Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pretty Soldiers ❯ Act 11 - kurikaesu : Prince and Princess ( Chapter 11 )

       "….and the mother looked into the strange object, and she was delighted, for a beautiful woman with a smiling, happy face was looking right back at her!
       "Her husband asked her, 'What do you see?' happy as a clam that his beloved wife was so delighted with his special gift, and eager to prove his newfound knowledge. And his wife, astonished, said, 'I see a pretty woman looking at me, and she moves her lips as if she were speaking, and, oh! She has on a blue dress just like mine!'
       "'Silly woman, that's you!' her husband stated proudly. 'It is called a mirror, and in the big cities, everyone has a mirror. Only we, out here in the country village, have not seen them.'
       The children laughed as Minako preened to an imaginary handheld mirror next to Ami, fluffing up her bangs. Her acting grew so obnoxious that soon, the blue-haired genius gave up reading amidst the laughter, simply watching as the children gathered on the floor held their bellies, rolling on the carpet.
       Certainly, Ami had not expected to spend a Sunday reading stories to orphans.
       But when the long-haired blonde had suddenly appeared behind her at the magazine shop, it had been with a most serious expression on her face. "Ne, Ami-chan, are you busy today?"
       "I have no plans…" Ami had held a book on western medical techniques dumbly as Minako grabbed her wrist, dragging her towards the front door with the intent on exiting the building. It had proved to be quite the scene, as the blue-haired genius set off the alarm, and Minako had nearly leapt out of her shoes, expecting an emergency. The store clerk who had come over to check on the problem had almost been stabbed with a transformation pen, before Minako realized youma were not, in fact, initiating a mass-attack.
       Meekly paying for the book before a crowd of onlookers, Ami inwardly fumed. How dare Minako try and drag her off with no warning, nor explanation? And the long-haired blonde didn't help matters by tapping her foot restlessly, checking her watch several times as the clerk exchanged monies with the blue-haired genius. By the time she received a receipt, Ami was ready to throw her studious, weak persona to the winds and give Minako a swift kick in her pert little ass, to put it bluntly.
       Sensing disaster, however, the long-haired blonde had actually shuffled Ami outside - this time with no alarm fanfare - to explain what the rush was for. "You know Moriya-chan's orphanage? They put an ad in the paper, asking for middle and high schoolers to come during their free Sundays to read to the younger kids." Flashing her victory sign, she grinned, winking as the bus chugged to a stop in front of them. "A worthy cause, ne?"
       "H-hai," Ami had stuttered, finding herself pushed up into the bus before she could truly protest, and rifling out a few yen under the driver's dull stare. Though, once she really thought about it, she would have gone along anyway, if Minako had explained it before the whole alarm incident.
       So here she was, reading The Matsuyama Mirror to a group of children not quite old enough to read the intricate kanji themselves, recent arrivals in an orphanage that was being slowly overrun by the children of Americans who were sent abroad for the Army. The blue-haired genius recalled Moriya remarking on it once, as she was one of the few older children who could converse with them in their native English. Even now Ami could see the stark incomprehension on one lone face as she spoke in Japanese, looking immensely put out and lonely.
       "Most of them lose themselves in the city during shopping trips, or the parents deliberately do it," Moriya had said disdainfully. "And you would think that being blond, white skinned, and blue-eyed around here would make them easy to find, but almost all of them are left without parents because no one wants to do a thorough search for them. The poor kids can't even speak the language of the country they've been abandoned in."
       The child, Ami noted suddenly, had most unusual eyes; they were almost translucent in the iris, only the thinnest black circle separating it from the true white. And his skin faintly shimmered, though, she mused, that could have been simply from his milky complexion.
       He looked painfully alone, looking around in confusion as the children around him laughed and laughed. Minako was doing her own little act fine without the story as a guide, and was in fact doing a fair impression of a closet homosexual samurai warrior of some sort. Or that's what Ami could guess at, since the kami only knew what her bent stance was supposed to be. So Ami shrugged, closing the book neatly and setting it on her stool, carefully creeping her way around the gathered group.
       When the two girls had been ushered into the old building, they had met Sakakku's replacement; a willowy, cold-looking woman with ink black hair pulled back into a bun so tight her face was squinched. She was at least two decades younger than Sakakku had been, surprising considering the few applicants for such a job. Her coldness seemed built in, and she had been absolutely frigid while explaining what she expected them to read, and how long to occupy them.
       The hallways formed a perfect T on each level, and Ami ascended to the third floor gingerly, half-afraid each step would take her through the creaking floorboards back to the ground floor. In serious need of repair, the entire building had suffered from lack of funds, and Sakakku had oftentimes had to fix leaking pipes with duct tape, creaking hinges with melted butter, and holes with smaller pieces of wood nailed right over. It was an architectural disaster, to be sure, and Ami was completely chagrined at such chaos.
