Chapter 2



  Despite it being full daylight outside, the servant hallways of the Palace were dark and dismal, the flickering torches in sconces only adding to the shadows that were already there. The Palace was mostly empty and silent, for most of the servants had fled on that fateful day two weeks ago. But now a hooded figure in a servant’s black robe stepped out from a doorway and softly padded down the hallway, her thin slippers hardly making a sound. Her head was bent, the hood completely obscuring her face as she hurried along.

   Another figure stepped into the hallway ahead of her and immediately her pace slowed. Her head came up slightly and she brushed a strand of lavender hair out of her face. The figure turned out to be a woman, one with dark red hair which reached down to her waist and a simple black dress with dark red accents and dark red slippers. She stopped abruptly when she reached the servant, her burgundy eyes scanning the servant’s face.

   “Shika, what are you doing?” asked the woman.

   They were both the same height. Shika met the woman’s gaze easily with her own vibrantly purple eyes. “I’m on break, Phoenix. I was going out to the garden.”

   “Break time already?” said Mistress Phoenix, looking thoughtful. She smiled at Shika. “Well, then I won’t ask you to accompany me to the Hall.”

   “Why? What’s going on there?” asked Shika, curiosity overcoming her.

   “Wolf and Raven have brought in some poor wretch,” said Phoenix, shaking her head in sympathy. “They said something about a knife and a thief and oh, I don’t know, but they’re taking her to the Mistress to let her decide.”

   Shika’s eyebrows twitched as they fought to rise up against her will. “Oh? That should prove to be interesting.”

   “Indeed,” said Phoenix with a sigh. “If Wolf gets her way, the girl’ll be executed publicly. Which, I suppose, might bring down crime a bit, but still. It’s just a little street girl.”

   Shika bit her lip. “But if they do that, won’t the public know they’re in power?”

   Phoenix nodded. “They’ll find out eventually, anyway.” She began moving off down the hallway. “So are you coming? I’m already late and you know how the Mistress is.”

   Shika nodded and followed Mistress Phoenix down the hallway towards the Hall. They reached a nondescript grey door where Phoenix punched in a series of numbers on the keypad next to it. There was a green flash and then the door slid silently open. They entered the Hall from the side door, which was mostly empty, a mass cavern of marble pillars and vaulted ceilings. At the far end, opposite the great wooden entrance doors, was a white stage. Shika had to bite her lip again to keep from giving a small cry of pain; the Queen had been left in her crystal encasing in broad view on the stage as some sort of horrific trophy. Beside it and slightly back was the Queen’s silver throne which had been dragged out of her chamber room and set up here. In it now sat a woman whose dark hair shone purple in the light as it pooled around the foot of her throne.

   The Mistress had a crimson ribbon around her forehead, keeping her bangs out of her eyes, and another around her waist. Her dark eyes flickered towards Phoenix and Shika as they crept towards the stage. Then her gaze returned to the two women in front of her – Mistresses Wolf and Raven – as they attempted to keep the girl between them from running away.

   “And what is it that you want me to say?” said the Mistress in a deep, silky voice.

   “That we may punish the thief,” said Wolf, her head bowed and her curling grey hairs obscuring her face from view as Phoenix and Shika reached the edge of the stage.

   The Mistress scratched at her chin. The girl whimpered deep in her throat, her hands held stiffly behind her by the two women. She was indeed a wretched creature, thought Shika to herself. The girl was dirty and scruffy, her clothes a motley of browns and torn in several places. Her hair was also as brown as mud and yearned for the touch of a brush. Shika felt a sudden twinge of sympathy for the girl.

   “Mistress!” cried Phoenix, climbing up onto the stage and taking the other two women by surprise.

   The Mistress’ head snapped up and over and her eyes narrowed.

   “Sorry, your Majesty,” said Phoenix, her cheeks growing scarlet as she realized the trouble she was getting herself into. She quickly bowed deeply. “But Mistress, may I speak?”

   The Mistress gave a curt nod and Phoenix continued hurriedly. “After the other servants fled, Mistress, we’ve been in dire need of some extra hands. Don’t kill the girl – let her work for us. It’ll prove wiser in the end.” She bowed again.

