Of Love and Duty
-by: the Yarnspinner-
the_yarnspinner@yahoo.com
A Sekkushiaru Roman
featuring characters from the anime "Sailor Moon"> Chapter 16 - Confrontation <
Crowds had gathered outside the Venusian parliament building. Within the chamber, Princess Mina occupied a seat at the front, while the other Sailor Soldiers, along with Prince Endymion and Geoffrey, sat in the visitors gallery. Two wizards flanked Mina to protect her from any further attempted attacks. Across the aisle from Mina sat Lord Halas, the king's legal advocate.
The Speaker called the parliament to order. "The house will be in order to consider the petition of her royal highness, Princess Mina, to act as co-regent on behalf of her royal majesty, Queen Ardora."
Lord Halas rose to feet. "Mr. Speaker."
"Lord Halas, you may proceed," the Speaker said.
"Thank you. Mr. Speaker, in response to her highness' petition, the king has instructed me to present the following statement from her royal majesty. In anticipation of her deteriorating condition, she stated her intent that his royal majesty, King Philos, should exercise the sole regency," Halas said, placing a sheet of paper on the table.
Ackar, the floor leader of parliament rose. "Mr. Speaker. Assuming the statement offered by Lord Halas to be genuine, the succession law still overrules, as her royal majesty would be well aware. This merely appears an admission that her royal majesty in fact cannot speak for herself, and under such circumstances, it would seem to be the duty of this house to name Princess Mina to exercise the queen's co-regency."
"Mr. Speaker, I would respectfully disagree," Halas said. "The succession law may set the co-regency system as the preferred mode, but it does not tie the hands of this body. Parliament is expressly given the power of discretion."
Ackar's deputy stood up. "I find Lord Halas' statement rather disingenuous, Mr. Speaker," he said. "For over a week, we have heard official pronouncements issued in the king's name, some by Lord Halas himself, insisting parliament had no authority at all in this matter. And now we hear that we have discretion to go against both the letter and the spirit of the succession law."
Another member rose from one of the back benches. "Mr. Speaker, I must agree," he said. "Our system has long shown the wisdom of dividing the regency between two people. The petition of her royal highness is consistent with that, and the granting of such authority to parliament was clearly meant to preserve the co-regency division."
Halas rose to his feet again. "Mr. Speaker, I must respond to the honorable member's assertion. The co-regency system originated from a variety of circumstances. It is intended to combine the talents of two capable and, I must add, mature individuals for the tasks and responsibilities of government. For the parliament to grant this petition would empower as acting co-regent a person who is both underage and woefully inexperienced in the responsibilities of government."
The Speaker rapped his gavel as an outcry of angry protest swept the room. "The house will be in order," the Speaker declared. Ackar was already on his feet, waiting for the commotion to subside.
"Mr. Speaker," Ackar said. "Lord Halas' assertion is patently false. Firstly, there is unmistakable historical evidence that the division of regency is designed to prevent abuses by requiring the co-regents to act jointly. Secondly, Princess Mina's age is not a factor in this case. There is precedent, in which an heir roughly the age of Princess Mina was named to act as co-regent in her father's place. Thirdly, as to the question of experience, while her royal highness may not have practical experience, I would remind the house that the present king and queen both had only minimal practical experience at the time they acceded to the co-regency. Furthermore, I would also remind the house that Princess Mina has had a very thorough education here on Venus, and is currently being educated by tutors from the Royal Lunar University, one of the best educational institutions in all the worlds. Finally, I believe any question of her royal highness' personal responsibility is definitively answered by the fact that she has returned home to place this petition before us."
Lord Halas rose to his feet once more, but Ackar's deputy gained the Speaker's recognition first. "Mr. Speaker, I call the question on the petition," the deputy leader said.
"Mr. Speaker!" Halas protested.
Halas was drowned out by other members joining in the call for a vote.