       Each open door she passed was a familiar scene of half-made beds, all in the same varying shades of worn-out white sheets and blankets, the varnish long gone from the wooden bed frames. One or two rooms had kids in them, playing games, reading, or, in one instance, dancing to a cheaply copied tape of a recent idol with a high-pitched voice that made Ami's hair stand on end.
       Once she reached the correct door, however, she found it closed, with a sign requesting it stay so. She ignored it and twisted the knob, stepping inside a room that was so neat, tidy, and somehow dead that the blue-haired genius almost stepped right back out again.
       The bed Moriya had slept in was properly made up, with the sheets folded just in front of the pillows, fluffed to rid them of any indication they had been slept on. On the walls were spots where the posters had hung, tiny holes indicating where the tacks had been shoved in. Everything was clean, sparkling, and completely antiseptic, and Ami felt a mean satisfaction in sitting atop the bed.
       She wasn't sure why she had done it. Moriya had been, on reflection, more of an acquaintance than a friend. Like Naru, someone who simply didn't belong in the group as a whole; someone who was not a sailor soldier who had not been on the inside. Ami momentarily hated herself for thinking in such a way, but it was true. Her entire existence outside of school was now shaped by the four girls who shared magic with her.
       The blue-haired genius folded her hands in her lap, glancing around the room slowly. Stray breezes from the partially opened window ruffled her bangs, airing the place out, and slamming the closet door shut. Suction opened it again, the lock obviously broken, and slammed it right back shut again, rattling the window. It repeated this vicious circle two more times before Ami, taking the hint, slipped off the bed to shut the damn thing properly.
       Obviously, Sakakku had packaged up Moriya's things before her own death, because Ami had seen them all in the odango-haired blonde's room. But as she reached out to take hold of the door it swung back into her hand, and a spiral-bound sketchbook seemed to flutter its pages in greeting at her from the bottom shelf. "Nani? Sakakku-san missed something," she remarked to herself, bending to pick it up.
       Closing the door tightly she turned away read the kanji on the cover, which pronounced to the world that yes, it was Chouno Moriyakumi's sketchbook, and not for sale to anyone with less than a few million yen.
       Holding the sketchbook in her hands, she slowly shuffled through the pages as she used the closed door as a leaning post, eyes widening at the skill Moriya seemed to have possessed. Fellow orphans, a few of Mamoru, several of Usagi and her family; there were one or two half-finished ones of Minako, and, surprisingly, Sailor V. And one done entirely in coloured pencil that looked like an adult Moriya, posing with a broadsword in a blue military-like uniform. Feeling guilty then, Ami closed the sketchbook.
       The door then opened with a sureness that Ami had not in doing the same thing; and even as she was sputtering a frantic explanation for her presence, Minako peered around at her with a guilty grin. "Ara ara, Ami-chan, you've made it here before me."
       "M-Minako-chan!" Flushed and embarrassed, the blue-haired genius hastily stepped away from the closet door, holding the sketchbook to her chest like a shield as Minako closed the door foppishly behind her. "Aren't the children wondering where you are?"
       "Iyaa no, Yuki-san said I could roam as I wished, as she put the kids to sleep," Minako explained as she gestured towards the window, indicating the setting sun.
       Not quite sure of what to say, the blue-haired genius took up a tense stance to the side of one of the beds as Minako, true to her words, roamed towards the last bed. She ran a hand over the wrinkled covers, smoothing them out with unexpected gentleness. "You seem almost as sad as Usagi-chan that Moriya died as she did," Ami murmured.
       The long-haired blonde's smile was fleeting. "Hai."
       "Is it because she knew you were Sailor V before anyone else?"
       Minako's expression of shock was more bemused than genuinely startled. But instead of a vocal answer, Ami instead opened the sketchbook to a two-page spread of the long-haired blonde, showing her dual identities. "Yare, yare, how dangerous an item to be left behind," Minako noted wryly. "I could have been chased down by any number of fanboys and brutally subjected to vile acts of worship."
       The response was far more witty and dry than the blue-haired genius had come to expect of Minako. "Minako-chan, just how did she find out? Was she a reborn Silver Millennium citizen, an artist, perhaps?"
       "Not in the least!" the long-haired blonde laughed, thankful that Ami didn't seem to hear the slight pause in her voice. "I had the misfortune of running into her on a heist; we fought to a standstill, and both of us lost our masks." She folded her arms, smiling out across the courtyard as she remembered her encounter, and the few that followed. "Seeing one another at those school games was intense; I suddenly had a worthy opponent, even if we had to play dumb in our secret identities as students.
