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Sailor Moon: The Shadow of Silver Millennium 33

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Chapter 33: A Promise Broken

For the past three days, my heart sang as I put the finishing touches on my final report to Queen Serenity and composed my request to resign as Spymaster. I had never caught myself smiling to myself and dancing solo around my hideout so much before. The computer that I spend most of my free time tinkering with noticed. The holographic Shadow in the terminal mimicked my movements to make fun of me. The morning that I decided to send my last report, he claimed that I mumbled the word 'Venus' seventeen times in my sleep. When I questioned him, he played back the recording for me...I made sure to wipe all his logs afterwards.

There had been no doubt in my mind that Queen Serenity would accept my resignation and let me live with the Sailor Scouts as she promised. But the morning after I sent the report, Spymaster requested an urgent meeting with me. Not only had he confirmed that Amethyst's revelation about Sailor Saturn was true...she had the power to destroy an entire planet. And Queen Serenity had decided to use that power to wipe out civilization on Earth. She would save the Moon Kingdom, but at a horrific cost.

I couldn't stop shaking my head as the Spymaster told me just outside the cave. It just couldn't be true. She may not have been perfect, but she had a kind heart. I understood why the Moon Kingdom adored her. Even after our recent quarrels, I still looked up to her the way that I once looked up to my parents. All her professed fear of hatred and dark magic, yet she had something far worse all along. I could not believe that she would ever allow such destructive power to exist, let alone try to wield it for her own ends.

 "I've never even heard of Sailor Saturn before. I never thought that Queen Serenity would order her to destroy all civilization on Earth," I said to the Spymaster.

"That's not all. Once Queen Beryl's forces have been dealt with, all remaining Shadows will be forcibly cleansed by the Silver Crystal or banished to the Negamoon. I'm sorry Spymaster, but the evidence is conclusive," he answered.

No...whatever she felt about dark magic, she would never betray us like this. And she would never break her promise to me. I turned my back on him and faced the tree. "There has to be another way to stop this. We could appeal to the other Sailor Scouts. They stand for justice - "

"They stand for themselves," he sneered.

"Not the ones at the Palace, and not Queen Serenity," I retorted. The Spymaster scoffed, but I had absolute faith my friends would stand with me whatever the truth was. "I can't believe the Queen would do this," I sighed. "She promised me a home..."

"You think her promise meant anything, Charon? Do you think that if you had refused to help us when I brought you to the Moon Palace, she would have just let you walk away?" I clutched the locket she gave me as his cold words pierced my heart. "We've become a liability to her," the Spymaster continued. "She can no longer suppress the rumors. Once she finds out that we have uncovered the Moon Kingdom's darkest secrets, she will make us into a far greater threat than the Negaverse ever was!"

"If we don't go to the Sailor Scouts, what else can we do?" I asked. "The only force powerful enough to overthrow Queen Serenity is the Negaverse, and I would never deal with them." I paused...there was something about the Spymaster I had been curious about for some time, and now was my chance to get a confession. "Perhaps we could buy some time...take hostages, hold them on Earth?"

I did not mean what I asked - not unless I had exhausted every other possible alternative to save Earth -- but the Spymaster rubbed his chin as he considered the idea. "The only person that I know Queen Serenity truly loves is her daughter. Everyone else is expendable," he answered coldly. "And I know you would never endanger Princess Serenity."

I inched closer to him and stood up straight. "That sounds like our best option. We kidnap Princess Serenity and hold her hostage on Earth. I'm surprised you haven't proposed that yet."

 Charon...no...you would never threaten Serena...I would never...

The Spymaster's calm demeanor rarely fell apart, but it disintegrated in an instant and he exploded in a fit of rage. "Leave Princess Serenity out of this!" he screamed wide-eyed.

I smirked. "You were right. I would never devise put the Moon Princess or her Guardians in danger. But you taught me how to read people well. Why do you care about Princess Serenity?"

