Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. *sniffles* Oh the uncreativity of it all!

Chapter Twelve

Bernum watched through slitted eyes as the rabble army raised by Princess Lita drilled in Pluto's weak afternoon sun. Never the less, he shielded his gaze when he walked out from under the rough porch to join his commander, the man he had followed to this gods forsaken planet, from Earth, those six long months ago. He blinked and finally admitted defeat in the battle with the sun before lowering his arm, allowing his face to be bathed in the peculiar green tinted light that filtered through the cool, heavy atmosphere.

As usual Nephrite's noble face was shuttered, immune to the curiosities of humanity. His eyes though, often dark, were lightened by the sight of the men, and yes, women, who worked with wooden weapons in the practice yard. They'd have to finish soon; Lita had airily informed them that there would be about two hundred new recruits pouring into the planet, and thus their rapidly crowding camp, within the next week.

They had started out with less than fifty men; just soldiers like him who had followed their lord into exile with the green-eyed princess who knew more about war than any Lady should. They had picked up followers, men weary of Earth's oppressions, men willing to fight to remove Sol, men wanting to exact revenge for the family that had died in Earth's take over.

Princess Lita and Nephrite interviewed every new comer. Almost all were accepted, absorbed into the group that was grimly determined to fight until the last. Those that weren't were not turned away though, just sent to spread the word. Men and women who knew the right words to say, to the right ears, were sent to whisper of the defiance. Rumors spread and their numbers swelled as they made their way across the galaxy.

They flew, the Earthen Army on their heels, as they plunged outward, towards unknown space, and the solitary planet of Pluto, the only galactic body not bound by the chains of Sol's ambition. Pluto had opened its gates to them though and it was here that they had camped and begun to train in earnest as raw recruits flocked eagerly to their banner.

It was madness, it was foolishness, and they would most likely all die horribly bloody deaths in the end. Bernum smiled fiercely and clapped his commander on the shoulder.

"What are the odds of any of us coming out of this alive?" Nephrite, not taking his intent gaze from the fighters, shrugged.

"This?" he asked with a slightly arched brow.

"The fight, the battle, the war, whatever we're waging. The massacre?" A grim hard smile touched Nephrite's lips.

"If I was a betting man I wouldn't put money on us Bernum. But then I'm not a betting man. Are you?" Bernum chuckled ruefully.

"No sir, not by a long shot."

"Will you lead them into their deaths?" Lita, looking out the window of the main log building that served as the army's 'command post', felt her mouth turn down at the edges.

"You tell me Setsuna." The senshi of Pluto laughed harshly and leaned more heavily on her staff, serene features twisted by traces of bitterness that were painfully new.

"You've already defied the time stream Lita. The future is up to you." Lita snorted and turned her emerald stare to the burgundy eyes of Time's Guardian.

"Doesn't sit well with you?" she asked acidly. She and Setsuna had never gotten along well and five years of pain and loss had only made the differences between them more obvious. Lita had treasured the unity of the senshi and it had always rankled that Setsuna deemed it necessary to destroy that unity by forcing herself to stand apart from her comrades. She surprised Lita by offering a rare, albeit brief, smile.

"No it doesn't." Embarrassed by the forced admission Lita looked away, eyes drawn to Nephrite and Bernum who stood, ten yards from the house, overseeing the men.

"You never were a leader, you know that Lita," Setsuna remarked softly to the younger woman who's only response was the
stiffening of her shoulders. White hands reached out blindly and gripped the windowsill.

"I know. It's not as if I had a choice in the matter Setsuna. I would have died to save Mina, I almost did, several times, but in the end the only one of us who could walk away from the Earthen Palace was me. What else can I do though? I can't do nothing! I have to fight, I have to try, even if it's fruitless.

These men and women, I didn't demand that they serve me. They chose. They're all adults and who am I to decide who can or cannot fight for what they believe to be a better life?" Setsuna's face-hardened as she glared at the back of Lita's head.

"Who are you to take Mina's place though Lita? I know that you couldn't save her but who are you to accept the burdens of leadership? You don't even understand the word responsibility!" Lita swirled and in one movement had a knife drawn and held at the older woman's throat.

Lita blinked, almost surprised at herself, before dropping the knife. Setsuna straightened and warily watched her. Lita turned to look at the other princess, jaw tight with a grief that Setsuna would never be able to fully comprehend, as evidenced by the fact that she retained full use of her powers throughout the last five, nearly six now, years. Six years without Serenity, without Serena.

"You protect the future. I protect the present." Setsuna sneered elegantly.

"You protected. You failed." Lita returned Pluto's steady gaze with one of her own, unflinching.