       "And it was almost a relief for someone to know who I was! She never once gave it away in front of any of you. None of you guessed our duel natures, not even Usagi-chan, and it was a terrible, terrible loss when I saw Moriya-chan jump in front of her…I…I thought maybe, she was someone else, another ally of ours…but surely none of us were meant to die before revealing that!" Her eyes were intense as they focused on Ami, who took a step back instinctively; it was just another reminder that Minako's cavorting and laughter were just a cover-up.
       Or perhaps, a thinner skin that had been covered over for survival.
       Seeing Ami's distress, the long-haired blonde pulled back, cooling in posture and ferocity, assembling herself back into that ditzy persona. "Gomen nasai, Ami-chan. It's still very hard on me, to know that she died doing what was supposed to be our job. She shouldn't have even been involved in our dangerous mission."
       "It didn't matter, Minako-chan," Ami said astutely. "She did what any true friend would have done, even if without a soldier's uniform." Saying such had her thinking of the drawing beneath her arms; but, after seeing Minako's distress, it would probably be an act of discretion if she didn't show it to her. So she said, to change the topic, "Do you have the sword?"
       "In my back pocket. I thought it would make a great accessory to your stories!"
       "MinaKO-chan!"
       The long-haired blonde snickered, holding up her hands in defense. "I'm joking, Ami-chan! It's far too heavy to carry around; our queen turned it to petrified stone, as hard as the rest of the kingdom. Even if I was forced to use it, I would need an extra set of arms to swing."
       Ami had one of those long-suffering expressions on her face; indeed, now she was beginning to feel a headache. "You could have just said 'No….' Anyway, I was thinking we should study it further. Test its abilities, its limits. If it is a holy blade…"
       "It won't heal the sick, Ami-chan," Minako replied flatly, her arms folding themselves again into a tight cross. "A sword meant to protect our princess to the death, that's all it is. Perhaps poisoned for cutting, but nothing spectacular."
       "Still," Ami argued vehemently, "it could be a great discovery! And what if there is more to it than just hacking and slashing? A 'holy blade,' Serenity-sama called it."
       The long-haired blonde was now the one wearing that tired expression, and she rubbed two fingers against her temple with a sigh. "Yare, yare, what our resident genius desires…maybe there is more to it, but I doubt it. When, and where?"
       "I want to study it well….we can all meet tomorrow after school. And then, we can study it at my apartment."
       Minako saluted foppishly, though she still looked far more worn than she cared to be. She then noted, with no lack of relish, "Maybe we should be leaving, ne?"

      Literally reborn, Endymion saw with the eyes of a child.
       In clothes that matched the solid hue of those eyes, the dark-haired prince wandered in obscurity through the teeming electrical entity that was Tokyo. He walked through alleys that no sane individual would have attempted, only marginally interested in the few thugs who thought him a worthy target. Many of them, upon staring into those blank eyes, were wiped as clean in memory and persona as he, attached through him to the same thread that guided him. It was so easier by far than creating youma to search the city as he did, instead using the same humans that occupied the metropolis.
       He had only the vaguest impressions of a 'Chiba Mamoru,' a worthless human. They were mined for the memories of the streets, the subways, of what a red light, green light, and yellow meant. Nothing more than the bare minimum needed to get around and not be accosted by the police. What else did he care about? Wine, women, and song were not even in the low basement level of his priorities.
       On the third day out, he stood without fear in the blinding light of the sun, protected by sunglasses and long clothes. Though Metallia had given him new life, he wasn't as fragile as the shitennou had been - and they had been able to stand the sunlight for short periods. Granted, the sunlight was a bitch to his eyes, but he didn't run screaming like a vampire caught in a sudden breaking of the clouds. So he stood arrogantly, maybe even a little too imposing, and stared at the katakana above the door of the arcade.
       "Game Center Crown," he muttered.
       What was so intriguing about it?
       A stone that parted the river of people around him, he closed his eyes to filter again through what he regarded as another person's life. Like an unemotional voyeur he viewed the weak, insubstantial pictures that came with many of the stronger emotions, impersonal until he flashed on a smiling face.
       With that hesitation came a torrent.
       The odango-haired blonde running across the street; Mamoru had followed her curiously, watched her enter this very building as if her life depended on it.
       On a fountain's edge they sat, exchanging camaraderie.
       In front of a store window she stood, reflected in twin imagery as her miniature smiled back at her through the glass.
       Everything hit him so fast he stumbled suddenly, knocking back into someone who was edging past him. Whoever it was swore at him, something vaguely threatening, which he blithely ignored. His entire world was centered on that very moment of remembrance, a name to match the face: "Usagi…"
       "Ano, are you looking for something?"
