Lunar Expedition

Chapter 11: Zero Hour

The compression of space all around Gaea felt like the weight of years. Deep in the darkest corner of the Artemis IV Compound, as it had come to be known, was a small pocket of Elysium. Sol had done it – he had never told her he could do that. To carry a little piece of his kingdom with him, like a favorite pocket watch, had been the one strand of sanity left to her. They huddled together in this small garden like fugitives, always weary, always paranoid that this was all some trick to get them out of hiding.

Sol had assured her from the beginning that this was no joke. He'd felt it, the moment Queen Serenity entered the Earth's atmosphere. Even in their most protected sanctuary within the Elysium palace, he'd gasped and clutched his chest as if a spear had pierced him. He'd called a retinue of soldiers, their most loyal and trusted servants, to escort them above ground. Even after all the tremors of power the Earth had felt, all the dozen times she'd begged him to see the true sun again, he had refused. Until he felt her.

The jealousy came unbidden, despite her best efforts. She detested this strange, passionate hate her husband had for the Queen. That emotion, that spark of life she saw in her husband's eyes, felt more powerful than anything he had shown towards her in...many years. Even if that emotion was pain, anger, rage, it was still something. Gaea knew intellectually that this pain came from losing Endymion. Such a loss was not one to forget readily.

The blow struck her fiercely, as any mother would feel the loss of her only child, but she could not possibly understand the pain that Sol had to endure. The title of king was pressing on him as well, with the weight of centuries and the power of galaxies. There was no direct heir – no one could come near the Golden Crystal, no one could wield the power that the Earth once radiated. Only the priest could even approach the crystal.

But then one day, the crystal vanished. As did the priest.

Later, much later, the priest returned but without the crystal. Gaea had protected Helios, claiming that it was his youth and inexperience that made him lose such a priceless heirloom. But Sol had been devastated, unable to express his rage and sorrow. He never could. Gaea understood.

She felt the sadness of her son's loss, she felt the castrating immobility of her husband, and she watched her kingdom decay. Then Queen Serenity appeared as if to seal their tomb forever, an ironic reminder of all they had lost. She could still remember the conversation she'd had with her husband before they returned to the surface.

"Why now?" she whispered, poised and tense on her bed. This was the first time in ten years he had come anywhere near her bedroom, and yet he sat before her now close enough to touch. "Why is she coming here now to torment us?"

"I prayed for this," Sol admitted. He ran his fingers through hair that had grown too long, bangs brushing his eyelashes. Gaea wanted to touch those bangs, kiss those eyelashes. She didn't dare move. "I want it to be over."

"It'll never be over," Gaea said, staring at his shoulder. His eyes held too much pain, were too blue. Endymion had looked so much like him... what would Endymion look like now, if he had lived? Would the power of the Silver Crystal still affect him, as it had affected them? Would he still be young and strong, like in her memory of him? Or would he be withered and old, decayed like a normal human? When had she stopped being a normal human?

"Maybe she's come to invade the Earth at last," Sol mused, ignoring her pessimism. He half-smirked at her, lounging on her bed as if he always sat like this with her. He used to. "Wouldn't it be funny? If after all these years, she really had wanted to take over. And just waited."

"Why would she wait until now, after so many centuries?" Gaea frowned. Sol shrugged with one shoulder, staring up at the ceiling.

"Who knows? Time doesn't work the same way for them. Maybe this feels like next week to her... maybe in her own mind, this is a fast invasion," he said. He sounded amused by the idea.