   “Just another bloody mouth to feed,” muttered Wolf darkly.

   In the space of a half moment, Wolf was on her knees before the Mistress, a crimson ribbon around her neck. Her wrinkled hands instinctively went up to claw at the ribbon while the Mistress stared at her coldly, tugging on the other end to pull Wolf towards her. Mistress Wolf crawled to her and the Mistress leaned forward, whispering something in her ear. Wolf paled considerably, her hands dropping to her sides as the ribbon went limp. She returned to her feet and stood stiffly by Raven as the Mistress retied the ribbon around her waist.

   “As for you Phoenix,” said the Mistress and the woman cringed. “You will be responsible if she tries to escape.”

   Mistress Phoenix bowed. “Thank you, your Majesty.”

   “Now leave.”

   They obliged. Mistress Phoenix grabbed the girl’s hand while Raven and Wolf exited through a rear door, Wolf’s head still bent; Shika wondered what the Mistress had said to her. She followed Phoenix and the girl through the side door and down the hallway towards the servants’ corridor.

   Mistress Phoenix explained the girl’s duties along the way. “As a servant, you will be expected to wear servant clothing –” she gestured towards Shika’s attire “– and obey any orders from someone higher than you at all times. In the morning, I will come by to wake you up and give you your orders for the day. All three of your meals each day will be at your bedchambers waiting for you when you are allowed back at those times.”

   They stopped outside of another grey door, which Shika already knew to be the servants’ bedchambers. “Here are your quarters,” continued Phoenix. “I will return shortly with your robes. Shika will help you with anything else.” She made to go but then halted abruptly and turned her head back towards the girl. “What is your name?”

   “Fishu,” said the girl quietly and Shika realized that she was just barely concealing her anger.

   Mistress Phoenix nodded and disappeared down the corridor. Shika turned to the door and punched in the four-digit code required for entry. The door slid open and the two entered. Pale fluorescent lights flickered on around the room and Shika found herself wondering again why the Mistresses had insisted on torches for the main servant hallways; solar powered lights were much more efficient.

   The room was a decent size but seemed much smaller than it actually was, for it was stuffed with six beds. Other than the beds, though, there was no other furniture. Another door was set into the back wall for the bathroom. Shika reflected that before the Mistresses had invaded the room had been an extra bedroom for guests. The servants had had their own separate rooms in another wing of the Palace.

   “So, what’s your real name?” asked Shika, fixing the shorter girl with a solid stare. She pulled down her hood to reveal her bright lavender hair beneath.

   The girl gave a start but managed to return Shika’s gaze. “What do you mean?”

   “You’re lying,” said Shika simply.

   Fishu glared at her. “And why do you fucking care?”

   “Because I’m going to have to look after your neck from now on and I’d rather like to know whose neck that is,” said Shika, narrowing her eyes.

   “Only if you tell me yours.”

   Shika gave a start just as the door slid open behind them and Mistress Phoenix entered, carrying a fresh set of black robes. She dropped them onto one of the beds, reminded Shika that dinner would be in fifteen minutes and left as abruptly as she had arrived.

   “You’d better put these on,” said Shika, pointing towards the robes.

   “What’s your name?” asked Fishu, not moving from her spot.

   Shika sighed. “I can’t tell you that. Please, just put on the robes.”

   “Why?”

   “Because Phoenix’ll be back soon –”

   “No. Why won’t you tell me your name?”

   Shika’s eyes flickered dangerously. “Put on the robes.”

   Fishu opened her mouth to say something, saw Shika’s eyes narrow, and thought better of it. Grumbling incoherently to herself, she grabbed the robes and disappeared through the back door. Shika took a deep breath and wondered how Fishu had known to go back there to change. Shrugging, she took a seat on her bed.

   Fishu emerged a few moments later, the robes wrapped firmly around her thin and bony body. She plopped down on the edge of her bed without glancing towards Shika.

   “Now what?” she asked tightly.