       The voice was cheery, but hesitant, unsure. Endymion slowly rotated his head to see the blond teenager beside him, staring at him in confusion. "Can I help you? I'm Furuhata Motoki, a part-time worker here; my father owns the building."
       Endymion stared at him in return, sizing him up; he was no obvious threat to anyone, especially himself. Another boy stood next to Motoki, obviously a fellow student by the similar books they held, his stare rather vacant behind his glasses. "Perhaps…Furuhata Motoki. I have some business with his place…"
       "You must be the new worker then, ne? My father said you would be coming today!" Motoki announced proudly, bowing quickly in a formal greeting. "Nice to meet you! As I introduced myself already, it would be silly to do so again…are you a college student, like myself?"
       It was almost sickening how mentally stunted humans were. Endymion let the contempt flow through his veins lest he shudder and physically show just how much he despised the weak little…thing…in front of him. He realized, however, that some act of greeting was expected in return, and removed his sunglasses slowly to let his eyes adjust to the sunlight, and bowed.
       Motoki acted as if he'd found Atlantis; he waved a finger at the dark-haired prince frantically, laughing in triumph. "I know you from somewhere! Didn't you come here a few times with Moriya-chan?" When Endymion didn't respond right away, the blond kept on talking, carrying the conversation easily. "Gomen, but she hasn't come in lately. But her friend, Usagi-chan, is here all the time! She has a cute hairstyle, it's unique; little odango on top of her head, you can recognize her right away! You could ask her where she is."
       "Usagi-chan….yes," Endymion agreed stoically, solid eyes roaming along Motoki as if he were sizing him up for a meal. Next to him, his friend looked almost comically frightened, as if not sure how to react to the dark-haired man giving the blond such a look.
       And the blond was not as oblivious as Endymion thought. He gestured at the front door, giving the poor boy an easy exit as he said, "Endou, why don't you wait inside for me?"
       "Hai, hai," Endou agreed easily, if a tad bit quickly. Inside the center was a room full of zombified geeks, all intent on their video conquests, but it was apparently better than outside with someone who looked dangerous, or at least devious.
       "Yare yare, am I that poor of company?" The question was meant to be rhetorical, as Endou, in the next minute, ceased to exist to answer it. Killing humans was like swatting flies to the dark-haired prince; casually did he let the power fill his eyes, forced outwards like the death rays many manga characters exuded. So quickly did Endou's body reduce to absolute nothing that the air made a popping noise as it rushed in to fill the void.
       Where he sent him to was not pleasant, but it was an easy disposal.
       Motoki made a noise like a fish out of water, mouth gaping and slapping shut loosely as he tried to protest, or, scream for help. The street was reasonably free of civilians with the lunch hour being over, and truthfully it had happened so fast that no one would have taken notice anyway.
       Endymion had realized one hard fact about Tokyo; everyone worked hard to convince themselves that nothing ever happened. The wreckage left behind by Kunzite's last attempt to scare out the sailor soldiers was being worked on as if it had been nothing more than an errant tsunami, and not some possible cataclysmic freeze. Many were now convinced that the appearance of the Ginzuishou had simply been an explosion of power lines, despite evidence to the contrary. Massive sickness due to loss of energy was an epidemic.
       So why would anyone notice one lone student disappearing?
       The dark-haired prince smiled, taking a guilty bit of pleasure in the blond's utter helplessness and confusion. "Scream," he whispered, smiling wider.
       His eyes glowed once more, locking with Motoki's.
       In the depths of his mind, the blond recalled a singular smile Usagi had blessed him with one day, a recollection brought on by one of those rare occurrences in the universe where someone, in a frantic rationalization of what was happening to them, figured out the reason. A shot in the dark, people usually called it; this one was dead on.
       Endymion saw that smile before he ripped away everything that was Furuhata Motoki in much the same way Beryl had to him, reducing it to a compacted ball of memory caged deep, deep within his mind. Replaced it with a robot program, similar to all the others, to give him a singular personality and a focus. He bound him to his own bondage, made him his servant and puppet; and he smiled as he said, "Konnichi wa, Motoki. I'm your friend, Endou, remember?"
       "H…Hai. Endou-kun…of course. Konnichi wa," Motoki said slowly, gathering speed to his thoughts and speech as his new personality asserted itself. "Let's go inside."
       "After you."
       They entered as normal as anyone else, though Endymion took a slow assessment of the entire room as Motoki stood idly behind him, blocking the doorway. No one noticed, nor cared, so intent were they in their virtual worlds. The two flashes of light had gone unnoticed amidst the constant barrage of light they were subjected to; not a single head turned towards them.
