Both Jadeite and Nephrite had heard the noise upstairs, Zoisite's unmistakable screams. They had acted in unison, both making a start towards the front entry, then stopping suddenly, afraid to leave the spectacle in the kitchen. They repeated this action a few more times, moving towards whatever attraction seemed to demand the most attention. Either there would be another noise upstairs, or the hole in the ceiling would belch and expand slightly.
At last, Luna, exhausted by the two's indecisive dance, barked at them, "Go to the stairwell and see what's the problem! I'll watch things here!"
Borne more of an overly-enticed curiosity than a true concern for Zoisite's well-being, the two kings dashed down the hallway, checking each other at the corners.
They shot out of the narrow corridor like arrows from a bow, ejecting themselves into the sunlit foyer. Moving as one, they halted, their boots skidding on the floorboards, and they craned their necks upwards to peer at the second floor landing.
This, truly, was a sight to behold. Both of them had rather suspected that Zoisite would be undergoing one of his 'episodes', to be found collapsed against the banister in the expected bloody stupor. Yet instead, the young king was standing, or rather, bent over backwards on the railing. Over him loomed Kunzite, who had pushed himself so closely against the smaller king that for an instant, Nephrite thought that perhaps the two were merely expanding their repertoire of public indecency.
If that were the case however, their romantic experiments were about to come to an injurious end. For under the strain of their weight, the banister exploded. It did not simply crack or splinter or give way beneath them, but rather its supports and rail shattered and scattered, pelting the floor below with jagged pieces of wood.
Jadeite and Nephrite watched as the two figures above, locked in their solid lover's embrace, tilted out into empty air. Jadeite rushed forward, as though he was diving to save a glass of water from spilling. But realizing his uselessness, he darted back to join Nephrite as a spectator.
They fell so slowly. Kunzite's weight had twisted them in mid-air like a wheel, so that he was the one who would be first to hit the floor. Both Nephrite and Jadeite had their eyes squinted and their teeth gritted in preparation for the impending thud.
And finally it came - not a thud - but a crash. For Kunzite- with the added weight of Zoisite - had gone right through the floor.
For a moment, Jadeite and Nephrite could merely stand there, watching the pale cloud of dust rise from the new gap in the floorboards. Not a sound came from below, no voices, no movement.
Slowly, cautiously, Jadeite crept forward. He kept his feet on the rug, maintaining a cautious couple of feet away from the hazy maw, lest he be the one to fall through next. Stiffly, stilted, he leaned over to peer into the hole. And, for want of anything better to say, "Hello?"
There was no answer. The dust and jagged boards obscured the light; nothing could be seen below. Jadeite swallowed, turning to Nephrite. "Is... is there another way down there?"
Nephrite passed a hand across his mouth, as though wiping away a nasty residual taste. "Not that I know of. I hadn't even realized that there was a level below this one."
"I'm going to see if I can climb down there," said Jadeite with a sudden decisiveness.
"No you're not."
"Yes I am. Kunzite and Zoisite might be dead, for all you know. We should at least know." Crouching down on the floor, Jadeite began inching himself along, careful not to put his weight too heavily on any one board that looked too unstable. He had planned to ease himself over the lip of the hole, and jump down. After all, it couldn't be a very large drop, could it?
"Careful," Nephrite called from behind him, "that might be a bottomless pit, for all you know."
Jadeite ignored him, turning himself around clumsily on hands and knees, backing himself up to the very cusp. He raised one shaky boot, intending to dip it into the hole as slowly as one would dip a toe into a very hot tub of water.
But as he commenced lowering that particular leg in, a flicker of movement caught his eye. It had come from the corridor leading to the kitchen, and had drifted out like a shadow, or a blackbird's wing. Jadeite paused in his climb to stare more intently, and soon Nephrite was following his gaze as well.
"What did you see?" asked the auburn-haired king.
The hole was spreading. It had engulfed all of the kitchen ceiling, and it poured like tar down the walls. The air was filled with smoke, for the sheer heat of the thing was causing the walls themselves to smolder.