"The question has been called," the Speaker announced firmly, motioning to Halas to return to his seat. "The clerk will call the roll."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As the vote proceeded, Ami kept her own tally.
"Hardly any votes against," Rei observed. "This is looking good."
"Yes," Serenity agreed, holding Endymion's hand while her eyes remained glued on Mina seated below her.
"That's it," Ami said quietly. "She has the votes now to make her acting co-regent."
Just then, Ackar gave Mina a quick nod. Mina showed no reaction.
"She doesn't look very happy," Makoto said.
"I'm sure she's not," Serenity replied. "She certainly didn't want this."
"No. She's doing this because it is her duty," Geoffrey said.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The clerk rose and handed the final tally to the Speaker.
"On the question of granting the petition of her royal highness, Princess Mina, to be named to act as co-regent on behalf of her royal majesty, Queen Ardora, the vote is 327 in favor, and 10 opposed. The petition is granted," the Speaker announced.
The chamber erupted in applause. Mina rose to her feet to acknowledge the cheers.
"I want to thank you all," Mina said, when the cheering finally died down. "I regret that my petition was necessary, and I look forward to the day when I am able to report back to you that my mother, the queen, is once again able to exercise her duties for herself."
Another burst of applause swept the chamber.
The main doors opened and a group of Venusian Guards in ceremonial uniform marched down the center aisle. They stopped in front of Mina, and saluted. As Mina acknowledged their salute, the members of parliament bowed where they stood.
The Speaker stepped down from his chair. "Your royal highness. On behalf of the entire house, I want to express our best wishes for you," he said. "And I must urge you to take care."
"Thank you," she said. "I shall."
Mina turned, and the guard detail escorted her out of the chamber.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Several hours later, the Sailor Soldiers and Prince Endymion stood outside a side entrance of a remote royal palace, far from the Venusian capital. Mina had returned to her palace to find a message from her step-father, in which he claimed to offer cooperation and promised to send her full briefings. Clearly though, he was trying to keep her at a distance. Rei had done a search of her own, and had found a possible lead as to the location of the queen, which brought them to their current situation.
"There is only the standard compliment of guards outside," Ami reported.
"Mina, are you certain you want to be a part of this?" Serenity asked. "Now that you are co-regent, I really should release you from the Sailor Soldiers. Your duty to Venus now must outweigh your duty to me."
"I have to be a part of this, Serenity," Mina said. "It's my mother we're talking about. I have to find her."
"It's clear inside," Ami said, checking her scanner.
Serenity nodded, and using a key Mina had obtained, the door was quickly opened. Inside, they closed the door behind them, while several lit illumination crystals.
"I believe we need to be downstairs," Rei said.
"This way," Ami directed.
The stairs took them down several levels, finally stopping before a heavy door.
"It's locked," Rei exclaimed in frustration.
"I guess we'll just have to open it," Makoto said with a grin.
"If I may, sometimes finesse is better than a battering room," Endymion said. He retrieved a small packet of tools from his jacket pocket, and in moments, had the door unlocked. "There you are."
"Thank you, my dearest," Serenity said. "I didn't know lock-picking was a skill taught to princes of Earth."
"Jadeite taught me that," Endymion replied. "A relic of his misspent youth."
The door opened onto a wide hallway, which led them into an open chamber with two other closed doors. A guard and two household servants were sitting at a table, stumbling to their feet with the realization they were not alone.
"How did you get in here?" the guard asked. "You are not permitted to be here."
"Yes, they are," Mina said, stepping forward. "I am acting co-regent, and they have my permission. Now, stand aside."
The guard and the servants looked at each other uncertainly, then did as they were told. Makoto relieved the guard of his keys and unlocked the door at the back of the room. Inside, they found a spacious and comfortably apportioned suite.
"Where is she?" Mina asked.
"To the left, I think," Ami replied.
The queen lay on a large bed, encased in a thin layer of crystal. Several other crystals lay beside her, flickering and pulsing softly.
"Mother!" Mina exclaimed, rushing to her side.