       In truth, the dark-haired prince was not quite sure what he was looking for. He knew the blonde girl came here. He reconciled her with the picture in his mind of the white moon princess. But why did she come here?
       As Endymion watched, someone yelled out, "Iie, Sailor V-chan! That was my last life!"
       The young gamer found himself flanked suddenly by the two teenagers. As he looked up, the dark-haired prince quite smoothly pushed him away from the console, taking his spot as he peered critically at the screen as it pulsed 'GAME OVER' over and over again.
       "A-a-ano….!" the boy babbled, completely disoriented by this turn of events. People stole games from him all of the time, shoving their way in without asking; it was a normal process of video game fanatics. But never had one so well dressed shown interest in even being seen in such a place, let alone attempted to get involved. "F-Furuhata-san, I have a problem!"
       It took him a minute to realize that the blond stood alongside the dark-haired prince, not in the least bit concerned with what was going on. "Furuhata-san!"
       Endymion frowned, slowly rotating his head - it was, actually, a damn eerie sight - to stare up at the geek. He was considering simply killing him messily as a warning to everyone else, or simply for the sheer hell of it. But Motoki took charge instead, leaning forward to give the geek a strange echo of the usually cheerful smile he always wore. "It's ok, Tokage. We're simply doing an evaluation of the game; Endou-kun has a tendency to throw himself into his work."
       "Oh." That was the long and short of it. Knowing defeat without even giving it much deep thought, the geek ambled away with his pocketful of yen to play something else.
       Motoki gave Endymion that same strange smile, reaching to caress the dark-haired prince in an almost-sexual manner. With his whole world now revolving around him, of serving him and his mistress, the gesture was normal; but it was a complete 360 from the Motoki who, up until five minutes ago, had been cheery and almost boyishly innocent. The touch was a need, a comfort, and he leaned over his new master to watch as Endymion convinced the machine to start a new game, and began to play.
       They stayed in silence as Endymion ran Sailor V with all of the conviction of a dead rat; she died usually within seconds. But it was the sounds of the game itself he listened to, puzzling as it hummed like any other console, when he was positive it had to be more. Why else would there be a game dedicated to the solitary soldier, in such a convenient place?
       "Furuhata-kuuun, are you here?" a high voice chirped.
       "It's always something, isn't it?" Endymion growled quietly, ignoring the woman as she strode into the arcade, heading right for them. Whoever she was didn't concern him; his newfound 'pet' unattached himself to take care of the problem yet again.
       The woman was, on closer look, around Motoki's age, with long hair and a happy smile. She held two books in her hands, and one of them was held out to Motoki with an air of ceremony and pride. "You left this in class, Furuhata-kun, how strange of you! It's lucky I found it before I left class…"
       "Arigatou, Reika-san," Motoki replied smoothly, though it was such an empty tone of voice that the woman paused, staring at him. "I would have needed this tonight."
       "Always pleased to be of service!" She preened slightly at her good deed, obviously expecting more praise; but Motoki seemed to drift off, and indeed turned away from her to resume his lean over Endymion, book still in her hand. "Ano, Furuhata-kun, what friend is this that's so important? Though he's very nice…"
       Her voice was slightly indignant, enough to get both men to turn their heads. Endymion produced a cold smile for her, one that didn't even reach his cheeks, let alone his eyes. "I'm his best friend, Endou."
       "Hai, my best friend, Endou-kun," Motoki agreed.
       The silence that followed was punctuated by the death scream of Sailor V.
       "…but…Endou-kun?" she said weakly, staring from one to the other. Endymion frowned slightly, annoyed that he hadn't foreseen this problem; she obviously knew the real Endou. He was ready to just get up in a sly maneuver - act like he was hugging her, stare into her eyes, wipe her brain, all in a day's work - when she unconsciously stepped back into a console behind her, jolting her arms so sharply she dropped her books.
       Both hit the floor on their spines, cracking open in place as she cried out. Neither male moved to help her as she bent to pick them up, staring mournfully at their permanently damaged spines. "Mou! And this was the library's only copy of the Gemstone Encyclopedia…!"
       She gave Motoki's book back, somewhat forcing it on him, as she nursed the spine of her own. On the cover was a hunk of crystal, along with the kanji for the title. Though it was a generally useless book in his mission, Endymion felt the hard lumps of the four gems in his own pocket and reached without thinking to withdraw them.
       As he stared at them, Reika crooned. "Ara, you have such pretty stones! Both kinds of jade, jadeite and nephrite, and a lovely spodumene, kunzite…oh, tanzanite, the blue zoisite stone! Where did you get such a collection?" She laughed girlishly, blushing as she touched her fingers to the last stone. "I'm intently interested in gemstones; I'm sorry if I'm rambling on!"
