it that way. They did not want their children running about an unsafe collection of cells, in cold, damp, dark corridors. Kunzite hadn't seem them either, and neither of us were ever drawn to them at all. I'm still not, though this hideous place is where I currently am forced to reside. I will for eternity remember the day when I was brought in. The guards simply snatched me from my bed as the moon shone brightly outside my open window, and without much objection, they had thrown me in a minute cell, hardly larger than a broom closet. When I was thrown down and fully awake, I yelled and struck at the metal door with all my might, but my attempts were all in vain. The guards did not ever explain why. Kunzite was forced into the cell a few hours later, and he rammed the door with a strength that amazed me; he shouted and pounded and shouted and pounded, but only silence could be heard from beyond that cold metal door. In frustration he burst into tears, and I held him in my arms, doing everything a younger brother can possibly do for his elder. Finally, after hours of rocking him back and forth, he quieted, but soon began ranting of all the misleadings and betrayals our brothers had bestowed upon us. I listened, but didn’t absorb what he said. I was thinking, trying to figure this all out, trying to understand Nephrite's reason for imprisoning us (because, in all my naive innocence, I knew he must have had a good, understandable reason). Until I was to see Nephrite, face-to-face exactly one month later, I could not single-handedly deduce his "reason". Until that time, for one whole month did my brother and I suffer from the deafening silence outside; the lack of nourishing meals (our food for each day was slipped in the door's window as we slept); and lack of light. The darkness of the cell became me, the gray dirtiness of the empty stone walls ate me up, and I seemed to become more like a shadow every day. At first we tried to wait for the deliverer of the food, but they seemed always to know when we were sleeping, or at least unexpecting. Not once, for a whole month, did we hear a voice besides our own. The food always consisted of dirty bread and moldy fruit. Eventually Kunzite forced me to eat it, though I was ready to insist that I would die of starvation before I ate anything so repulsive. To me, that almost meant giving in to Nephrite and all his inhumanity, but Kunzite at last convinced me otherwise. We befriended mice and rats, made enemies of cockroaches and ants, and I spent each day in his arms. I slept quite often; though I sometimes ate food, there was never much anyhow, so we were both very weak. Sometimes I would start to sob, but when Kunzite asked me what was wrong, I didn't want to tell him that I, too, felt betrayed. By Nephrite, Jedeite, and especially by Beryl, who had probably brainwashed everyone into liking her. I didn't want to tell all this to him (though he probably already knew), because in my heart, with all its naive innocence, I still loved Nephrite and Jedeite and forgave them for whatever reason they had for keeping us here. I knew Kunzite thought very differently, and that his naiveté was giving way for suspicion and the intelligence that I lacked, so I held my tongue. At last, on a cold day in the middle of winter, a group of guards came and escorted me, without Kunzite, to my old bedroom and bath. They informed me that I had one hour to clean and prepare myself. For what occasion, I asked, but they didn't answer, simply standing outside the door. I cried at the sight of my bedroom, which must have been upkept by the servants; everything was still clean, without a hint of dust anywhere. After kissing and hugging everything, even paintings on the wall, I remembered suddenly that I needed to get ready. Swiftly I drew myself a bath, though within forty minutes, I took three. The water always became too dirty to wash in, and I wanted to clean myself as much as possible in as short a time as possible. After scrubbing myself endlessly with a washcloth, I dressed myself in semiformal green garments and, after bidding all my things farewell, I walked outside. The guards were instantly next to me, holding my arms, and I almost started crying all over again. Why had Nephrite thrown us to our knees in such a way? How could he treat two of his beloved brothers like prisoners, thieves who deserved to die in a dirty, freezing dungeon? I shook as they led me to the throne room, and Kunzite was not there to place his arm around me. This time, I knew, I had to comfort myself and be strong alone; but I wasn't sure I knew how. In all my naive innocence, I hardly even knew what strength was. __________________________________________________________________________________________