A WOMAN SCORNED: PROLOGUE by Quicksilver A:link { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:visited { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:active { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:hover { color black; TEXT-DECORATION: underline }
Quicksilver's Quill Offers
A Woman Scorned
"Prologue: The Final Straw"
by Quicksilver



With a flick of her wrist, she brought her fan in front of her face, smiling slyly as her latest droido, Droido Analytika, threw a chalkboard at the small Mercurian Senshi. The blue-haired warrior deftly rolled out of the way, preparing to launch an attack. "SHABON SPRAY!" she called, flinging out a bunch of bubbles that quickly fogged up the area.
Esmeraude quickly teleported away, aware that all the humidity would play absolute havoc on her hair. Analytika, though, barreled straight at Sailor Moon, unhindered by the magic screen. Esmeraude grudgingly admitted that Saffir had outdone himself with this droido, having her rely on an echolocation system rather then the more standard eyesight he had usually incorporated. Whipping out a calculator, she used it to start throwing glowing numbers around. From her vantage point high above the fight, Esmeraude let loose one of her trademark laughs.
It turned out she was savoring her victory too soon. It seemed that the weakness inherent in this droido was electricity related. Esmeraude absolutely hated that; how could EVERY SINGLE droido be flawed? Saffir had tried to explain to her about the price of magic and started ranting about a "debt" system, which had gone straight over her head. All that mattered to her was that the Senshi always seemed to win, destroying her plans every single time.
The mist dispersed in time for her to watch the green-skirted Senshi (the one who had called her an old hag!) fry Analytika with some kind of lightning bolt. Then the pretty little moon twit finished the job by waving around a fancy wand, and Esmeraude almost screamed. It was on the tip of her tongue to start swearing vengeance, but she sighed instead when the Senshi all looked at her. "Darn it," she said, not in the mood for any more elaborate insult. Then she opened a portal and slid back to the future, ready to give Demando a report.
Landing in the foyer, she stumbled slightly. Damn floors- all of them were made of sleek obsidian, and hardly gave any purchase for her feet. She grumbled slightly to herself, waving the fan with annoyance. Right now all she wanted to do was go back to her quarters and have a nice, hot bath while reading a totally trashy novel. Unfortunately, she had to report to Demando first.
"Fail again, Esmeraude?" came the last voice she wanted to hear.
Turning around on one heel with patented grace, she stepped towards the speaker, leveling the fan at his eyes. "What makes you say that, Saffir?" she asked, trying to stall for time.
He smiled and leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest with arrogant confidence. "Because if you had succeeded, you would have teleported directly to the throne room, rather then out here," he said with complete conviction.
She looked at him, ready to spew some venom, then sighed and walked around him without a retort. Saffir watched her go with puzzled eyes, trying to figure out why he was slightly disappointed. It was like she was losing some of her spirit, and though he didn't like her, it was nice to know that one member of their Clan could be so passionate. Demando was usually as cool as ice, while Saffir considered himself emotionally crippled.
When Esmeraude arrived at the daunting doors that led to the court of His Serene Highness, Prince Demando of Nemesis, she hesitated for only a minute before entering.
Immediately she recognized that two things were wrong with the scene in front of her. First off, the Wiseman was there, lurking in the shadows the way he always seemed to. Esmeraude didn't like him at all, but Demando relied on the strange wizard's advice, so she did not complain. Demando couldn't possibly be wrong- it just wasn't in his nature.
The second thing was the image of Neo-Queen Serenity that hovered in the center of the room. Esmeraude glared at the figure of white and gold, wishing that Demando would get over his petty little fascination, and return her affections as openly as she wanted him to. He loved her; he had to love her. With a sigh, she walked into the room, swaying on her heels provocatively.
Demando looked up from his contemplation of the Neo Queen. "You failed again," he stated, rather then asked.
She was unable to hide a flinch. "Hai," she said, about to launch into an explanation, but he forestalled her his an upraised hand.
"You disappoint me, Esmeraude," Demando said. "I had thought you more competent then Rubeus," he began, his smooth voice like balm to her soul, no matter what it was saying. She could listen to him speak for hours on end. "It seems I was wrong."
"Please forgive your humble servant," she said. "I will do better next time," she promised.
"Will you?" he asked, his voice clearly telling her what he thought of her capabilities.
"Your Highness!" she said, protesting his apparent lack of faith. "I have-"
He waved a hand. "You are dismissed, Esmeraude," he said, returning his attention to the floating hologram.