Makoto heard a faint noise. Turning, she saw a dark shape rushing toward them. "Look out!" she cried, tackling Mina and pulling her to the floor, even as Endymion pulled Serenity out of the way.
Ami hurriedly turned her scanner on their adversary, while Rei struck with a powerful kick.
"It's like kicking a boulder!" Rei exclaimed.
"It's some sort of demon," Ami said.
"That's good news," said Makoto. "Now I don't have to be gentle." She hurled a powerful lightning blast at the demon, sending it tumbling to the floor.
The demon quickly regained its feet, this time moving toward the queen. Mina struck with her energy beam, forcing the demon back a step. Serenity reached for her tiara, which transformed into a disk of intense energy. She hurled the disk at the demon, destroying it.
"Very nicely done, your highnesses," Endymion said.
"What was that?" the guard asked, standing outside the bedchamber where the queen was being held, and concern clearly evident in his voice.
"We're not sure, but stay outside," Mina instructed.
Ami was now scanning the crystal that encased Queen Ardora. "We're going to need some time to get her out of this, I'm afraid. And staying here we run the risk of being attacked again."
"I agree," said Serenity. "Mina, the best option is probably to teleport the queen back to your palace. We should be safe enough there."
Mina nodded. "Let's do it."
The Sailor Soldiers gathered around the bed, with Endymion inside the circle they formed. Energy glowed around them and in just moments, they vanished, reappearing in a large room of Mina's palace. They were greeted by the loud blaring of an alarm. Major Strahn burst into the room with several guards.
"Your royal highness," Strahn exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting you to return so soon."
"We've found my mother," Mina said. "We were attacked by a demon when we found her, Major, and now we need time to get her out of that crystal."
Major Strahn bowed and took a step back. "You will not be disturbed, your highness." He closed the door behind him, leaving the Sailors alone.
"Ami, how can we help?" Serenity asked.
"Actually, I think Geoffrey's tools are best suited to this," she said. "And his ability to neutralize magic fields should be quite helpful."
"I'll find him," Rei said, heading for the door.
She returned moments later with Geoffrey, who carried his tool pouch with him. He paused to kiss Mina, then glanced over the situation.
"This is your mother?" he asked Mina.
"Yes. Ami thinks you can help get her out of there," Mina replied.
"I'll help however I can, honey," he said. He then turned to Ami. "What do we have?"
"It's a fairly standard magic crystal," Ami said, showing him the readings from her scanner. "But these additional crystals on the side complicate matters."
"Yes, I see," he said. "If we just removed them, how long would we have to safely get her out?"
"Five minutes, at the most."
Geoffrey removed a grey crystal from his pouch and ran it over that entombing Queen Ardora. He studied the faint glow of his crystal closely. "I think we'd need more than that to do it safely."
"How can we help?" Mina asked.
"I'm afraid you can't," Geoffrey said. "I'll need Ami to monitor the crystals and how your mother is doing." He began setting out black cylinders around the queen. "The rest of it is simply to just let the energy that makes up this large crystal slowly drain away. Anything else would put the queen at too great a risk."
The black cylinders took on a faint glow, while Ami conducted fresh scans. The others began to leave.
"Come on, Mina," Serenity said. "Let's leave them. They'll call you when they're finished. Besides, you're still co-regent for at least a little while yet..."
Mina nodded and allowed Serenity to steer her to the door.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As Serenity closed the door, Rei motioned to her and Mina.
"What is it?" Serenity asked.
"That demon," Rei said. "I may not have a scanner like Ami's, but I do know something about magic energies."
Serenity nodded.
"That demon's magic energy did not originate here on Venus," Rei said.
"Where did it come from?" Mina asked.
"I'm not sure," Rei answered. "But the important thing is that somebody had to bring that thing here."
"Can you do some research into this?" Serenity asked.
"Yes, I think so," Rei said. "Hopefully, by the time Geoffrey and Ami are finished, I should have something for you."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
An hour later, Ami opened the door. "We've finished," she said.