   “Now you stop acting like a child,” said Shika. “If you want to survive here you’re going to have to be a bit quieter and humbler, Fishu.”

   Fishu crossed her arms and glared at her. “I’m not going to be here long.”

   “Oh really?”

   There was a quick series of knocks at the door. Shika shot the shorter girl a glance as she stood up. “We’ll talk about this later.”

   The door slid open and several other servants entered. One by one they pulled back their hoods, revealing various shocks of hair beneath and that fact that they were all female. There were four in all. The first girl, who had long brown hair tied back into a braid and dark hazel eyes, stopped abruptly in her tracks when she saw the new girl. The second almost ran into the first, her mischievous grey eyes flickering from the first girl to the new girl and then finally landing on Shika as one of her hands unconsciously brushed a strand of pale red hair out of her face. The third and visibly youngest ignored everything and headed straight for the bathroom, her puffy blonde hair bouncing with each step. The fourth stopped in the doorway, her own pitch black hair held back in a ponytail and her long face turned resolutely towards Fishu.

   “Who’s she?” asked the fourth and first girls simultaneously after a few moments of strained silence.

   “This is our new servant,” said Shika, stepping forward and gesturing towards Fishu. “Fishu will be working along with us.”

   “Fishu?” muttered the second one, eyeing the girl suspiciously.

   “Is she a scholarship?” asked the third, returning from the bathroom and wiping her hands off on her robes.

   Two of the other girls laughed as the fourth shook her head in amusement. “No, Shiraha. She’s not a scholarship. There won’t be any new scholarships for a long time.” She looked to Shika for confirmation.

   Shika nodded. “She’s here for other reasons. Anyway, where are my manners?” She glanced back towards Fishu and smiled. “We need introductions.”

   “I’m Shinkano Shiraha,” said Shiraha promptly as she gave a deep bow. “Pleasure to meet you!”

   “Mai,” said the fourth girl, also giving a bow.

   “Kimiko,” said the second before the first could open her mouth. She grinned and blew a raspberry at the first girl.

   “Emiko,” said the first, turning her glare away from Kimiko and making a quick bow.

   Fishu nodded at each name. Now she fidgeted, glancing around the room, her eyes never landing on one girl for more than a half second. Shika frowned and laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder. The others did not seem to notice and instead milled about the room doing various tasks. Shiraha hovered near Shika’s side, appearing as if she wished to say something but could not find the courage to do so.

   “What is it?” asked Shika.

   Shiraha nodded almost imperceptibly towards the new girl, who was currently messing with her shoes on the edge of her bed. “Is that the girl?”

   Shika furrowed her eyebrows. “What girl?”

   “The girl Wolf was ranting about?”

   “What do you mean?”

   Shiraha bit her bottom lip, glancing around to make sure Wolf was not in the room with them. “Wolf was going on and on about it to Shark in the entry hall earlier. She said that at the first chance she gets, she’s going to ‘break that girl’s neck’. Um, should we tell her about that?”

   Shika sighed and shook her head. “Not yet. It’s not like the girl can’t figure that out on her own, anyway. What did Shark have to say?”

   “Oh, the usual,” said Shiraha, waving a hand. “She said she’d be willing to give Wolf whatever torture devices she needs and then went off on a rant about how the best device was actually super glue and nobody realized it just yet.”

   Shika snorted. “Super glue?”

   Shiraha nodded, a thin smile playing across her lips. “Yeah. I don’t get her obsession with it.”

   “Well, even Wolf admits that Shark is insane and that’s saying something,” said Shika just as someone knocked at the door.

   All heads turned at once as the door slid open and Phoenix entered, carrying a large bowl of ramen.



   Shika’s soft slippers made no noise as she quickly padded through the darkened hallways of the palace, avoiding the occasional patch of moonlight streaming in from the high windows in the main hallways. It was past midnight but she knew that she could still encounter the night patrol or worse, a restless Mistress. The servants were not allowed out of their bedchamber after ten o’clock and night. The punishment for disobeying the rule had never actually been said but all of the girls had active enough imaginations to keep them inside and asleep.