"Yes," she replied coldly. "I failed. Mina failed. Rei and Ami failed. Haruka and Michiru and Horatu failed." Setsuna winced at the mention of the Princess of Saturn. "We all failed and Serenity and Serena died. I don't know if what I'm doing is right. All I know is that I can't just wall myself off from the world and will it all away. I'm not you." Setsuna snorted.

"Subtle princess. I opened Pluto to you though. I... I turned away Mina at the beginning. I saw the future and I was to have no hand in shaping it. I left you all to your fates. I learned long ago that nothing I could ever do would change it. It would come to pass, inevitable river that it is, and that it is so much better to ride the waves than be drowned by them.

I stepped aside. I 'walled myself off from the world' and watched. Watched and waited and waited and the future never came. You've all built a dam. A dam of twigs or a dam of stone I've yet to decide."

"But... Why are you here? If the future is still undecided, still unfolding, why aren't you at the Gates, why aren't you protecting it?" Setsuna chuckled mirthlessly.

"But I am princess, much as it pains me. There are a million possibilities and differences and factors but in the end it all comes down to you." Lita stared in astonishment at the finger pointing in silent accusation at her breast.

"But..." Setsuna lowered her hand and turned away, leaning still more on her staff.

"You are the key to the future of this galaxy. Lead well Lita, Princess of Jupiter, senshi of Jupiter. Lead well little follower. Lead well. It's all up to you, salvation or the suffocation of the waves... Can you learn how to swim fast enough?" Emerald eyes, lightened by a now ever prevalent gold, closed before opening.

"I always wanted to learn how to swim," she replied softly with a crooked smile. Setsuna's harsh laughter filled the room.

Nephrite resisted the urge to yawn and grinned slightly as Lita didn't bother. She stretched luxuriously, arching her back as her hands reached for the sky and her mouth opened hugely. The grin turned to outright laughter as she lost her balance and the rickety chair she claimed as her own sent her to the floor in a heap. She glared at him reproachfully and struggled to standing position. The glare developed a distinct glower and when that only made him laugh harder she responded the only way possible, by kicking his own, much sturdier chair, out from underneath him.

His astonished stare sent her into hysterics and when Tess walked into the planning room where Lita and Nephrite and sometimes others spent hours working on strategy she quietly left, tea forgotten. Lita's auburn curls had grown out almost to her shoulders in the passing months and, when she laughed she almost looked like a normal girl. Not someone who was the sole hope of eight planets and one desolate moon. Tess made her way back to the kitchen and left the tea and tray on a counter before clasping he hands to her breast.

She prayed quietly, and with all of her heart, to whatever higher power existed. Prayed there would never be a time when the galaxy wasn't graced by Princess Lita's laugh. She had dragged her willing husband across the expanse of space on the wings of the rumor of an army led by the remaining free princess. They had arrived, footsore and frightened, about three months ago but Tess had never regretted any of it. The flight or the subsequent hard times, for things had not always gone smoothly at the camp.

She never regretted any of it because Lita was a senshi and the senshi had guarded their people for so long that it only seemed fair that once in awhile the favor was returned. She never regretted it either because she had never been blessed with children and that night, when Lita had come to her house and asked her to cut her hair, when Lita had become Lena, the Princess of Jupiter had never seemed so vulnerable, so very much like a child.

Zoicite sighed and threw his arms over his head in disgust.

"I just can't do it!" he fumed at the Princess of Mercury who sat on his bed, legs drawn up and tucked under her chin. She looked young like that, young and defenseless, but Zoicite never forgot for an instance that it was a charade. Rather like Lena, Lita, his former 'servant'. He paced, sending an occasional glare her way in response to her now familiar not quite smile.

"Well I can't" he grumped, exasperated with her amusement.

"You're trying to hard," she soothed in a beautiful voice that could have sung him to sleep with the world ending. "Earth may have given up most of its power to be spread among its people but its spirit is still alive and with anyone who has the slightest bit of its inherited magic.

You don't have to search for it, Earth is always here," she tapped her heart. "inside."

"That's not what Lita said, or Rei either for that matter."

Ami shrugged. "They feel things differently than me, than you. Their planets are always with them but they can't feel them unless there's magic involved. In that I was always luckier, especially these last five or six years. Mercury couldn't aide me but I felt its presence with every beat of my heart.

My magic, and yours, is one of subtlety, not raw strength. Our contributions to our worlds are intelligence and competence. We're more sensitive because we must be intuitive enough to know where each small bit of magic will be most effectively used. Because of that we are always aware of our surroundings and always aware of the spirits that give us strength." He wanted to refute her reasoning but couldn't.