Mina and two healers entered the room.
"How is she?" Mina asked.
"She's unconscious, and still very weak," Ami said. "I think we'll have to wait on the healers for a more detailed report."
They left the room, closing the door behind them. Just then, Rei returned. The other Sailors were waiting with Endymion and Major Strahn.
"I'm afraid I still haven't figured out where that demon came from," Rei said. "But I have located a concentration of very similar magic energy."
"Where?" asked Strahn.
"The Venus palace," Rei answered.
"You mean King Philos brought that thing here?" Makoto asked.
"We don't know that for certain," Strahn pointed out. "Although we do know his chief wizard was responsible for the attempt against Princess Mina."
"So, what do you want to do now?" Serenity asked Mina.
Mina thought for a moment. "I think I need to confront Philos," she said.
"You can't do that alone," Makoto protested.
"Nor shall you," said Serenity. "If you will have us."
"Of course," Mina said. "And Major Strahn, I would ask you to accompany us as well. I may have need of officers with legal authority to arrest."
"Certainly, your highness. My men and I are at your service," Strahn said.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mina entered King Philos' office, finding him there with Oren, his chief wizard.
"I take it you've never bothered to learn basic manners," Philos quipped. "Such as knocking."
"I'd say my manners are the least of your concerns," Mina said. "But actually, I'm here to give you the benefit of the doubt."
"Oh, really?" Philos asked, clearly dubious.
"Oh, yes," Mina said. "You see, my associates located my mother, and rescued her from a demon. She is alive, and I am reliably informed that she will be able to resume her duties in a week or so."
Philos glanced at Oren with a scowl, then returned his attention to Mina. "Well, that is good news."
Mina nodded. "But, if the demon was after my mother, then it seems likely that you were next on its target list. And since someone had to bring that demon here, that someone could still be after you."
"That is a most interesting theory," Philos said. "But I think it rather far-fetched."
"But you can't be sure of that..., unless of course you are the one who is responsible for that demon," she said.
Oren stiffened, clenching a fist.
"That is a dangerous accusation, girl," Philos said, his voice low.
"I didn't accuse you of anything," she said, with a shake of her head. "I just made an observation."
Philos stood there, remaining silent, while Mina turned back toward the door.
"Oh, and Oren, don't waste your time trying another attack against me," she said. "I have proof, and I'm on to you."
"You damned bitch!" Oren cursed, jumping forward.
"Oren, no!" Philos ordered, but in vain.
Mina rolled forward as Oren hurled an energy blast, narrowly avoiding it. As Oren fired, the door was kicked open and Makoto struck with a lightning blast, knocking Oren senseless. The other Sailor Soldiers entered behind Makoto.
Two demons materialized behind them. "Look out!" Mina cried.
The demons jumped forward as the Sailors scattered, but the demons' advantage was short-lived as the Sailors quickly knocked them off balance, then destroyed them.
Suddenly, the entire room seemed to be enveloped in a stygian gloom, while the temperature began to drop.
"Now I think you've done it," Philos said softly.
The windows shattered and glass flew through the air. A darker form took shape within the gloom. Rei immediately unleashed a fireblast against it, only to see it swallowed up harmlessly.
"Don't attack it," Ami cried. "It's feeding off surrounding energy."
The Sailor Soldiers began to give ground, when Geoffrey suddenly rushed into the room.
"Geoffrey!" Mina cried.
He drove into the heart of the demon, which let out a piercing scream. Bright flashes of energy began to arc outward across the ceiling.
"Everybody, get down!" Ami yelled.
As they dove to the floor, a brilliant flash swept the room, momentarily blinding them. When their eyes had cleared, they found the gloom and the demon were gone. Geoffrey sat on the floor, holding his head.
"What happened?" Makoto asked.
Mina rushed to Geoffrey, looking him over with obvious concern.