   Shika, on the other hand, had important business to attend to. Eventually she reached a door at the end of a hallway. There was a keypad next to it which she quickly pressed her hand against; there were no numbers for this area, for it had high security. Each person had to be authorized individually for clearance. Shika had long ago been given clearance to every room in the Palace, for all the senshi had been allowed to go anywhere at anytime. The door slid open silently and Shika stepped through and began to descend a flight of stairs.

   When the Mistresses had first come into power, they had gone through all the systems and wiped them clean in order to dole out clearance to only those who they trusted. Fortunately, when Shika had originally been entered into the system, the Queen had had to give her an extra level of encryption. No one was supposed to know that she was a senshi and if anyone had come across her name on the top clearance lists, they would have been suspicious. A mere servant should never have that much power. Shika thanked the Queen silently for her forethought.

   The stairs led her to a long hallway that led into the basements of the Palace. Shika, however, stopped at the second door on her left, pressed her hand onto the keypad again, and stepped into a dimly lit chamber. The chamber was mostly bare aside from a low table off to one side. On the other side were three doors set into the wall, all three made of a thick glass. Only one of them had a light on in it. This one she walked up to and peered inside.

   The holding cells were surprisingly spacious; the Queen had been avidly against keeping even prisoners locked up in tiny rooms for long periods of time. There was yet another keypad next to the door, which Shika obligingly pressed her hand against. It beeped and she entered her four-digit access code. A green light flickered on as the glass door silently slid into the wall. Shika stepped through and reentered her code on the other side; the door slid shut again.

   “Good evening,” said a deep voice from behind her.

   Shika turned around and smiled at King Endymion, who sat calmly in a chair near the corner. A desk sat off to one side and a bed was pushed into the opposite corner. There was another door in the back wall for the bathroom.

   Bowing, Shika mumbled, “your Majesty.”

   “I think we can skip formalities, Kala,” said the King. He motioned towards another chair on the other side of the table before him. “Sit, please.”

   “Why?” asked Shika, or rather, Kala as she took a seat. She lowered her hood to reveal her lavender hair beneath. “You’re still the King, your Majesty.”

   The King smiled and shook his head. “I hope you made it without any trouble again tonight?”

   “As always,” said Kala.

   “You really shouldn’t keep coming, though –”

   “Why not? I won’t get caught. And besides, how else are we going to plan a revolution?” interrupted Kala. She blushed, realizing she had been rude. “Sorry, your Majesty.”

   “Revolution?” One of the King’s eyebrows went up slightly. “That’s an interesting term.”

   “Well, our reclaiming of the throne, if you will,” said Kala. “How are we going to do this?” She sighed and placed her head in her hands. “I’m only one person. I could release you and we could try together, but it would still be just two against five. And they’re so powerful.” She shook her head and blinked away the tears that were threatening her eyes.

   The King reached across the table to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “They will be reborn, Kala.”

   “I know.” Her voice was choked.

   The King hesitated for a moment, then sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Do you remember what I was saying before you had to leave last time, Kala?”

   “Something about cheese?” hazarded Kala.

   He laughed and shook his head. “No. I was talking about a possible plan of action.”

   Kala leaned forward as her eyes abruptly widened. “Oh, I remember. Something about getting people together. Did you mean the servants?” Her voice steadily became more excited. “I know! I could rally the servants together, escape from the Palace with them, somehow get to the media and let everybody know about the Mistresses! There would be mobs, riots; the Mistresses wouldn’t be able to control it…” Her voice trailed off as she saw the King slowly shaking his head.

   “No, Kala,” said the King softly. “That wouldn’t work. If it would, don’t you think that the people of Tokyo would have noticed the change of regime by now?”

   Kala blinked. “What do you mean? I thought they had just been keeping it really quiet…”

   “Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”

   Slowly, Kala nodded. “Yeah, but I just figured that, well, the people didn’t really care or know…”

   “The people’s opinion is always high on a ruler’s list of priorities,” said the King. “The Mistresses, no matter how cruel or insane they are, are also very intelligent. Somehow, they’re keeping the population subdued.”