Luna stared at it, unable to move, unable to call for attention, her little cat jaw hanging open. Her ears were set back against the heat, and the smoke had packed itself so low that it was beginning to sting her eyes.
But she refused to run away, her brain working rapidly at the puzzlement at hand. If the house's previous inhabitants had been pushed out of this plane into another, could that have somehow weakened the magic that kept this house solid? The hole that was spreading here- and Zoisite's brief disappearance- these were signs of damage to the house's very fabric, the magic membrane that Serenity had created to keep these beings contained.
Suddenly, Luna began to comprehend. The attacks on Zoisite, and the peculiar aura surrounding Kunzite- these were not attempts to conquer the kings, but rather, they were attempts to find anchors, physical forms in the physical world. These souls, so suddenly disembodied and sent adrift, had seen upon the arrival of Kunzite and Zoisite two living beings, alive and close to one another. This was much for them to envy- a link to the happiness they had had before being imprisoned.
Now that the house was falling apart, these beings had very little time to get what they want. Zoisite and Kunzite's only hope would be to reach the hole- the only way out - before they are overtaken.
"What's happening?"
The voice made Luna jump. She turned around to see Jadeite and Nephrite run up behind her. They stopped suddenly, the heat hitting them like a blow, and both of them simultaneously raised their arms as though to shield themselves.
"What do we do now?!" cried Jadeite, for it seemed that in this heat, sound was dull.
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but a sputtering noise from the kitchen drew her attention away. The kings heard it too, and as they watched, the hole crept down to spread along the floor, and burst into flames.
Dust had fallen into Zoisite's eyes, stinging them. He tried to move his right arm to wipe his face clean, but it would not obey his command, answering only with a dull throb. His mind was hazy, and his stomach felt ill. He knew he had fallen, and that Kunzite must be nearby, perhaps in a similar state to his own. Yet right now, he felt distant from all that; the only sensation worth acknowledging was the pain in his arm.
Zoisite could hear voices- Jadeite's, he thought- barely audible. But now his aching arm was announcing itself even more acutely, sending sharp points of pain through his shoulder. He groaned softly, cracking open his eyes.
His vision was blurred, half of it clogged with dust, the other half smeared red. Blood, he supposed. Gathering his strength, he forced himself to sit up, raising his left hand to wipe his eyes clean. Gazing up, he could see the splintered gap in the floorboards. It was well out of his reach.
He lowered his hands, jumping in his skin as it came down on something soft. And warm. Kunzite's hair. Zoisite looked down at the silver king, who lay flat on his back, unmoving.
"Kunzite..." he said shakily. The voices upstairs were louder now, and through the hole in the floor, Zoisite could see the foyer's light hazed blue with smoke. Something was happening up there.
Suddenly, Kunzite coughed and groaned. Zoisite skittered back, suddenly afraid again, eyes glittering in the dark. He watched from the shadows, the light form the hole just enough to highlight the outline of Kunzite's form as the silver king rose laboriously onto his hands and knees. His hair was matted and dull, but his eyes shone like cracked mirrors.
Zoisite, quivering, realized he was trapped. This secret level was too dark to move about, and the only lit area was occupied by Kunzite, who, when he turned his head, fixed his eyes in Zoisite's direction. "Zoi-chan...."
Zoisite flinched as Kunzite started to crawl towards him, on his hands and knees. Blood stained the cuffs of Kunzite's left trouser leg; he must have injured himself in the fall. I could run, Zoisite thought. He can't see me in the dark.. After all, Zoisite did have full use of his legs; only his arm seemed damaged.
Kunzite had left the spotlight, crawling towards Zoisite in the shadows. The darkness made him invisible; Zoisite could only hear the scrape of his knees on the floor.
The young king backed up farther, not wanting to betray his location.
"Zoisite, my love, don't hide."
The voice was alarmingly close, and Zoisite forced himself to leap back another few steps, deeper into the shadows. Yet Kunzite advanced slowly, no doubt aware of Zoisite's proximity. Zoisite backed up a little more, until his back touched solid stone. The wall. It was over.