Ill tempered he collapsed on the bed, careful despite his petulance not to hit the princess with one careless limb. For, even after six months, the princesses' stay at the palace had hardly been restful and Ami, though strong, was still recovering from being snatched from the arms of death. Rei was doing better, but then Rei hadn't poured every ounce of her being to keep Ami from eternity.When Beryl wasn't prowling or interrogating the stubborn princesses Zoicite or Jadeite or Kunzite were snatching one or another away. The palace and Sol assumed the Generals did so for their own private amusement. The people of Earth disliked the 'situation' and Sol regarded it all with condescending amusement since he often did the same thing with visiting dignitaries' wives and daughters. The spoils of war and all that garbage.

Perhaps Beryl suspected that there was a different reason for their frequent meetings but her child was nearly ready to be born and she had her claws full trying to find ways to maintain her status after she bore all that Sol required of her, a heir. She had more to think about than trying to destroy the lives of her lover's minions.When Kunzite stole Mina away for a few hours, freeing her from the prison that Beryl adamantly maintained was necessary despite her lack of magic, the two spoke of war. Not the war that they all knew would one day be fought, but of tactics, history, the greatest commanders and the reason they fell. Jadeite sought Mars for her martial arts training and because in the fiery princess he found someone willing to listen to him talk and to offer advice not colored by friendship. The frank, blunt princess who managed to be demure despite a sizable temper caught his fickle attention and held it. Zoicite sought Ami because she was a kindred spirit. She loved magic and had knowledge about arcane arts that he had never even scratched the surface of.

Earth was so isolated, so closed off from the rest of the galaxy. There was so much he didn't know. Ami, like Lita, Lena, was a puzzle but a puzzle infinitely more intriguing than the Princess of Jupiter because she didn't just taunt him with secrets, she told him. She gave him the stars in a way not even Nephrite could have understood. The thought of Lita and Nephrite subdued him and Ami, sensing the abrupt change in his mood, instantly guessed its cause.

"What's the latest news?" she asked quietly, sapphire eyes stained a fearless cobalt. Zoicite swallowed.

"The borders of Pluto are open only to those seeking to join the Rebel Army. It's amazing though. Sol has spies of course but the Rebel Army has rejected every single one so far. Each rejectee is given a sky carriage escort off of Pluto and calmly instructed never to return. The numbers are sketchy but they're in the thousands and growing rapidly." Ami nodded slowly and chewed her full lower lip.

"How soon until..." she trailed off and looked away. Zoicite, his jaw clenched, paused a moment and collected himself.

"A month, maybe less before they reach the numbers needed to be any real threat to Sol." He fell silent and Ami obliged him by maintaining it. Though truth being told the Princess of Mercury probably had more on her mind than he did.

Sol, always dangerously suspicious, was truly starting to suspect is Generals of duplicity, not with the Princesses, but in general. He was making subtle accusations already that his men were sympathizing with the Rebels. Soon they would progress to outright claims of aiding them. There was truth for once in Sol's mad ramblings and each day brought the three remaining Generals, weary of their Emperor's own immorality, closer to danger and the death of a traitor.

It was the Princesses' who lived on a narrow, jagged ledge though. By all rights Beryl would have tortured them past recognition long ago but Sol stayed her violent hand. She interrogated the girls but could not force answers. Sol had a crueler fate in mind for the women who had ruled his conquests.

There was war coming, as sure as the rising of each sun. It crowded closer to Earth with each second, inching its way to a bloody battle that would find them bitter, broken victors, or corpses on a battlefield. And when war came, for Sol refused to demean himself by going to it, despite the tactical advantages, he would unleash his secret weapon.

He had ordered the building of three wooden towers, located in front of the gates of the Earthen Castle. They reached as high as the stone walls that protected the palace and served an awful purpose. When the Rebel Army invaded the princesses would be tied to the specially built platforms close to the top of the towers, one at each key point in Earth's defense. There would be archers waiting, flaming arrows in hand. If the Rebel Army won they'd loose three of their dearest assets in pillars of fire. If the Rebel Army lost the women who were the conquered galaxy's last hope would watch their people die for them, for a Utopia they had seen destroyed. Sol made no secret of his plan. He reveled in his genius while Beryl seethed at being denied in her desires.

Perhaps Sol knew there was more than others thought going on, behind the bedroom doors of the Generals, but he if he did then he didn't care. Zoicite and the others would fight, would rail, would pray until the end but the General knew, with a sureness that he could not find in himself to deny, that death was coming for them all. For the six trapped, desperate on Earth, longing with all their hearts to join the Rebel Army headed by their missing comrades, Lita and Nephrite.

Ami touched his hand, her gentle intrusion drawing him from bleak thoughts. Her ever changing eyes were storm ridden gray, reflecting her mood. "Its time to take me back," she murmured. He nodded once and rose, bowing before offering his arm to the beautiful princess. She smiled briefly at his gallantry and took the proffered arm before allowing him to escort her back to her prison.

