Minako hissed.  “Coward.”

Jaspis swore and turned to Minako.  "You - Soldier.  Is Demando dead?"

"Fifteen years dead."  The glow was fading, but her eyes were rock-hard.

A strange expression crossed the tall Nemesian's face.  "Oh, shit."  He looked to where Saffir had been, his mind racing.  "This is bad."

Since no one else was speaking up, Minako said, "Explain 'bad'."

"The Blue Prince pretty much hero-worshipped Demando," Jaspis explained, not bothering to hide his contempt for the White Prince.  "He would do anything for him, including breaking the last taboo and mucking about with time-travel.  My cousin used to speculate that if anything happened to the bastard, Saffir would break."

"Saffir died trying to warn Demando about what Wiseman was trying to do," Minako remembered.  Her voice was flat, her body language still displaying a fraction of the inner turmoil.  Only Artemis, because of how long they had known each other, and because he could feel the muscle tension, knew how not-calm she really was.  He nuzzled her arm before headbutting her shoulder, to which she responded by stroking his soft fur absently as she eyed Jaspis.

Jaspis blinked.  "He died?  Hell, no wonder he looks so different now.  That doesn't change the point that Saffir was emotionally attached to his brother in a way most of our people can't even begin to comprehend."  He turned a tender glance on his sister before continuing.  "If he's fifteen years dead... Saffir probably found something else to worship, which is why he lasted as long as he did."

Harry stood about in a muddled haze of arguments and revelations, slightly confused. He cleared his throat - loudly - to draw the attention of all present. "I'm sure you all have a lot to talk about, really," he said to all who would pay attention, trying his best to keep his patience, "but I think there are some more prominent issues that need to be resolved, don't you think?"

The former noble decided not to voice his sneaking suspicion about Saffir.  Instead he said, "Right.  That... Cowl guy.  What did he want?"

"He wanted to see how long it would take us to escape," Minako responded.  "We apparently exceeded his expectations.  He appeared especially interested in our sources of power."  The last something she was used to.  The senshi knew having the planets themselves as sources of power combined with certain elements definitely messed with most peoples' understanding of 'magic'.  Minako was in the same boat as Usagi in some regards, as the state of mind could affect their powers.  Sometimes, for that reason, she envied the others who tapped into the basic elements.  (Hence why no one ever challenged Michiru to a water fight.)  Minako's small consolation was that unlike her Princess, she didn't have to worrying about literally shattering her source of power.

And added another reason why the senshi protected her as fiercely as they did.

Jaspis' eyes narrowed.  "If he figures out the source of our power," he indicated himself, his sister, and his nephew, "the consequences could be... bad.  Very bad.  'Screwing up the time stream' bad."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Astute observation, Holmes. As I told you before, it would not be unwise for you to take your family and beat feet."

"I've already had to flee one home," Jaspis snapped at him.  "I'm not leaving another."

"I'm not asking you to try another planet," replied Harry. "Are you that attached to the city?"

Minako gave him an unreadable look.  "Can your telephone make international calls, Mister Dresden?" she asked.

Harry shot Minako an odd look upon hearing her request. "Call collect if you have to," he said, sighing a bit.

"I don't believe I can, but if you're worried about the cost, I can repay you for it," she said.  "My home is in Japan, and I cannot get there without money and my passport.  Both of which will have to be shipped here, so I will still be around for two or three days."

Jaspis dropped the argument he'd been formulating to counter Harry's point -- he did, in fact, rather like Chicago -- and said, "If you don't mind, Miss Aino, I could take you back.  It would be easier, faster, and a lot cheaper."  He offered the blonde a smile.

"Teleportation?" she asked blandly.

He shrugged.  "What's the point of having power if you don't use it?  You can even pick the point where I drop you off.  I have no desire to hang about Tokyo."

She considered this.  It would be easier to teleport (curse their powers, inabling the senshi to teleport on their own), but the danger lay in the fact that with the crystal points secured, the remaining senshi in Japan would pick up on any 'breach' of the power field covering the country.  Then again, the others would know something was up the moment she called and the caller ID said "Chicago, Illinois, USA".  At least with the teleportation, it could be handled much more quickly, and if she could get to Rei first...

A nod.  She wouldn't give him the location of any of their homes, but there was a secluded spot not too far from Rei's temple that could work.  Looking down at the cat in her arms, she asked, "Are you fine with this?"

"I don't like it," Artemis said, "but he seems trustworthy."  The look he turned on Jaspis indicated that this wasn't saying much.  "And the other senshi should be warned about this Cowl.  Once we get more information about him."  Now he pierced Harry with a deathglare.

"You probably know as much as I do, Garfield," said Harry, who was not going to be intimidated by a cat. "This man is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in more power than you can shake a staff at."

"Would that be why he feels so dead?" Minako asked.  Revulsion was in her eyes at the memory of the disgusting, slimy feel of death and cold that was in the blast of power he'd thrown at her twice.

"That would be a big part of it. The first time I encountered him, he was trying to work necromancy of unfathomable magnitude. The second time, he almost blew up my head. You don't want to know about the third time."

Jaspis froze.  "Necromancy?  Dead-raising?  Tell me you're kidding."

"It sounds right," spoke up Lapis from where she was cuddling her now-sleeping son.  "His magic felt... wrong."  She shuddered.  Coming from a Nemesian, who dealt with darkness as a power source, that said a lot.