"Zoisite, here you are," came Kunzite's voice, right at Zoisite's feet. The young king felt a hand close around his right arm. The pain spread all the way down his sides, and he struggled to pull away. His arm would not move, though, and Kunzite was able to keep it easily in his grasp.
"Now see what you've done," Kunzite said. "You've got us all bashed up. It would have been much easier if you had not fussed around so much." His other hand seized Zoisite's left arm, and Zoisite could feel the silver king hauling himself to his feet.
"There," he said. "I can't see you very well, Zoisite, but since I've got ahold of you, that is good enough."
Zoisite strained to look past Kunzite, whose shadow was blocking his view of the main floor. He caught a glimpse of it, through the hole in the floor, the light growing even darker with smoke. What was happening up there?
His thoughts were cut short when Kunzite's grip tightened. A shock passed through Zoisite's body, followed by a wave of intense fatigue. He felt his knees weakening beneath him, his eyelids drooping.
"Just go to sleep," he heard Kunzite say. "That's all you need to do."
Jadeite, Nephrite, and Luna ran single-file into the parlor, plunging through the smoke as though it was water. The flames had eaten their way to the hallway, and behind them spread the hole like a great black stain.
"Where are Kunzite and Zoisite?" Luna asked urgently.
"They're in the foyer... in principle." Jadeite nodded across the hall to the broken floorboards.
"We... we must get them out of there!" Luna cried, leaping forward. "Before the fire spreads!"
"Why do you care?" Nephrite said as they ran over, ducking beneath a particularly thick cloud of smoke. "We're the enemy, remember?"
"What you do in service to your queen in beyond my control," Luna said as she ran. "But I know the way out. And not to tell them would be equally villainous."
"Wait!" Nephrite blocked her way. "What do you mean, 'the way out?'"
"Let me go! There's no time for this!"
"Nephrite, let her go-" Jadeite began.
Suddenly, a deep rumble sounded from the hallway. It escalated to a piercing hiss, and in a burst of flame and ash, the black hole spilled forth into the foyer. The party had just enough time to leap clear before tongues of fire licked along the walls and floor.
Nephrite and Jadeite retreated back, their faces and uniforms tarnished. The way back into the foyer was now blocked by the flames.
"Where's Luna?!" Jadeite shouted, only to leap back further as the flames rose up along the doorframe and began to alight upon the window curtains.
"There's no time for her!" yelled Nephrite. "Back this way!" He indicated to a safe passageway to the one of the smaller corridors. The fire belched and rose. Instantly, Jadeite was on his feet and running, joining Nephrite in a sprint down the hall. Perhaps, they'd come across another window, one they could break and jump through.
As they ran, the smoke grew a little thinner. However, the heat rose, searing the kings nearly as viciously as would fire.
Suddenly, Nephrite halted, putting out his arm to stop Jadeite as well. Jadeite looked about impatiently; it was so dark in this hall he could barely see in front of him. Why did Nephrite stop?
"Don't take another step," he heard Nephrite mutter suddenly.
Instantly, Jadeite's eyes dropped to his feet. After staring for a few moments, his jaw opened and he let forth a quavering gasp. He stood, indeed, upon solid wooden flooring, but as his boots ended in points, the floor ended in blackness.
"This is all-"
"The hole," came a tiny voice from behind.
"Luna!" gasped Jadeite, watching the little cat as she joined them.
For a moment, they all stood, smoke filling the hall behind them, the wavering heat of the black hole before them. They could hear the fire, burning away. It seemed distant, somehow. Then Luna stepped forwards, casting a glance back at the kings. They watched her, puzzled.
She smiled up at them. "I hope I shall never see you again," she said. Tensing her hindquarters, she made a great leap, and before anyone could catch her, the hole swallowed her head to tail.
Jadeite and Nephrite stood, hands at their sides, watched wide-eyed the spot where Luna had disappeared.
"She's gone...." Jadeite whispered.