"I don't care about her!" he snapped back and tried to plaster his emotionless facade back on his face. "If you were going to take hostages, there are far more useful targets! If Queen Serenity makes no attempt to rescue them, then perhaps others will pressure her!"

"That wasn't professional concern you showed earlier." I crossed my arms. "Queen Serenity told Serena that her father was an adventurer. I see the way that you look at her." I said to him. Wait...no...he couldn't be...it wasn't possible...

The Spymaster actually writhed in discomfort with his eyes darting around the forest as the question I dreaded asking came out: "you're Princess Serenity's true father, aren't you?"

Deny it. PLEASE, deny it! There was no way that the Spymaster was related to Serena or Rini!

The Spymaster clenched both his fists and glared at me...I could  see his eyes squint as the thought of hitting me crossed his mind before he pushed the idea out. "Queen Serenity needed an heir, but she had no intention of sharing power with anyone. The woman was so arrogant that she attempted to conceive a child using the Silver Crystal! When that failed, she sought me out. I knew her before she ascended to the throne and became drunk with power...and I was not a noble, so I was invisible. Once she got what she wanted, she exiled me to Earth with your father. She only sought me out again as the threat of the Negaforce loomed over her domain...and she needed you to get the bracer for her."

Serena...Rini...the Spymaster's daughter and granddaughter. How could that be possible?

"You thought that if you helped her, she would take you back and let you see your daughter?" I asked. But I already knew the answer. He had the same fantasy that I did, that when all this was over, he would live happily ever after at the Moon Palace as part of the family.

The Spymaster opened his mouth to argue, but hesitated and swallowed. "I hoped...just like you. But clearly she has no intention of honoring her promise. Queen Serenity and I agreed that keeping you away from the Sailor Scouts as much as possible would allow you to focus on your mission, but I also knew that they would not be dependable allies if Serenity turned against us. No matter what evidence you show them, they will always stand with their Queen. Even if it pits them against the people and principles they claim that they are protecting."

"We have to stop Sailor Saturn at all costs," I asserted. "But we cannot ignore the war on Earth. Queen Serenity knows that we cannot just cower on the Moon and hide from the coming darkness. You will continue our operations here. If the Moon Kingdom cannot be saved...perhaps we could start over here."

The Spymaster smiled. He would not admit it, but he liked the idea. "Amethyst may be able to gain access to a number of artifacts in the possession of the Sailor Scouts. Perhaps there is another way to wipe out Queen Beryl's forces with minimal collateral damage," he proposed.

"Look into it, I will focus on Sailor Saturn."

The Spymaster grabbed my arm when I turned my back on him. "Your bracer prevents you from using dark magic against a member of the royal court. You will not be able to use your powers against Sailor Saturn while you are wearing it."

"The bracer is only a training aid. If I can remove it, I can tap into the power of the dark shard directly," I told him. I turned my arm over looking, fingering the black engravings on the silver bracer as I examined it for some kind of latch or button that would let me remove it. "If Queen Serenity was so worried about protecting themselves from us, she must have designed it so that only a royal could remove the bracer."

"There is always another way," the Spymaster reminded me. The locket that Queen Serenity gave me...I wondered...I pulled out the locket and held it very close to the dark shard in my bracer. After several seconds, both of them started glowing. I lifted the dark shard out with little effort. Inside the hole was a small lever that clicked and opened the bracer, allowing me to take it off. As my shackle clanked onto the ground, I clutched the dark shard tightly until it cut into my skin. As my hand bled, I felt its dark magic flowing into me, stronger than ever...

The Spymaster smirked. "I will inform the others that we are no longer taking orders from the Moon Kingdom. Sailor Saturn is at Titan Castle. She may appear to be a delicate Princess like the Sailor Scouts at the Palace, but remember: she is a weapon. The fate of Earth and the future of the Shadows will rest upon your actions. Do not hesitate to destroy her if necessary."

