Four

Never

He removed his cape and draped it over the back of a chair and then removed his white mask and set it aside. Stretching long arms over his head, he stifled a yawn. It had already been a busy day, attending negotiations and carefully crafting policies to maintain the peace and tranquility of the kingdom, but before King Endymion could seek out his wife and retire to their chambers, he wanted to run some diagnostics on the palace security.

So he found himself before the large, crystalline control panel, activating different aspects of the system with the brush of his innate powers, rather than through something as crude and insecure as physical touch. Images appeared on the large screens, scenes of different areas around the castle with overlays that monitored everything from temperature and humidity to gravitation and the flow of space-time. One never knew from what means one's enemies would strike, not anymore.

He paused momentarily on the image of a young woman with long pink hair that flowed from two conical buns, wearing a soft rose-colored gown and speaking seriously to one of her tutors. His Small Lady had grown into a lovely young woman. He smiled fondly, realizing that she was now about the age, physically if not temporarily, that her mother had been when Mamoru had first met her. He was so proud of her. Of both of them.

His peaceful thoughts were interrupted when a light atop the crystal control panel suddenly flickered to life, sending flashes of red around the room. His stomach dropped as a warning sound began to scream at him. Urgently, his eyes returned to the screen, but his daughter and her tutor were still conversing calmly. He swiftly shifted to a number of other scenes but all of the occupants were going about their business as usual. Whatever had triggered the alarm must not have been urgent enough to set off a palace-wide alert. Anxiously, he began hunting down the cause.

He was monitoring energy readings around the palace and was preparing to expand his search to the rest of Crystal Tokyo when an image popped up in the middle of his screen, notifying him that he had an urgent message from Sailor Venus. Good, as Captain of the Queen's Royal Guardians, if anyone knew what was going on, it would be her. He activated the message with a pulse of power and said, "This is Endymion, I've received notification of an emergency somewhere on the grounds but I can't locate the issue. Report, Venus. ...Venus?"

There was silence for a long moment and then the warning faded to silence and the light stopped flashing as someone else's face appeared on the communication screen. Endymion frowned as he looked at the man. It had been a long time, more than a thousand years, and yet… his face tickled Endymion's memory.

Suddenly, music flooded the room and the image of the man began moving. Memory accompanied the music and Endymion's lips tightened into a thin line. Teeth gritted, he snatched up his cape and mask, storming out of the security room to find the culprit waiting for him in the outer chamber with a wide, cheshire grin.

"Venus," he growled and her grin widened a little. He took a deep breath and forced his tone into something a bit more kingly. "Venus, you are the Captain of the Queen's Royal Guardians." She nodded, teeth still flashing. "Leader of the universally renowned Sailor Warriors." Her blond hair bounced as she nodded. "Beloved idol of the planet Earth for more than a thousand years and acclaimed genius tactician and strategist."

"Ooh, why thank you, Your Majesty," she chirped, "I didn't know you thought so highly of me." Her wide, wicked grin did not leave her face.

"All of those things considered, Venus," he said, lifting a hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "If you must prank your king, do you think you could try a little harder than rickrolling me?"

Venus nearly doubled over, arms around her stomach and golden hair tumbling about her face as she burst into laughter, the console in the security room still blaring in the background. "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down…"

xXx

AN: I… I don't know… It just… happened.