"I'm alright," he said. "I was able to cancel out the magic energy at the demon's core. It tried to pull in more energy to compensate, but couldn't handle it."
Major Strahn entered the room with Endymion and several guards. "I'm glad to see everyone is well," Strahn said. "Your royal highness, you have no idea how hard it was for my men and I not to rush in here to your assistance."
Mina nodded in understanding. "But it was critical that you didn't, Major. Our adversary had to be focused on the Sailor Soldiers, not you and your men."
Two of the guards bodily dragged Oren to his feet and clapped special manacles around his wrists to disrupt his magic talents.
"Oren, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of her royal highness, Princess Mina," Strahn said.
Two more guards seized Philos.
"Unhand me, at once!" Philos demanded, indignantly. "You have no right to hold me."
"On the contrary," Strahn said. "There is conspiracy to kidnap and do harm to the queen, conspiracy to murder Princess Mina, conspiracy to usurp the regency... Shall I continue?"
"You cannot prove a single one of those preposterous allegations," Philos replied.
"We'll see about that," Strahn said.
As they all walked outside, Philos suddenly doubled over with a gasp of pain. The guards pulled him back up, when the king's body began to glow. A translucent, glowing form rose above Philos, leaving him totally limp. The two guards were thrown aside, collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Strahn and his remaining men rushed forward, only to be knocked out by an intense burst of energy.
Makoto hurled a lightning burst at this new demon, even as Mina struck with her energy beam. Neither had any noticeable effect.
"What is this thing?" Makoto asked.
"I'm not sure," Ami said, examining the readings on her scanner.
"I am far more than you have ever encountered before!" the demon declared.
It hurled an energy blast just in front of Geoffrey, throwing him hard to the ground in a shower of dirt and rocks. Rei attacked with a fireblast, only to have it prove as ineffective as Makoto's and Mina's attacks.
The demon laughed and swept forward. "You are powerless against me, while I know how to exploit your greatest weakness."
"Are you going to talk us to death?" Makoto asked.
The demon laughed again as it bathed them in energy. The Sailor Soldiers and Endymion fell to the ground, intensely dizzy. In just moments, however, the dizziness had passed.
Serenity struggled to stand up, suddenly finding herself overwhelmed by intense waves of physical desire. In an instant, her insides were on fire with unbelievable longing. Her breasts swelled tightly against the snug-fitting uniform of Sailor Moon, and grew so incredibly sensitive that her slightest motion sent powerful shocks tearing through her. One glance at Endymion and she could hardly think of anything but his bulging, throbbing manhood plunging deep inside her to satisfy her need.
Endymion, likewise, found his penis swollen painfully with arousal as he was swept away in an all-consuming desire to satisfy himself in Serenity's beautiful young body. As he tried to move, his now passion-fogged mind flooded him with images of his hands running over her naked flesh, his lips on her nipples, and his manhood buried deep within her.
The demon laughed maniacally as all the Sailor Soldiers writhed on the ground in the same predicament. Geoffrey rose painfully to his feet, retrieving two small spikes from his tool pouch. One he stuck into the ground, while he hurled the other at the demon. The demon screamed in pain.
Serenity's intellect, all but drowned out by the intense carnal desire running through her, urged her to action. As she stood, she looked at Endymion. Immediately she gasped for breath as her blood boiled still hotter. Her eyes locked on the bulging form of his manhood within his pants, yearning to hold his warm, throbbing mass within her. Struggling for every bit of will-power she could muster, she took another step forward. Her breasts seemed to still be swelling, and she hungered to free them from their confinement and feel his fingers, lips, and tongue sweeping over them. She clenched her eyes shut and took another step forward.
"Sailor Soldiers," Serenity called, her voice barely a gasp.
Endymion struggled forward, fighting his own desire. He saw Serenity move forward, but was quickly carried away with a mental image of her stripped of her uniform, and his own hands running lovingly over every bit of her superbly sexy young body. Finally, he forced his attention back to the demon in front of him and took another step.
