Author's Note: This is the third and final chapter of The Palace Gardens. I am sorry for the long delay (four months?), but here it is at last. It has been a pleasure writing this series; I hope everyone has enjoyed it. Any comments would be appreciated and can be sent to blair@zoicite.com. Disclaimer: This fanfic is based on Sailormoon, which was created by Takeuchi Naoko. She, along with several companies including Bandai and Toei, own rights to BSSM. However, the storyline, ideas, and some characters from this story have been created and are owned by me. Thank you! ^_^ November, 2000 ------------------- The Palace Gardens Part Three K. Hand, Writing As B. Morgan blair@zoicite.com ------------------- For the days and nights proceeding that meeting with Nephrite, Kunzite held me in his arms on the floor of the cold, dark cell as I slipped in and out of consciousness. I was cursed with nightmares of Nephrite's actions over and over and over again. Kunzite smiled at me sympathetically when I was awake but not completely present, simply mumbling nonsense that could be understood by neither him nor I. And that was my life for weeks after my own brother tried to rape me. At last, on a day in late February, four months after my parents had been killed, I managed to remain awake for an entire day. The meals were as terrible as ever, but Kunzite no longer had to force me to eat them. I sensed that I would be meeting Nephrite again soon, and I would need strength. I started walking unsteadily a few days later. Kunzite offered help, of course, but I acknowledged that I would not be able to rely on him forever. During the course of the next week, I began walking in circles around the dungeon, stretching, and even performing mild aerobics. Whatever I could do to keep from becoming more of a shadow, more of what Nephrite wanted me to become, I did. Kunzite never really involved himself in my physical exercises. I don't know if he felt strong enough as he was, or simply defeated. Whenever he spoke to me, his sentences were incomplete and inexact; sometimes he spoke in riddles. It was far from the nonsense I had been speaking when I had awoke week earlier, but it worried me anyway. About a month after my awakening from the strike on the head Nephrite had given me, an almost forgotten sound came from the tiny barred window opposite the metal door. A distinct "meow" told me Simetra was near, and I abruptly jumped up from my spot on the floor with Kunzite, and Kunzite rose as well, and we walked to the window. It had taken him months, but Simetra had finally found us. Simetra meowed again and walked away. Alarmed, I grasped Kunzite's hand; it scared me that I still relied on Kunzite so much for support. "He'll be back," Kunzite said, gazing out the window with a glazed look in his eyes, as if he didn't know what he was saying. I had nothing to do but nod. After five drawn-out minutes had passed, Simetra returned to the window with a colourful something in his teeth. It was a flower! An absolutely beautiful pink rose from my beautiful palace gardens. Oh, how I felt right then! "Nephrite has lied to me, Kunzite," I said, my head resting on his arm. "Never before have I felt so relieved by the betrayal of a loved one." Simetra purred contentedly, and Kunzite reached up to stroke him through the bars. Too suddenly, however, a loud noise erupted behind us, and Simetra scurried away into the bushes. Someone had opened the door. It was time for my second meeting with Nephrite. This time, I knew, I would not be a fragile shadow, but I now had more strength and the capacity to stand up for myself. Kunzite was to come with us, but since he could at any time be separated from me, I knew I could not rely on him for anything. He squeezed my hand before they took us. As we walked up the stairs, through the palace halls and up the main staircase, I looked back and realized he had been following us. His eyes glowed pink, and I suddenly remembered the pink rose I had put in my pocket. It had been so long since Mother's last lesson in magic, I couldn't be sure whether I could use the flower even if I wanted to; still, its presence reassured me. When Kunzite saw me glance back, he, too, looked behind us. As if in foresight of what was to come, Simetra turned and began to run away. Not fast enough. We stopped, and one guard who had been holding me ran quickly back and snatched Simetra up from the carpet. He tried biting into the guard's gloved hand, but this was in vain, for the guard was holding him by his neck. Before I had a chance to cry out, the guard had wrenched his neck back and dropped him to the floor. That was how one of my best friends died, so cruelly and simply that I had to fight back sobs as I looked toward him. His eyes glowed pink for one final time, his last words to me, in a way; then they faded to black, as he ascended the stairs of Heaven to be with Mother and Father. We continued to march toward Nephrite's throne room, but before we reached it, Kunzite and I were separated. He was taken down the hall to the left, and I was taken into the room itself. Everything happened so quickly that I hardly had time to capture a glance at him before I would never see him again; he was faintly smiling. Once in the throne room, I did not hesitate to stroll right up to Nephrite's throne and address him there. "What do you want?" Nephrite smirked and stood. "You know what I want. I want power." He started walking toward me, but I didn't back off. "We both know I need you for the mission, Zoicite, the mission to defeat the Moon. It's been prolonged, you know, since our mathematicians have calculated that your power is necessary to conquer the Moon." He stopped when he reached me. "If you do not object, the process of brainwashing you will be easier." I chose to allow Nephrite to brainwash me. We both knew that he would get his way no matter what I did; but what we didn't both know was that a powerful gift from a dying friend sat in my pocket. I hoped with all my heart it would have some affect. He raised his hand to my forehand, which he touched lightly. I would not maintain eye contact with him, but reached to my pocket to feel the pink rose grow warm. After it was over, I knew the rose had served its purpose. I was now, as far as Nephrite thought, one of "them". Afterward Nephrite embraced me and kissed my lips for several seconds, then kissed my forehead, then sent me to my bedroom to rest. The guards did not follow; I knew the way, and I could now be trusted. What I did not know was that Kunzite had been watching all the while. I returned to my bedroom, but left soon after in search of Kunzite. Where had they taken him? The palace was enormous, he could be anywhere. Surprisingly, I ran into no guards at all as I roamed many of the rooms and the palace grounds. I did not, however, make it to the palace gardens before I ran into Kunzite himself. "Hello, Zoicite," he said, his voice a monotone. Instantly I knew I was either seeing wrong or something had happened to him. His eyes were different, to begin with; his facial features were sharper, somehow, scarier; when he walked toward me, his whole existance scared me. And then I realized. They had brainwashed him; and since I had gone first, or so he had thought, he had let them. And now he was no longer Kunzite. With an exclamation I turned and began to run, but Kunzite merely laughed and ran after. He was faster, running with amazing speed; I passed out when he reached me and turned me around. ------------- Epilogue ------------- This has been the story of the Dark Kingdom, of its generals, its rise and eventual fall. As is well known, the Kingdom came close but never defeated the Moon; Zoicite and Kunzite were reborn in different families and fell in love, but Beryl kills Zoicite and Sailormoon destroys Kunzite. The spirits of Kunzite and Zoicite are together right now, as Kunzite hints at when he is dying. I was once told that they are with their parents and family, and everyone else who died during the Rosy Hours of the Dark Kingdom. They are all at peace. ________________________________________________________________________________________________