       The smile Endymion gave her was almost friendly. "Not at all."

      In class, Sakurada-sensei was shouting.
       But in her dream, it was merely the gentle whispering music of the dance.
       Everything had been thought of for this, her birthday party, for it was the year she would be considered a woman. She would be regarded as her mother's eyes and ears, and she would be expected to court a virile male to carry on their bloodline before her mother rescinded the throne to her.
       She wore a silver, gold, and white ballgown, the bodice tight to accentuate her slim figure and growing breasts, mounding them coyly. White satin gloves hugged her arms, tulle and lace wrapped around her skirt to trail on the floor behind her. And her hair, though tied into their normal odango, glittered with tiny diamonds and pearls; they matched her choker.
       Quite frankly, she felt like a simultaneously under and over dressed doll.
       Her mother had only laughed when she mentioned this, saying, "Daughter mine, I had to suffer the very same when I became a woman."
       Even though the dance was marvelous, the food sumptuous as always, she quickly retreated to a lone corner to stave off the advances of far too many men. It was unnerving to her that so many males wanted to touch her, to stare at her; though she was a princess, and used to crowds of people staring at her, in close quarters she was almost always with women. The same women who were right now blatant and indiscreet amongst the crowd, dressed as always in their varied colour uniforms.
       All of it was sickening to her, and she was desperately thinking of a way to flee the entire party when a shadow fell over her.
       "Princess, may I have this dance?"
       She was vaguely aware that people were staring as she herself stared up into a face she had only recently discovered existed. The very same lips, curved into a gentle smile; eyes the colour of the deep blue oceans of his planet. "E-endymion-sama? You were invited to this party?" It was a stupid question; her mother never allowed any of the Earth people into her kingdom. And it was obvious he had stole his way onto the satellite, as he wore none of his livery, clothing himself in a mundane suit of formal attire.
       No wonder people stared; he looked almost like a peasant.
       "Shh. I wouldn't want your mother to send me back, without the benefit of a transport," he whispered with a smile, completely unaware of the looks they were receiving. "I came to see the young girl who would be Queen someday, in joy instead of anger."
       How true. Her mother usually never spoke to representatives of the blue planet, unless it was to demand something, usually better treatment of slaves, or less tolerance of murder. The Earth knew that the Moon regarded them as little more than an experiment, of sorts, and they honored the treaty of no contact more out of stubborn anger than compliance.
       She held out her hand with a formal tilt of her chin, suddenly afire in the knowledge that she was doing something completely against her teaching. "I think I'll take that dance."
       It had been something close to heaven as he had pulled her scandalously close, spinning her into a formal dance as the entire room parted for them like the sea. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her guardian soldiers goggling in various degrees of astonishment, along with several of her potential suitors.
       But it was her mother's lack of expression that had her almost tripping in mid-step, faltering in a dance she had been trained in since she could walk. No, that wasn't quite right; it wasn't a lack of expression. More thoughtful than blank, her grey eyes betrayed nothing, even as she clapped for the end of the song. Endymion bowed, releasing her hand before she could finish a curtsey in return, and vanished into the crowd as smoothly as a phantom.
       That night had built up the fire in her, driving her to escape the stately marble halls of her home to explore Earth and its wild beauty; and to catch a glimpse yet again of her ocean-eyed prince. And every night thereafter, she marveled at her mother's silence, assuming that she didn't know the truth of her passion.
       Now she knew better.
       The crash of a textbook mere inches from her nose had her screaming, snapping her head up from relative comfort on her desk to find herself staring into the maddened eyes of her teacher. She tried to pull her head down into her neck and found it impossible; Sakurada-sensei grabbed her by the ear, making sure she paid attention. "Tsukino Usagi, I have had it up to the heavens with your lack of care! I've allowed you grieving time for Moriya, but this is the limit! You will pay attention in class, and you will stay after school to write a 100-word essay - in English! - on why I should not just flunk you here and now!"
       "H-H-Hai, sensei!" Usagi stammered, flinching in shame as she realized everyone was staring at her; just like her dream.
       That had been first hour. Even lunch didn't lift her spirits, in fact deflating them further when she told Makoto and Ami that she had to stay late; though the blue-haired genius was far too polite to vocalize it, the disappointment radiated from her. Makoto had tried to cheer her up with a homemade snack, but the mood was ruined.
