2516/Five Kings and a Prince

Five Kings and a Prince
Date of Scene:	07 May 2025
Location:	Crystal Tokyo
Synopsis:	The King receives some news that rocks him to his core. (Get it?? ? ?)
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kazuo Saitou, Nephrite, Jadeite, Zoisite
Tinyplot:	BMC: Dimension Future
Tinyplot2:	Black Moon Clan

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Almost, he almost tried to talk to them all separately, but that turned out to be even harder. The King of Earth and he doesn't know how to face these children who were his knights in a life he barely remembers, and his ghostly advisors and friends for two hundred years.

How does he face them, how does he face his younger self who has them, how does he face any of this without Serenity? How does he face the lack of Serenity without Serenity? There's a constant background panic that's been smashed to the ground only because he isn't connected to his body right now. He can't do this. He's helpless. They're going to see him helpless, like he was when Nehelenia was devouring the Earth from Elysion on out. He wants to impress them. He wants them to stay.

They're children. They all belong together. It should be enough that somewhere, they all get to be together. He doesn't-- he's done fine without them for eight hundred years. He's learned to cope once the grief became old enough.

Now, it's later, it's later after everyone's been spoken to but them, and there are people holed up all around the public and semi-public parts of the palace, arming themselves with food, healing, knowledge, and ideas. This area is not public. It's a private reception area in Serenity's Castle, far at the top of the highest crystal of the Crystal Palace, and the walls are not crystal, and the decor is understated but rich, jewel tones and warm dark browns and cream colors, wooden furniture... they were all asked gently to meet at x-location downstairs, and were teleported up, and then it was a short walk through wide corridors with marble floors and area rugs--

But this is behind a door, and there are more doors around it, and there's an open door that leads to a bedroom, and oh my god Chibiusa earlier was like 'Hotaru come see my room and La Mer can come too' and like daughter like father, apparently. "Would one of you please go in there," he points to the bedroom door, "and bring out the glass and wood box on my dresser?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I'll get it," says Kunzite at once, and there is no 'Your Majesty' in there at all, now that it's only them. There is a hint of something more sober than usual for Kazuo - but Kazuo is less sober than Kunzite much of the time, so while the others might catch it, the King might not. He turns with only minimal accent with his cape and steps into the bedroom. He knows from a conversation with Chibiusa what he's looking for. So he is careful that his hands touch only the wood, and careful to pick it up with delicacy and keep it secure, and careful not to look.

And glad that he's already met Isamu, or this would be much, much harder.

A few moments later, he emerges again with it in his hands, and his attention on the King.

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite knows what's likely to be in that box. He says nothing about it, and allows Kunzite to go. His throat moves in a gentle swallow, because this is a matter he has thought about much, and despite his awareness of the situation, seeing it and acknowledging the hard reality is another matter. Looking this grief in the eye.

He doesn't bother to hide it, though. It weighs openly upon his features. A reserved but clear sorrow, as he holds gloved hands behind his back.

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite's been busy for the last week, going from resevoir to sewer to civilian hide out, using his ice powers again and again to summon fresh, clean water for the survivors of Crystal Tokyo. He's tired enough from constant magic that he's sunk onto a nearby chair, catching his breath - but even he is watching the little box that Kunzite fetches for King Endymion.

(His king. Their king. Their friend. Even though Endymion is so changed in the future, he still looks like - himself? He wells with fondness.)

Jadeite has known that he was dead in the future for months. His breath still catches as Kunzite carries the small box in.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I don't-- I didn't--" Mamoru looks alarmed when the King says to take out a box, and even more when Kunzite goes to get it. "I--"

He trails off, unable to finish a thought, especially when sober Kazuo Kunzite comes back out with the box, not looking at it, holding it carefully. He reaches for Zoisite's hand, gloved, and if taken, he squeezes the other boy's hand. Regardless, he looks back up at the white-clad ghost. "King..."

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite lingered behind the group, a bit more somber in demeanor as he awaits in silence. Since he's left the library, the young Shitennou has mostly been keeping to himself. So there is a quiet surprise to his face when Tuxedo Kamen reaches for his hand.

He let's his prince take it, feels the squeeze and returns it quietly. His own hands gloved and thankful for it. He didn't... want to share much of his mind in that moment.