Nephrite opened his mouth to reply, when suddenly from behind there came a great rush of air. They wheeled around, everything in their vision turning orange as the fire entered from the far end of the hallway. It crept slowly, deliberately, as though to prove that it was blocking the exit. With it came more smoke, adding an acrid tang to the already stifling air.
"Wait," said Jadeite suddenly. "Luna said she knew the way out. Do you suppose this is it?" He pointed at the hole. "After all, why else would she jump into it?"
Nephrite cast a hasty glance in both directions, sweat matting his hair to face and turning his expression wild. Finally, panting, he whispered, "I'll jump if you do."
The fire had risen up and was moving along the ceiling, faster than before. Jadeite watched it climb and spread towards them. Blood was rushing through his head, his pupils wide enough to be painful. At last, after a few shaking breaths, he steeled his nerve and grabbed Nephrite by the collar. They teetered for a moment or two, then fell forward, letting themselves be engulfed by the blackness.
Zoisite couldn't move. Kunzite and sunk with him to the floor, and now he sat trapped between the wall and Kunzite's own warm body. The other had not released his hold, and Zoisite wept in fear.
Parts of the floor above him were caving in, and through the gaps in it, he could see nothing but smoke and fire. The stairwell had fallen piece by piece, sending burning planks of wood to shower around the two kings.
In the midst of all this, Zoisite battled the fatigue that seemed to be borne of Kunzite's touch. His eyes would close, sound would become distant. The he would force them open again and renew his struggling. He knew that if he could stay awake, something would avail him. Anything.
All the while, Kunzite spoke to him. "We're safe down here, my love. Nothing will hurt you. We shall be all right." His voice was shaking, though, as were his hands.
Zoisite forced his eyes open long enough for something else to catch his attention. A black substance, thick as syrup, was pouring through the gap in the boards above them. It did not reflect the light of the fire, as most liquids would, but rather absorbed light, turning it into shadows.
It spilled onto the lower floor, not far from where Kunzite and Zoisite were huddled, and spread faster than mercury.
Kunzite turned his head and saw it too. His eyes suddenly widened in fear, and he let loose a cry so unlike him it chilled Zoisite to hear it. The silver king began to struggle, apparently trying to lift Zoisite up and move them to a place away from the spreading black pool.
But with his injured leg, he could not set himself upright. His breathing came heavy and fast in Zoisite's ear, and he spoke urgently. "We must get away from it. We must!"
Whether it was by dazed deliberation, or pure exhaustion, Zoisite did not know. But something made him stay put, refusing to budge from his place on the floor, no matter how much Kunzite pulled at him.
The air was growing hot and humid, and Kunzite snarled into Zoisite's neck, hissing threats and curses at him. Finally, the silver king released Zoisite, moving to retreat on his own.
Seized by sudden urgency, Zoisite reached out and grabbed Kunzite, adding his own weight to the burden of the wound in Kunzite's leg. "Let go of me, you little wench!" Kunzite spat. Then, glancing at the rapidly approaching shadow-pool, "Let go! Let go! Let go!"
But Zoisite would not let go. The place was collapsing around him, huge planks of the house's burning skeleton plunging downwards. Yet, everything that hit the black pool did not splash, or splutter, but instead disappeared into its darkness.
And when the pool moved forward again, it took Zoisite and Kunzite as well.
Though he could not open his eyes, Zoisite knew where he was. The soft bedsheets were unmistakable in the way they cradled and soothed him. But better yet was the form who lay with him, likewise as still as he, his dear Kunzite-sama.
Zoisite sighed to himself. Brief images, of smoke and fire and falling, flashed and roiled in his head like a nightmare. But the more he thought on them, the more faded they became, until finally, he couldn't see them anymore. Just a dream.
Together, the two shared their frozen bed, and all around them the Dark Kingdom lay in hibernation. In this place of evil, all was familiar, all was good.
Motionless, the Kingdom and its legion - now complete - slept on, and beyond its enchanted walls, the electric lights of Tokyo buzzed and glowed.