She looked at him, wanted to say something -anything- to get his attention back. Demando, though, was absorbed by Neo-Queen Serenity. She bowed her head briefly and teleported away to her quarters.
Very few people had ever seen the inside of Esmeraude's chambers, and the few who had, were surprise. Her room was very Spartan, and there was only one mirror, in the bathroom. Aside from that, she lived simply, with little luxury aside from the products she used to maintain her physical features. She had one shelf in her room devoted to books, for she used to be an avid reader... until.... until...... she couldn't remember what had happened, but one day, the entire way she looked at things had changed. Sometimes she almost thought she knew why, but then her thoughts would once again wander down the path to Demando, and the fragile bit of understanding she had gained would crumple, and fly away like dust in the wind.
Esmeraude dropped her fan to the floor carelessly, then leapt onto her bed, grabbing one of her largest pillows and hugging it to her ample chest. For a while she laid there, willing her mind to still, but her thoughts were in turmoil. Demando was so cruel to her- how could he be? Why did that bitch Serenity steal her beloved?
'I will not cry,' she thought. 'I have cried to often lately,' she said. 'I am the most beautiful and attractive woman in the world- men fall at my feet. There is no need for me to cry,' she resolved.
She rose to her feet again, her eyes sore from unshed tears. Stalking over to where she had dropped her fan, she picked it up and collapsed it, thoughtfully placing it in her top dresser drawer. She couldn't let herself be noticed if what she was planning was to succeed, and she knew her fan was her trademark- so it had to go. With a sigh of resignation, she went to Saffir's study, determined to see him.
"Saffir!" she called from the doorway, then pushed right through. If she waited for him to give her permission to enter, hell would freeze over.
The younger man sat at his desk, leaning over one of his many beloved computers, running statistics. He looked up to meet her eyes, and she could have sworn she saw a touch of shock in them. "Esmeraude?" he asked, as though he couldn't quite believe it was her.
She smiled at him. "I know you did a whole bunch of research on Neo-Queen Serenity," she said. "Did you ever manage to find out what her mundane identity was?"
Saffir stared at the Green Lady for a few moments, trying to gather his scattered thoughts. "Um, yes, but you can't kill her, or else you would upset the time-stream," he said.
Esmeraude's brown eyes flashed, and he involuntarily pulled farther away from her. Something seemed to have snapped within the green-haired woman, and woe betide any who got in her way. "I know that!" she declared, advancing on him. Before he realized what was happening, she had him by the neck, forcing his wide blue eyes to meet her own. "I want to know about her- in particular, her relationship with Endymion," she said.
"Let me go," Saffir hissed, "or I'll never tell you what you want to know.."
She did, keeping a steady glare on him as he straightened his shirt. "Speak," she commanded.
"Serenity was originally known as Tsukino Usagi, the Rabbit of the Moon. Her husband, Endymion, was known as Chiba Mamoru, the Protector of Earth. They met in 1992, and after a somewhat turbulent courtship, they settled into marriage when Serenity, still known as Usagi, turned eighteen. In her twenty-second year, she unfroze the Earth and ascended to the throne, and took on her new name," Saffir spat out rapidly, determined to get rid of this annoying woman as soon as possible.
"Turbulent courtship?" Esmeraude asked.
"Yes. They apparently didn't get along too well at first, and then he had his memory erased, then he broke up with her, then he was kidnapped, and finally he was killed, though she managed to bring him back to life."
"Sounds like she went through a lot for him," Esmeraude mused, resting a finger upon her chin thoughtfully. Then she smiled slowly, and Saffir felt his heart catch in his throat. She looked dangerous and brilliant, and Saffir suddenly had a flashback to when they were younger, when she wasn't as dense as she was now. It was almost as though she was shaking off the dust that had clouded her brain and actually started to THINK for a change. "Perhaps it's time to prove that old saying....." she drawled, her smiling widening by the second.
"Old saying?" Saffir asked, not following her train of thought- and it WAS thought, he realized with disbelief.
"The one that goes, 'Turn About is Fair Play?'" Esmeraude said, letting one of her ear-splitting laughs loose before leaving the room.
He blinked, still in a state of utter shock. "I would have said, "'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,'" he said, rising to his feet. Esmeraude was planning something, and he decided to follow her into the past. This time it seemed that she was actually using her mind, and that worried him. There was no telling what havoc she was going to wreck on the time stream. "I had better follow her," he said softly. "I have a VERY bad feeling about this."