       "I wish I could see you again, before I forget your voice…" she whispered into the window, pencil in hand. The afternoon was warm and mild, pleasant; and she was stuck inside for another five sentences at least. Writing the essay was exhausting her limited English, and she had basically been repeating herself for most of it. She missed having Moriya reading her faulty sentences out loud, correcting them as easily as she would Japanese, knowing where Usagi put the words in the wrong order, or left some out.
       She missed two important people in her life, and that was way too many. With a sigh she re-worded another sentence, managing to hack out the rest before the clock tolled 5. Sakurada didn't even look up as the odango-haired blonde set the paper on the desk, simply waving her off as she marked up a test paper with half a pen's worth of red ink. Usagi was pretty sure it was hers, but didn't hang around to find out.
       Because of the time, the plan had changed for them to meet at Rei's home instead of the Crown. It was a bus ride and a short walk to get there, though she ran awkwardly the last few blocks to get there faster, slapping herself in the legs with her school case with every step. Running was simply not her forte.
       The sun was turning much of the sky a lovely crimson and pink as she huffed and gasped up what seemed to be a million steps, finally passing beneath the enormous red torii to collapse on the stones. "Rei-chan needs an elevator," she wheezed.
       Yards away, she heard, "Rei-chan does not need an elevator, only properly conditioned allies!"
       "Mooou!" The odango-haired blonde wriggled and inched her way back to her feet, affecting weakness as she tottered and idled towards the group.
       The sight of the dark-haired shrine girl dressed in red overalls and a white, long-sleeve shirt was startling amidst the simplistic buildings that made up her home. Usagi had never seen her ally dressed so casually while still standing on hallowed ground, without the robes that spoke of her status as a Shinto miko. It served well to humanize her.
       Around her stood two; a visibly disgruntled Minako held the stone sword awkwardly, as it was far too heavy to hold in any normal position. "Usagi-chaAan, it's about time! My arms are going to fall off!"
       "Gomen nasai, V-chan!" the odango-haired blonde chirped in return, bowing frantically in forgiveness. Upon straightening up, however, she looked quizzically around the courtyard, finally realizing that one of them was missing. "Ne, where's Ami-chan?"
       "She went on ahead; she said she wanted to make sure her mother was out of the apartment," Makoto responded. Before Usagi could then ask the obvious, the tall brunette held up a piece of neatly ripped notebook paper. The words written on it was in a precise, clear hand, all in easily readable hiragana. "And yes, she left us directions."
       "Ami-chan lives in quite the ritzy neighborhood, too," Minako added.
       The dark-haired shrine girl nodded her head slowly, for once agreeing with the long-haired blonde. "'Ritzy,' yes, but very understated. Only the people living there and their associates know how upper class those buildings are. Some of the politicians of the Diet live there."
       A serious of suitably impressed 'Oooohs' followed.
       Somewhat cowed, the girls trekked down to the shrine's bus stop, the walk down far easier than the walk up. Usagi still dragged her feet somewhat, pausing halfway down at the crash of crows above her head. Looking up, the birds formed a black hole against the sky, like the flow of a cape; she felt near tears. "Mamo-chan…"
       "U-SA-GI!"
       "Hai, hai!" She all but ran the last few steps, nearly flinging herself into the street as she tripped on the last one. With a frantic yip, she danced through the traffic to the opposite side, hopping up into the bus as the driver favoured her with a particularly dour frown.
       Her fare apparently paid by the impatient Rei, she forsook the usual charade of digging for loose change in her pockets and instead teetered into the back, where her friends took up the last two seats. She didn't feel like apologizing for the hundredth time that day, so she simply collapsed into the empty seat in front of Minako.
       As luck would have it, the bus hit a pothole.
       Everyone was bounced around in their seats.
       The sword, having been propped against the seat in front of Minako, clonked Usagi right in the back of her skull. In that really nasty place that hurts the most.
       She didn't even have the energy to scream and cry, so she just slid down further into her seat, holding her head. "The whole world is against me," she mumbled.
       "Usagi-chan, daijoubu?" Minako peeked over the seat at her, holding the sword by its handle to prevent further mishaps. The other two were firmly entrenched in yet another religious debate - it had only fueled Rei's fire to find out Makoto's parents had been closet Christians, so to speak - and had not even noticed the possible brain damage the odango-haired blonde had suffered.
       Crystal blue eyes rolled up to meet twilight blue. "Hai, hai. I just miss Mamo-chan so much…and I feel so useless!"
       "Strange for a girl to say, when she has a crystal capable of destroying planets," Minako said coyly.
       "Minako-chan…"
       "Gomen, gomen, I'm just teasing you!" she said seriously, holding up a hand.