And of course, green eyes returned to the box, where his other self supposedly laid, with the others. The remains of tragedy, or of failures. He'd wait and see which one was what.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The King regards Tuxedo Kamen and smiles a little, with a hint of affection. "I must admit, it's strange talking to my younger self... but don't worry, I don't intend to try and keep anyone here."

When Kunzite emerges, he gestures at a low table in sight of all of them, a place to put it down. "And open it, please," he says very softly.

There they are. Four semiprecious crystals, four meaningful gems, four cardinal points, hands and eyes and ears and voice.

Presently the King says quietly, "We tried. I told Usako about them early, and she tried to bring them back when she brought back the Asteroid Senshi, but they were bound to the stones. Kunzite said that-- when I died and Usako brought me back, it brought them back briefly too, but something had been done to their bodies, they'd been changed, and instead of staying whole they melted away to leave nothing but these." He gestures at the rocks.

"It was about two hundred years," he says, "that they were ghosts, stuck to the rocks, only able to manifest when I gave them energy. They advised me, they kept me company, they comforted me-- all the while that Usa and I were clearing away the rubble and darkness of the old world and building the beginning of the new one. And then they stopped answering."

He glances up. "So, please, don't play with my heart. Is it true?"

Nephrite has posed:
Sapphire eyes first look to Mamoru-- as always-- before Nephrite's gloved hands drift outwards from behind his back. Something of an emploring surrender, a shrug, a display of his open hands as if to hide nothing.

"I'm sorry that it's been this way, for so long. None of us knew what to expect of the answer, when we came. But there are two, at least." He began, his voice gentler for the moment as he addressed the King, "Our Prince found the first. A man with my face. The grandchild of Naru Osaka, in fact, to speak nothing of how fate must've arranged the odds. Human. Without his memories, as yet, but the meeting was only brief."

His head inclined, and he gestured to the flooring. "Here, in the palace-- confirm it for yourself-- you'll find Zoisite's double tending the wounded. We all laid eyes on him. A Nurse with a cybernetic arm... it's unmistakable."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Isamu Hanakawa," Kunzite contributes, and steps back to stand at Zoisite's other side, a hand lifted (lifted while still in Zoisite's field of view, so that it does not surprise him) to settle lightly on Zoisite's back. "Someone who can support you in the times when you work as a healer. Someone who could take care of people now, when for once you cannot, and so lessen your grief. He doesn't know his other history yet; but he moved in that direction all the same."

Jadeite has posed:
The stones. The bodies, rather. The four of them, preserved and delicate in stone. Something twists in Jadeite's chest seeing 'himself' there.

"...I do not know if 'I' have been reborn in this time - but even if I have not, I doubt it will stay that way for long. I have never been able to easily leave your side. I think that if the others exist, 'I' must too; death wouldn't stop any of us from trying to come to your side."

Zoisite has posed:
"What do you mean we all saw him?!"

That came out a bit louder than expected. And it seemed he was the only one that didn't know of the news this time. A possible Nephrite was found. Not only that... A possible Zoisite. A second him. For all the things to come out of the blue, part of him wished he had been born on Nemesis after the last battle.

No aggression was immediately visible, just the surprise and momentary irritation at the wording. Not all met this Isamu Hanakawa. But he was thankful for Kunzite's approach and holding of his lower back.

Green eyes looked at the King then.

"...We also saw two possible Kunzites."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo's head tilts, then turns to let him look slowly down at Zoisite.

It may or may not make Zoi feel better that apparently nobody had time to tell Kunzite about the Boule Brothers either.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The younger Mamoru's eyes flicker to the boy next to him, hand still in his-- and it's a good thing there are two layers of glove in the way, because the flash of almost-irritation that began to bubble up never actually makes it to his face. "If that's how you want to keep looking at them until we find the real one, I can't stop you, but things Kunzite makes or handles taste like Kunzite's mind, not like malicious styrofoam." He doesn't let go unless Zoisite does. "There were two Black Moon Clan lackeys that set up outside the palace making that trap. The Boule Brothers. They looked and sounded uncannily like Kunzite, but like... there was no there, there, and they melted into red and white nothing when Usa killed them while they were trying to kill us. They weren't like the other Neph. He felt like Neph."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Endymion's eyes go wide at the news-- and he looks from Nephrite to Kunzite, soaking the information in, his hand coming up over his heart, closed, like he's literally taking what they're telling them and holding it to his chest. "Here? Right here--" he breathes; they wouldn't lie to him. Not like this. They're not his, but they're them and he's him.

