Chapter 22 - Questions

            Emily went to Beryl in her new dress uniform with a white cape. She wore her hair in a chignon with a jeweled pin. No games or submitting today - just questions, and hopefully answers.

            She stormed into Beryl's throne room, with Mare Leah and Ninjana by her side. She was not going to let Beryl take control of the conversation. She marched straight to the throne.

            "I demand to speak with Queen Beryl!"

            Beryl immediately rose and ordered the DD Girls to stop her. They did, just before she could ascend the steps.

            "What is this insolence you have shown against me? I am your queen!"

            "How do you explain the fact that you ordered your most distinguished trainer Ninjana not to teach me how to control telepathy?"

            "How did you know?"

            "Metallia gave me the power to read minds. That has helped me in many ways."

            Beryl's eyes widened in terror. She immediately showed fear in her eyes.

            "What is it that you are not telling me? I need to learn how to control it."

            Beryl stood by the throne, and had to brace herself from falling. She was breathing fast, and her heart raced.

            "You're troubled. May I tell you what I have learned?"

            "Please, my dear, let me sit down."

            "Fine."

            As Beryl returned to her throne, visibly shaken, Emily began to reveal what flashes of information Beryl had floating in her head. Emily did not reveal much, for the sake of focusing on her question. As she was revealing, she sensed that Heliodor was watching her every word and move.

            "I have seen that you have tried to read minds over the past few days but were unable to. The youma that you had audience with were disturbed with having to tell you what is on their minds. I also see when you were bound to beryl the way I had been bound to kunzite, you gained the same ability I had. Finally, Queen Metallia once took over your body while you were fighting the Moon Kingdom. I wonder what the point of that was?"

            "How could you know such things?"

            "It was what Metallia gave to me. I have no control over telepathy."

            Beryl began to voice fear and anger. "You are not to know the history of this Kingdom. You have not been here long enough!"

            "I have been endowed with telepathy and it has brought me many of my successes. I thank her for it, but I need to know why."

            Beryl then began to yell. "You are banished from my presence. GO!"

            "Fine! I will leave the Kingdom tonight!"

            Heliodor cried, "NO!" It was then the entire room was focused straight on him.

            "No! You can't go! I won't let you!"

            Beryl smiled. "Tell her, my son. Tell her why you won't let her go."

            Heliodor's green eyes realized what he thought he had revealed to Emily just now. But Emily knew already. She would not let Beryl see any intimate scenes with Heliodor, however.

            "Because...you are a citizen of the Golden Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Earth! You are the Supreme Commander, the Commander of the Middle East. And if we lost the Supreme Commander, we would be ruined."

            "Not good enough, dude." Emily wanted to know the truth, and Heliodor did not know it.

            Beryl retained her composure and spoke.

            "I will have your answers by the morning."

            As Emily left the throne room, Heliodor followed her out. She shed a tear that nobody could see. Poor Heliodor, she thought. How can he be so naive?

            When she wiped her face clean, she let Heliodor catch up to her and Mare Leah.

            "What is it?"

            "How can you just turn and run on Metallia? She will kill you."

            "That is none of your business."

            "I don't know what you think of my mother, but my mother is a kind, sweet and gentle woman, always glad to lend a hand, and she never gives up on anybody."

            Emily turned to the youma and said, "I need to speak with Heliodor alone. Please, pack my suitcase and bring as much clothing and jewelry as you possibly can."

            Ninjana and Mare Leah went away. Emily and Heliodor went into Heliodor's bedroom. He sat down on the bed and Emily began to rant.

            "Do you even know what your mother did to try and overtake my planet? Did you even see how she controlled the minds of all the Kings? Did you even know how she treated my father?"

            Heliodor jumped up. He looked straight in Emily's face.

            "The Kings died at the hands of the Senshi. Small Japanese teenage girls. I don't even know how she handled it."

            "Where were you when she activated the crystal in my father's forehead? Where were you when he had no emotion, no memory to speak of? Did you even see how it was only when the Moon Kingdom's Ginzuishou healed my father that he could mourn the deaths of his closest friends?"

            "Where were you? Somewhere in the OC?"

            "The memories, the tapestries, they divulge their secrets to me. I have no control over how these memories come. I have knowledge of how each King was killed, how little Jadeite could show his emotion because he was trained not to, how emotionally blind and masculine Nephrite was. I even know the truth about Zoisite and Kunzite."

            "What? That they were gay?"

            "No. They were not gay. They were close friends, but not gay."

            "How do you explain Zoisite's girliness?"

            "When Zoisite was a baby, some mad duchess captured him and raised him as a girl. Her daughter had died, and he became the replacement."

            "How do you explain Zoisite moving into the palace with a bedroom right by your father?"

            "He sleepwalked. Kunzite had to chain him to his own bed to keep him from sleepwalking straight off the balcony."

            "Well, then, why did they...."

            Heliodor had lost steam. He simply breathed heavily. Emily breathed in the exact rhythm and depth as Heliodor.

            Heliodor gave up and admitted where he was. "I was sent to live in Australia when everything happened here. I had no clue what was going on."

            "You sad boy. You never even knew."

            Emily went off, but Heliodor grabbed her hand.

            "What do you want from me? I can't stand it here any longer!"

            "I can't bear to see you go."

            He loosened the pin from her hair and it fell down her shoulders.

            "What does it mean to you whether I go or not? You'll still be the Crown Royal Prince."

            "Did all those conversations mean nothing to you? All those lunches?"

            "They meant a lot to me. You're my best friend, Heliodor. I can say anything to you."

            Emily paused. She realized what Heliodor's true motives were.

            "What are you trying to not say? I already know."

            Heliodor could deny it no longer. He collapsed onto the bed.

            "I've been in love with you since the moment you walked into the Mexican Restaurant."

            Emily was free to confess her own feelings she was brewing inside her.

            "The truth is, I love you, too. We'll find a way out of this together."

            Emily sat down and looked in his eyes. They began with a gentle kiss. Soon, their bodies were intertwined, but they still had their clothes buttoned up and together. They were in the process of undoing Heliodor's pants when there was a knock on the door.

            It was Mare Leah and Ninjana.

           "The Family Guest Suite is ready."

           "Thank you, Mare Leah. I will take supper there."

           "As you wish." Ninjana went off.

            Heliodor slyly grinned. "We have until supper. Then, I will learn what she knows." 

           There was an awkward pause.

           "Was it true what you said?"

           "About what?"

           "About being in love with me?"

           Heliodor looked in her eyes and said this:

           "Everything I have said in confidence is true."

           Emily shed a tear, and they kissed again.

           She suddenly had an intense desire to make love...

*****

            The time came to leave, which she dreaded.

            Heliodor promised he would bring the answers she sought to her.

            Emily went to the guest suite. In that room, there were large tapestries of the famed Shitennou and their exploits in the Golden Kingdom. There were various myths and legends there, plus a face ripped out of one. That same face was washed or faded out on other tapestries, too. However, there was one face that looked just like hers, but male, of course. His greatest tapestry to him depicted him helping to revive a sickened Pharaoh and slaying a large dragon.

            In this suite were two bedrooms, with large beds, large enough to sleep at least two people in.  There was also a series of entertaining media, a dumb waiter, and a big buffet with room for lots of food and drinks.

            Emily sat and waited for her friends to arrive.