"It does.  There was a distinct lack--no, void of life in him.  I don't know how he manages to be alive, himself.  ...In which case he probably isn't, and..."  And she would need to talk to Hotaru.  As the senshi of death and rebirth, the younger woman would best be able to maybe at least understand something of Cowl's own power.  Death had its own power and vitality and energy.  She knew that.  Both from feeling the release of energy at death, and by noticing the longer Saturn was on a battlefield, the stronger she became.  And given that she was already one of the strongest, second only to Usagi...

"Shit," Minako muttered aloud.

"That pretty much sums it up," said Harry, allowing himself a little smirk.

Silence stretched for a moment, then Jaspis said, "Uh.  How much would it cost to get you to ward my place, Dresden?"  He glanced at Lapis and Topaz.  "And could I maybe pay you in installments?"

The wizard looked him over, perhaps considering some form of argumentative comment...but what he said was "We'll work something out."

Casting his gaze around the room, he added, "Now, is there any further reason for you all to be, y'know, in my home?"

Jaspis rolled his eyes.  "Still don't like me, I see."  He glanced at Minako.  "Do you mind if I get Lapis and Topaz home first?" And beef up my own wards, he didn't add.

"No," she answered quietly.  "Do what you have to for them."

He strode to the couch and took Lapis into his arms, earning a gentle thump on the shoulder as she informed him that she wasn't an invalid and could use her own powers.  He ignored her to teleport back to the apartment, where he tucked Lapis and Topaz into bed and fuelled some more power into his ward before returning to Dresden's.  As an afterthought, he covered the star on his forehead with an illusion.  "All right.  Miss Aino?"

"Take a moment to strengthen that illusion, Jaspis.  We're going to my territory, remember."  She held Artemis a little more securely.  "Be thankful the ones who would really take offence to that mark won't be where we're going."

"Later, Dresden," Jaspis said, adding some more power to the illusion as he offered Minako a hand.  "Physical contact makes teleportation a little easier," he said apologetically, wondering why the Senshi would take offence to a black star sigil.  The Darkstar clan hadn't been involved in Demando's war....

Minako didn't explain.  She simply took his hand and held on while picturing the little cusp of trees a couple hundred yards from the temple in her mind.

Jaspis wove his spell carefully and instructed it to take its direction from the place Minako was visualising, then teleported to Tokyo.

This time the teleportation wasn't as disorienting, thank God.  It felt longer (probably from the distance), but soon enough she found herself blinking in the morning sun while birds scrambled to the sky.  The smell as well as the feel of the place told her she was home.  "Thank you, Jaspis," she said quietly.  "Now you should go."

He offered her a grin and a bow.  "You've got the sense of me, so if you need my help, feel free to ask," he said.  "Not all of us are idiots like Demando was."  With that, he was gone in a flare of power.

Minako said nothing even after he had vanished.  Now that she was home, she honestly wanted the chance to (cry, scream, rage) in her own apartment.  Unfortunately things did not turn out this way. 

She set the cat down gently on the dewy ground.  "Let's go tell the others," she sighed as she began walking purposefully to the temple.

 

~*~

 

Saffir wasn’t surprised when some hours after Minako rejected him, a dark presence registered on his senses.  Calmly he turned, tilting his head upwards to regard the tall, cloaked figure.  Only the strictest self-control kept him from reacting to the memories that cloak brought out in him.  “You must be Cowl,” he said, speaking in English.

The man nodded once.  “I have interest in your power, boy.”

Saffir scowled — he was physically thirty and had been alive for just over forty years, and he very much disliked being called ‘boy’.  Instead of pointing this out, however, he said, “You took Minako-chan.  Why should I help you?”

He couldn’t see Cowl’s face, but he got the impression that the death mage was smiling.  “She rejected you, didn’t she, boy?  Your precautions after your tragedy fifteen years ago were quite understandable, and yet she still spurned you when you told her who you really were.”  Saffir almost tried to conceal the pain this evoked — then an idea struck him, and he let his emotions show on his face, allowing Cowl to see his mingled anger and heartbreak.  “Yes,” the necromancer purred.  “Your Minako-chan doesn’t understand what you’ve gone through, boy.  You’ve been touched by death, you reek of it.  That body is not your first — I can tell.”

This… man is dangerous, thought Saffir as Cowl spoke.  His death magic must have been able to sense that I am not this body’s original inhabitant.  A sudden, frightening thought — was he somehow able to sense that the senshi had lost their lives and been granted resurrection multiple times?  Nemesian darkness had certainly been the draw to Lapis Lazuli, but what of Minako?  If Cowl somehow managed to get to Sailor Moon…

Saffir wouldn’t let him try.

Therefore, he would give Cowl what he wanted.

The former prince tuned back in as the necromancer wound up; quickly he replayed the last few minutes in his mind.  Ah, there was the expected offer of alliance.

Watch yourself, cousin.  For some reason, his mental voice of caution sounded like Rubeus.  Don’t seem too eager to accept his offer.

I know.  Saffir let uncertainty cross his face.  “I… don’t know how much help I could be to you,” he said carefully.  “My powers… are not what they once were.”

Cowl waved a negligent hand.  “That will not be an issue.”

So, he wants me to dabble in death-magic.  Or he means to boost me.  Still Saffir pretended hesitation.  “I… I don’t want to hurt Minako-chan…”

“I have no interest in Japan,” the necromancer assured him.  “If I get what I want here.”

Saffir almost laughed.  To the heir-prince, raised with the violent politics of Nemesis as his bread and water, the implicit threat was utterly laughable, crudely wielded as if by a droid.  The game he was about to embroil himself in was going to be… interesting.  “Very well,” he said at last, bowing to Cowl.  “I, Saffir Schwarzmond, pledge myself to you, Lord Cowl.”

“Excellent,” breathed the necromancer.

Fool.