He looks to Jadeite, and the corners of his eyes crease behind the mask, the translucent dark blue gaze affectionate. Despite not having a body, the King is starting to relax visibly.

RIP.

He turns to Zoisite and the younger Mamoru, and the growing relief is full of caution now. "What? Oh, I saw them sort of. They looked that much like--" he glances at Kazuo.

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite's scowl is set back towards Zoisite with no shortage of disapproval, the discussion with Rashmi still whining in his ears like a mosquito on top. The battle with the Boule brothers, the information they had picked up in research, and the shock of handling any of this business with the reincarnative possibilities. He'd gotten a little of his equilibrium back, getting time to think in the kitchen with Mako-chan as he chopped radishes-- Gods knew he'd left feeling surprisingly more calm. But indeed, that did come at the cost of time to inform Zoisite of Nurse Kanakawa. Time Nephrite had needed for his *own* head.

"There *were* two people who deeply resembled Kunzite who departed with the ship, when we looked through the records. If they have any relation... then, yes, perhaps a small possibility exists that he may have been born amongst the enemy. If the droids are based on templates of real people-- I can't *disprove* that connection, but those things were *not* him."

His gaze shifts then to Kunzite himself. "He wouldn't dare let himself be reborn, if it meant *this,* again. I refuse to accept it."

Zoisite has posed:
Flicker of embers in the depths of his eyes, something vividly turbulent within the young Shitennou. Zoisite didn't pull his hand away, his his fingers weakened in their grip, like he was back in the library with heavy hands gripping his shoulders and a much heavier gaze behind spectacles, waiting for a reply of what he knew.

But that didn't matter here--not his reply, but the contents of what they found and the blade Nephrite shoved into Zoisite's chest.

He wouldn't dare let himself be reborn--

I would, if he did. But like most of his thoughts, such a thing was quiet and reserved in his heart.

"You don't know that. Not just Kunzite, but Jadeite as well. Any of us could have been born on that planet, to those parents. The percentage does not need to be high, as long as it's not zero." Tone controlled, steady. "The twins were not Kunzite, I agreed with Makoto about this and she didn't have to be as domineering as you about it." Snap, clench of jaw.

"But there was a small possibility and we cannot deny they weren't at least copies of some sort. Which would explain them not completely feeling like Kunzite."

His gaze turns to the King, gaze softening a touch. "My apologies, but there I have been thinking a lot since I gained access to your library."

Jadeite has posed:
"Kunzite might have been copied, he might be on their planet, but he'd never turn against you," Jadeite adds. From what eh's heard of these Boule Brothers - even if they had Kunzite's face, they didn't have his heart, so. Fuck them. "He'd find a way to you. WE all did in our universe, after all."

Maybe that's not logical but - the sun is hot, the sky is blue, the Shitennou return to Endymion's side. Why should being reborn a couple times change any of that? Even when the four of them had fallen to the depths, it had been in Endymion's name.

"Just as the Senshi would never turn on Usagi. We have been foolish and misguided at times, but we all hold within us a love that will drive us to duty."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"It's not ours to choose which information might or might not be significant," Kunzite says quietly. "It's his." He tips his head toward King Endymion, as casually as he might toward Mamoru. "So whether or not it hit a sensitive spot - Zoisite, you were right to bring it up. And Nephrite, you were right to provide more information."

And Jadeite ...

Kunzite just glances sidelong at Mamoru, gives him a surprisingly openly rueful expression, and then shares it with the King as well. He can't speak for the King's Kunzite. But he knows damned well how much sheer luck was involved in his hands staying relatively clean this time, himself.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm sorry," Mamoru says immediately on hearing Kunzite-- says it to Zoisite. He squeezes his hand in both of his, then lets it go. "I didn't mean to step on you like that."