Ami was the last to arrive in the room that served as the three princesses' cell. It was a large guest room in the palace, well furnished and comfortable enough, though the wardings that Beryl had placed there ensured that none of them would ever sleep well, let alone Ami who woke up with nightmares induced by the dark magic almost every night.

She was the last to return. Rei was already there, pacing the room, a new habit that she had developed in the last six months. The only time the Princess of Mars was able to sit still was when the three girls were gathered together. Only then could she rest, content in the knowledge that her friends were with her. Mina sat on the window seat, gazing out of the barred windows with an expression too poignant to be wistful. She turned, as did Rei, as Ami entered. Ami raised her hands and signed quickly to her friends. The other two, nodding, rose and joined the delicate Princess of Mercury on the huge bed where they sat in one accord. They spoke rarely to each other, at least out loud. There were too many ears, too many eyes, for it to be safe. But, as almost children, as girls who came to the Moon, half trained, to learn to become a group, they had come up with a sign system, a way of communication in code.

It had been created in jest, amidst much laughter, but had served them well over the years, even before Sol. It was, as far as they knew, unbreakable. It was almost impossible to translate unless you were taught it because each planet came up with its own code, its own language. When they were children they had taught each other their languages, so in fact the code consisted of, not one, but nine separate variations. Time had given them easy understanding of each other and Ami signed quickly.

'We need to talk... Zoicite, Zoicite said that Sol's spy reports are failing but that the Rebel Army, Lita's Army, could march on Earth in the span of a month, perhaps a little more, maybe a little less.' Rei nodded, amethyst eyes burning.

'Jadeite gave me the same information. What are we going to do? We can't do nothing! Not when Lita is doing so much.' Mina shrugged hard, expression shuttered and withdrawn.

'What choice do we have?' the golden princess signed, movements quick, half-angry by the reminder of their situation.Rei glared. 'There are always choices Mina. Me and Ami made one once.' Ami shuddered, face deathly pale as she looked away. Mina met Rei's glare and signed slowly.

'We cannot.' Rei, her lips twisted into a bitter rendition of a smile, returned volley.

'Why not? Alive we're tools to Sol, burdens to those who would defeat him. You know, I know, we know how much we mean to Lita. It would devastate her to hear of our deaths. It would destroy her to be the cause of them. She's not the leader you are Mina. If she leads her army in an assault against the palace tell me she won't fold, tell me she won't refrain from doing what she has to do in order to win for our sakes! She'll crumple, she'll fail. I have enough magic, not enough to do anything much, but enough to make sure that we pass quietly, before Sol or that damned witch Beryl could do anything to stop us.' Mina shook her head savagely.

'No!' The Princess of Venus stopped and began again, calmer after visibly relaxing herself.

'Lita is strong Rei, stronger than we ever thought she could be. You haven't seen her lately, I have. She was always living steel but she's been tempered now, she's been through the flames. She loves us as sisters and she feels that love keenly but she knows something else better and answers that call truer, her responsibility to those who have put their lives in her hands.

If Sol pledged that he would abdicate with our deaths she would agree. She would cry as they killed us, as we joined the stars, but she would not stay the executioner's hand if it meant peace. If she can find it in herself to be that strong we can find it in ourselves to live. After all, isn't that why you're so willing to face death, because we've lost all there is to care for in life?'Rei, face burning, broke her eye contact with Mina. Ami, who had watched the whole exchange silently, put one hand on the Princess of Mars's shoulder in comfort.

'We watch, we wait, we, if we dare, hope. We'll die fighting, Kunzite promised me that. We will not be denied a final battle, even if its fought in spirit as we burn.' Ami looked to Mina.

'Is there hope Mina?' she asked with graceful fingers, face grave. Mina, her own face troubled, sighed.

'I don't know Ami. I just don't know anymore. I use to think that anything was possible. But that was when Serenity was our mentor and Serena was our friend. When Horatu used to make us birthday cards and Haruka guarded our backs and Michiru used to play music that would make the stars weep on quiet nights on the Moon. When the dreams hadn't turned to nightmares, when war was a hazy someday and I thought I'd grow old enough for love.

We had the world,' serendipity... 'and we lost it...'

Author's Notes: I know, long time no write... This was a really short chapter but I wanted it to be a long chapter so it sat on my computer for a month until I 'finished' it though I may tweak it more in the future. LOL Hope you liked it, email and let me know. Thanks for everyone who visited my page and who has supported me, etc, over the months. hehe... They've been very long months for me, thanks for understanding. I'm exhausted so I won't ramble my usual length tonight. See ya'll later! Check out my page and drop me a line!!

http://www.geocities.com/keitree

inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com