Mina, seeing Serenity moving forward, also climbed to her feet, fighting her own desperate hunger to make wild, passionate love to Geoffrey again and again, and still again. The faint voice of duty urged her on, insisting that an acting co-regent of Venus could not fail to act when her world was threatened.
Ami, Makoto, and Rei each followed Serenity's lead, struggling against physical desire run wild.
"What?! This is impossible!" the demon exclaimed, still fighting Geoffrey's spike. "You should all be helpless captives of your own base desires!"
"For Sailor Soldiers, the impossible is standard," Serenity declared, quoting a statement attributed to her mother during her tenure as Sailor Moon.
The demon hurled fresh bursts of energy at them, while screaming in pain as Geoffrey's spike continued to disrupt his form. The Sailors dodged the attacks, even as sexual desire continued to plague them mercilessly.
An energy blast caught Rei, throwing her to the ground as her body nearly reached climax. Breathless and trembling, she regained her feet.
Geoffrey struck the demon with another spike, siphoning still more energy from it. At the same time, Ami released a thick cloud of bubbles, obscuring the demon's view.
"I think only a combined attack will be enough," Ami said, breathing heavily.
"I agree," Serenity said, nodding.
"But Serenity, you've never performed the Sailor Planet Attack," Mina protested.
"There's no time for discussion," Serenity said. "And we'll all be in the same boat, because I'm thinking of the Earth and planets combination, which none of us have done before."
The Sailors formed a circle and began combining their powers for a joint attack that had not been executed since the time of the previous generation of Sailor Soldiers. Endymion produced a rose, which shimmered with energy. He raised the rose over his head. As he did so, the Sailors released their combined energy. He threw the rose, which was enveloped by their energy. Glowing brilliantly, the rose stabbed into the heart of the demon and exploded. The demon vanished in the intense flash.
"Well done!" Endymion said.
Geoffrey picked himself up, shaking his head. "I'm glad it worked. I sure wouldn't want to go through that again."
As Mina rushed to Geoffrey, Serenity looked at Endymion realizing the intense sexual desire had outlived the demon, still demanding satisfaction. "Oh, gods," she gasped softly.
Endymion stepped toward Serenity when he felt his penis again swelling painfully within his pants. He stopped in his tracks, clenching a fist, and gasping for breath. Thoughts of her naked in their bed as he plunged himself into her ran uncontrolled through his mind.
Mina embraced Geoffrey in her arms, only then realizing the burning need within her was not fading. As the hot wetness within grew still more intense, her slightest contact with his strong body took her breath away.
"Oh, gods," she groaned.
"What is it?" he asked, his voice a whisper.
"The demon's spell didn't die with it," she answered breathlessly. "I still have this incredible urge to just tear your clothes off and make love to you, over and over and over."
He embraced her tightly. "If it's caused by magic, my ability should disrupt the spell."
She waited for a moment, but felt her yearning growing still stronger. Without conscious thought, her hips began to sway, rubbing her body across his manhood. "It's not helping," she gasped. "Being this close to you is just making it worse."
He nodded in understanding, and took a step back.
The guards began regaining consciousness. Oren remained safely shackled. Another guard began to lift King Philos, but found him still unresponsive.
"Major!" the guard called. "I think you'd better have a look at this, sir."
Strahn rushed over and bent down over Philos. After a moment, he slowly stood back up and turned toward Mina.
"Your royal highness," Strahn said. "The king is dead."< To be continued >
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NOTE: A bit of a cliff-hanger this time. Still more to come.You can now find all my yarns at http://strands-of-moonlight.my3gb.com and http://strands-of-moonlight.6te.net.
Always remember, good gentles, that a yarnspinner works from and within existing legends and stories. The characters of "Sailor Moon" belong to others. In spinning my yarns, I do not seek to infringe on their rights of ownership, but merely to join with other fans to spread the legend still further. "The moonlight carries a message of love." Enjoy.