Zoisite has posed:
He didn't look at Kunzite, even if the need to kiss him was there. It was controlled, like his tone. It felt like relief to him to be acknowledged somewhat. And yet, it was just as hollow when Mamoru shrunk away, taking the touch along with him.

The prince was still his responsibility. Protection, happiness, even providing comfort if wanted. His hand was the one to reach out this time, fingers softly taking ahold of Mamoru's pinky finger.

"It's fine, Mamoru." Whispers.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The King listens. He's still and silent -- of course he is, he's not there. He's had a thousand years to teach himself not to fidget and never actually passed the class, though, so it's not long into the miniature fracas that he re-manifests his sceptre specifically to fidget with it while the Shitennou and their Prince flail at each other like the teenagers they are.

Then he stops fidgeting, the foot of the cane on the floor, and he just watches.

And then Jadeite speaks up and Kunzite looks rueful at Mamoru and then at him, he himself... and King Endymion briefly just closes his eyes.

"Gentlemen."

He waits until there is at least a little bit of settling of ruffled feathers, or at least attention, and he says quietly, "I don't know how things happened in your world, I've heard mixed reports. But in this one, you four turned against me twice. Once in the Golden Kingdom, which I barely remember, and once when you came back with the rest of us. She seduced you away from me twice. But she's never coming back, and whatever you swore to her was broken along with her. The Senshi had agreed it was safe to try, because of that."

He sighs, looking older than the 25 he's been stuck at for a millennium. "And yet, I would have you back even if it happened again. And I do trust-- after two hundred years with them-- I do trust that my Shitennou will at least want to meet me, even if they don't remember anything."

He's silent for a second. "I think," he says uncertainly. And then he looks back up at them, is he nervous? How did he look so much older a moment ago, and almost their age now? "I hope they'd want to meet me. But I would just be the King..."

Nephrite has posed:
Seduced is a strong word and one Nephrite immediately despises that the King chose. It's ashes in his mouth, and it is wrong to him-- even with his twisted memories, and the deceptions and manipulations that tore everything apart. There was nothing seductive about it, in his mind. It was a spiral into madness, until flushed with twisted power, there was no lesser evils than achieving what he *thought* was their victory; their Earth, and their Prince.

But Endymion says he cannot properly recall it, and it would be wasted breath against their clear failure to escape such illusions a second time. There is no excuse. Perhaps things were different here. Now is not the time to wonder.

He sighs heavily through his nose, and gloved hands flex at his sides as he tries to regain composure. Still, though, sorrow and anger war across his handsome face. He glares at flooring before the King's boots.

"Jadeite is at least correct in his sentiment," Nephrite mused cautiously, "I know that I would be drawn to you in any life. Realising it is another matter... but even if we stood on opposite sides, perhaps that would even be why. I think we would all be looking for what was missing. A deep connection that went untethered to anything, and left a feeling of emptiness."

Sapphire eyes flicked up to the King, briefly. "I would be lost without you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The look Mamoru has for Zoisite, then, sidelong, is a little sheepish but relieved. Pinky-hug. And he catches Kunzite's look, just before the King says 'gentlemen', and he gives him a sort of grimacing nod--

Nephrite speaks, and -- it's a lovely sentiment but when Neph says 'I'd be lost without you' Mamoru pinches his arm.

--and then, well, he says, "If they don't remember you, if they're intimidated to talk to you or they're feral cats and you need to be on antibiotics sometimes, you'll just have to work on them. Come on, you should be made of patience by now." So practical. "I mean, I know you're the expert at being you, but you're out of practice being the expert at collecting Shitennou."

Zoisite has posed:
"I'm not that feral, Mamoru, gods--" Zoisite mutters between teeth, an indignant sigh leaving him but not once letting go of the Prince's pinky. Connection locked in for that moment, a reassurance of what he told Makoto, of what he would pick in the end--even if he'd prefer death, that was a luxury he couldn't afford.

Jadeite has posed:
When King Endymion calls them all to attention, he sits up, ready to listen. (KNows his Mamoru and Zoisite and Kunzite are comforting each other. Which is good. They all need each other. Someone consistant to take care of each other. )

"Take it with a grain of salt, but when i fell under HER spell, I thought I was helping you. I realize that sounds ridiculous given what we did under her sway, but... if the me in this world is anything like myself, he will return to your side. And hopefully it will only take a minimum of commands to prevent him from doing anything...unsavory." Cough. "I have learned much and corrected my behavior in the year since I returned to my senses. I would hope a me that's had his soul laundered better would recover faster."