   “What?”

   “People are naturally lazy, Kala,” said the King, placing his hands on the table. “They prefer to be ignorant. It is my assumption that the Mistresses have taken advantage of this fact and somehow amplified it.”

   “Are you saying that they are making people not care?” Kala leaned forward across the table unconsciously, her hands gripping the edge tightly.

   “Yes.” He sounded sad as he lowered his head slightly. “If the people do not care about what happens to them, then the Mistresses will have no problem controlling them. They’ll believe what they want to believe.”

   “But how?”

   He shook his head and spread his hands out, palms up. “I don’t know. This is mostly speculation, you must remember. You, Kala, are the on one who has the ability to find out.”

   Kala nodded, silently.

   “The Mistresses are intelligent,” continued the King. “But not, apparently, intelligent to know about you yet.” He nodded towards Kala. “And that, Kala, is where my plan comes in.”

   “But, your Majesty, I can’t fight them alone!” sputtered Kala.

   The King waved his hand. “I know. You are but one senshi and you could never defeat the Mistresses alone, not even if I could help you.”

   “What are you getting at?” asked Kala, pressing her lips together. “I can’t possibly find the others on my own, either. I don’t even know if they’re alive…”

   “They’re alive. I would know if they weren’t. I don’t know why, but the Mistresses seem to have an interest in keeping them alive.”

   “So I have to rescue them…” said Kala faintly.

   “Eventually, yes,” said the King. “But not yet. First, you will have help. No, don’t interrupt me, Kala. Let me explain first.” He straightened his back in the chair and took a breath. “A while ago the Queen began to worry about her guardians, the Dimension Senshi in particular. The Sol Senshi had been given plenty of lives in which they lived peacefully and without knowledge of their past lives or obligations. They had been given the chance to live normally. The Dimension Senshi, on the other hand, were only reborn when there was grave danger.” He sighed. “She felt pity for them; they had never been given the chance to live a normal life.”

   “Yeah, but they never complained,” broke in Kala. “It’s their duty. Our duty.”

   The King gave her a stern look. “What did I say about interrupting?”

   Kala blushed with embarrassment. “Sorry, your Majesty.”

   “The Queen realized too that they knew it was their duty, but she still felt pity. This had been going on so long for them, this cycle of death and rebirth and fighting, that even she could not remember when they had first been given form. She felt they should be allowed to retire and finally rest and that their position should be taken up by a different set of soldiers. So in the pretense that she would eventually ask the Dimension Senshi about this and that they would more than likely agree, she created the plans for a new group of senshi.”

   Kala’s eyes widened, but she forced herself to remain silent.

   “It was, of course, a top secret project and it took a lot of preparation. She never finished, as you know, but eventually she was going to hold a contest for possible contenders for the positions. She created henshin objects and hid them away in her chambers. Everything that is essential, though, has already been prepared. All that was left to do was to find worthy candidates and transfer power to them from the Dimensional Pyramid, and then we would have had four new senshi. They would be the Star Senshi, named after the top secret project that had given them form, the Star Project.”

   “Why ‘star’?” asked Kala, unable to overcome her curiosity. “I thought she was going to make more Dimension Senshi.”

   “She can’t create senshi that already exist,” said the King. “So she drew the powers from certain constellations in the night sky; Delphinus, Draco, Equuleus, and Grus.”

   Kala took a few moments to process all this information. Then she leaned back in her chair as well, appearing for the first time truly exhausted. “So, am I supposed to take the final step and find these senshi?”

   He nodded.

   She rubbed a hand against her forehead and closed her eyes momentarily. “How? How the hell am I going to pull this off?”

   “I have great faith in you,” said the King gently. Kala felt a hand on her arm and opened her eyes to meet those of the King, sympathetic and understanding. “You can do this, Kala. You can return Crystal Tokyo to what it was and what it needs to be. Just take it step by step. I’ll help you as much as I can from down here.”

   Kala sighed and took a moment to compose herself. When she looked into the King’s eyes again, there was a strength and resoluteness which was not present before. “Alright. I’ll do it. What’s the first step?”



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