This had to be done. Once the Sailor Scouts knew what Queen Serenity was planning, they would understand my actions. As powerful as I felt, I knew I would need more dark shards if I were to become powerful enough to defeat Sailor Saturn alone. I opened the door to the cave, but stood outside, fingering my locket. As much as I never wanted to let it go, I would return for it after I dealt with Saturn. Despite what the Spymaster said, I was not giving up on my dream of reuniting with the Sailor Scouts once again. Charon...I still clung to the hope that I would see their smiling faces again, that Venus and I would dance again and we all of us could still have our fairy-tale ending, even if Silver Millennium wouldn't be the same...

 

Massive stairs led up to the main gate of Titan Castle, orbiting the planet Saturn. The entrance was guarded by eight Silver Millennium guards fully decked out in silver armor with dark blue undersuits and carrying menacing gray spears. Sailor Saturn had to be destroyed no matter what, but I wanted to avoid killing the guards. They were fully armored, so subduing them using nonlethal means would be difficult. I clutched my transformation locket and closed my eyes as the magic of the dark shards puncturing my skin merged together with the shamanistic power of the moon-shaped pendant. My robes dissipated as dark energy swirled around me. I felt my bones shifting inside as my shoulder blades protruded into wings, my nails became claws, and I stretched towards the night sky. My vision turned red as a long dragon snout extended in front of me.

The guards had gathered around me with spears drawn to investigate the rustling, but they backed away as my grunts became growls and a loud roar. I must have been towering at least twenty feet over them when I looked down on the bewildered soldiers. "By Selene...a dragon?!?!" shuddered one of the silver-armored, fully-plated guards.

"It's dark magic! Subdue it!" ordered their commander. I roared at them again and flapped my wings, pushing them backwards. I leaned forward, opened my jaw wide, and slammed it down on one of the guard's legs. He screamed when I tossed him in the air like a ragdoll and sent him flying into the wall. I spun with my tail and sent three more guards flying. The remaining four quivered in terror. One of them started running towards the door but the commander yelled for him to come back. Whatever composure they had left them when I flapped my wings, lifted up into the air, and soared towards them breathing dark blue fire. They jumped out of the way, so I flew back around, picked one of them up in the air, and threw him towards the other guard. The last two guards standing dropped their weapons and ran away screaming. I could find them later if it turned out one of them had the key to the castle.

I gave one last roar towards the sky before I felt myself shrink back to normal size. The wings slowly descended back into my shoulders, my snout retracted into my face, and my vision returned to normal as my bones returned to their proper place. The transformation process had been exhausting, but the guards were alive despite the bruising I gave them. The way they were panicking, they might need to clean out their suits when they wake up, though. I found the golden, heart-shaped key on the Commander's unconscious body and opened the massive black-purple door just enough for me to slip through.

 

"Is someone there?" a girl called from the second floor balcony, draped in purple banners. I disappeared out of sight and hid behind one of the pillars. The girl calling from above with purple-black hair and a purple regal dress had to be Princess Saturn; she looked to be eight or nine in Earth years.

She was just a little girl. Even with so much at stake, how could I bring myself to hurt a child? But the Spymaster's words echoed in my skull. I remembered Queen Beryl's torture camps and fortresses. What was hurting one girl compared to saving millions of lives? I had to stop her at all costs. If Queen Serenity used her to destroy Earth, I could never live with myself knowing that I might have stopped her. Hopefully, I could forgive myself - and the Sailor Scouts would understand - when all of this was over...

To Be Continued

Days after Charon intended to "retire" as Spymaster and join Princess Serenity at the Moon Palace, he learns of a disturbing plot by Queen Serenity to save the Moon Kingdom...with disastrous consequences for Earth. Torn between his conscience and his hope for the future, he also uncovers a startling truth...the identity of Princess Serenity's father.

Based on the classic 90s anime with original characters!
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