Nephrite has posed:
The pinch drew a look as if snapping him from a reverie, and to Mamoru he offered an apologetic look-- Nephrite would be lost without Endymion. 'Every you, and every me,' he meant, and mouthed subtly. But none of that would come between the very fact of Masato and Mamoru. That was wholly their own.

He cleared his throat, lifting his head. "Zoisite," he turned to him now, "I'm sorry I didn't make the time to tell you about Isamu Hanakawa before we were called here."

This was sincere. "But for now... maybe the best thing to do is to focus on who we can confirm. Your stone--" He glanced at the box. "Somebody should take it to him. And I think you should choose who."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Everyone else is stumbling over the same part of this. And Kunzite is the least likely to find the right way to approach that. But there's another thing that the King said that he can address.

"Your Majesty." The way that Kunzite eyes King Endymion is at least as pointed as the tone of those words. "As for whether you would 'just be the King.' Did I not just tell you that the man we believe to be the reincarnation of your Zoisite is a nurse? Have you somehow not met any nurses?"

Zoisite has posed:
Lips part, then close.

Did it have to be Nephrite to suggest he pick one of the other three to give his stone away? Something felt almost unfair about it, he didn't even meet this other self. All he knew was he was a nurse, and helping the survivors.

Zoisite could barely see himself as that gentle.

"You." Nodding towards Nephrite. "I want you to take it." His grip on Mamoru's finger gave a small squeeze. "Only because we don't know where the other two from the time line are, this version of me will probably only have this time's version of you." In his mind, it made logic.

"...I want him to see a familiar face that he will consistently have when he remembers... everything." Hopefully it will hurt far less.

Zoisite lifts his head to Kunzite. "I hope that's okay with you, Kunzite."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"..." the King looks at the five of them, what they're saying-- they can all of them see, and it's strange for Mamoru to see it from this side, that there's too much going on at once for him to follow, especially with 'Isamu Hanakawa' ringing in his mind like a bell. Finally he holds up a hand, and he says a little dryly to Kunzite, "It didn't process."

He tells Jadeite, "I'm extremely glad that I don't know what strangely specific thing you're not talking about," but he says it kindly.

"Unless you can think of a really compelling reason I shouldn't come with, I'm coming with," he finally tells Zoisite and Nephrite.

He turns his head to look at Mamoru. "The castle will tell you where Small Lady's room is. Please..."

Zoisite has posed:
"Your Majesty," Zoisite gives a quick glance over to the King. "I know it's late but, if I were to look for informatiion on Death Phantom, would I have to come to you as well?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru sighs. "I don't want to steal your Shitennou," he says, putting his hand on the wall. "I just want to borrow your daughter." Shiteating grin, sideways hug on Zoisite and Nephrite, and then the Prince teleports away. The look he gives Kunzite as he vanishes is: sheer relief. Glorious blessed 'not my problem' relief.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Absolutely," Kunzite says to Zoisite regarding his choice. "And your logic is good." And, because he would have been okay with it in any case: it's Zoisite's choice. It's not required to be rational. That it is is a bonus.

There's a hint of a smile in those words. The King gets more than a hint, but only a brief one - a brief flash of a grin, sympathetic and teasing at the same time. And then Kunzite quiets, because Zoisite's asking about the other important topic.

Okay, the more important topic.

Probably.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"More than what was in the news at the time? There's a biopic, but I'm willing to bet that 98% of it is made up and the other two percent is just what was in the news," King Endymion says to Zoisite, "but there's also a lot of scholarly picking at everything about it, and lots of legal documents, and lots and LOTS of school essays and famous philosophical debates over the application and failure of the death penalty. It's all over the place in the archives, I'm sorry."

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite couldn't fault Zoisite's choice, but it did strike him that Zoisite himself didn't elect to take it. But, quietly, he was in the same mind as Kunzite on the matter.

A short nod, and he would glance back to the King. "Well, your Majesty... I suppose I've got a Nurse to introduce you to."