       Usagi frowned, gnawing at her lip. The throbbing in her skull thankfully subsided, though pain spiked viciously through her entire head with every little jolt of the vehicle. "You know what I mean, V-chan," she replied in just as serious a tone, using the childish nickname to denote the long-haired blonde's reasons for understanding. "Only a little while ago, I was childish and happy Tsukino Usagi, with a silly crush on some jerk who kept teasing me. Now I'm also Princess Serenity, destined to have met Prince Endymion again. Is my love just a programmed response? Or would I have fallen in love with Mamo-chan even without knowing of our past?"
       "Only you would know that, Usagi-chan," Minako said slowly. "You've made loving eyes at Furuhata oniisan before; I've seen it. You crush as easily as I do, and maybe you wouldn't have fallen in love, that's true, but you would have met him anyway. I know it."
       "Demo sa…."
       Streets passed them by at a steady pace. The odango-haired blonde curled into the window, drawing her knees up to her chin. "Love is not programmed, not true love, Usagi-chan. You know what it feels like; now, can you tell me what it feels like to you?"
       A young boy ran down the sidewalk as the bus stopped for a light, laughing; behind him ran a younger girl, chasing him as she held onto a balloon. "It feels like…childhood," Usagi whispered softly. "So very happy, and seemingly never-ending; like the first taste of ice cream in the summer, and touching your toes into a swimming pool on the hottest day. Like joy."
       "Then why do you question yourself?"
       Unexpectedly, Usagi said, "You have such a serious side, V-chan. Is it truly you?"
       Both girls stared at one another, caught in a moment of vexing silence.
       It was broken only when Makoto said, "This is our stop, minna."
       Makoto and Rei stood to walk down the aisle unsteadily, the bus slowing down by degrees as the sign came into view. With reluctance, the long-haired blonde tore her eyes away from those of her friend, taking up the sword in another unsteady hold by the hilt. Usagi took the cue and stood along with her, following the two girls towards the front exit.
       Outside, the dark-haired shrine girl's description rang true, with buildings of almost plain simplicity rising above their heads, with only their length an obvious sign of their price. "Ami-chan lives on the fifth floor, at the end of the building," the tall brunette said, pointing towards the window in question, unremarkable from the rest.
       "I hope she has an elevator!" both blondes chorused.
       "In a building like this? Of course she does," Rei snorted. "Come on, it's getting late. Let's go on up."
       Each segment of the building had its own main entrance and separate address, which Ami had thoughtfully mentioned; the foyer of the door was painted a tasteful blue and white, with sprays of fresh flowers in large vases and shiny brass mailboxes on the wall. The carpet was Oriental, and obviously expensive and delicate, prompting Minako to do a frantic dance across it, lest she drop the sword and destroy the precious weave.
       As they came up to the mailboxes, Makoto noticed a pair of men at the end of the hall pointing towards them. Shrugging it off as nothing, she simply gave them what she had come to call her "Bug Off and Die Glare," turning away afterwards to ignore them. All four girls peered at the brass boxes, though it was Rei who finally tapped a finger against the pair of kanji that read, simply, 'Mizuno,' no first names given. "Here she is."
       Minako fell to the back, hauling the sword like her own personal ball and chain as they walked towards the elevator at the end of the hall. Unfortunately, it just brought them closer to the two men, who had stopped pointing and were just staring almost rudely. The tall brunette scowled, and walked a bit faster, intending to frighten them off.
       But when they reached the elevator, one of the men stepped forward and bowed. "Hino Rei-san. I'm sorry, but your father is not with us today."
       Both brunette and blonde stopped dumb in their tracks. Rei acted as if she hadn't heard him speak, and in fact turned her back to him as she pushed the button for the elevator, ignoring the sound of Minako smacking into her friend's unmoving bodies. "Misekake-san, I was not planning to see my father today. In fact, I would assume he never expects me to exist save for my birthday, when civil politeness forces him to take notice."
       Her voice was absolutely frigid as she added, "He has, already, used up his one visitation for the year."
       All three girls were staring at the dark-haired shrine girl as if she had grown a third head, a tail, and a spectacular lolling tongue. She assumed a pose of waiting, folding her arms as she tilted her chin arrogantly to the sky, blatantly dismissing the men. For Rei to be so uncommonly rude, something had to be wrong, and the men seemed to realize it. Both of them bowed low enough to lick their own knees, before making thinly veiled, hasty retreats down the hallway.
       "….that was impressive," Makoto remarked slowly.
       The elevator doors slid open smoothly. "My father's associates seem to think being sickeningly gracious to me means he will look well upon them. They never seem to realize that my father has no time for me, nor does he ever notice their fawning." So saying, she stepped inside of the mirrored rectangular box, pushing the button for the fifth floor, and holding it as her three allies hustled inside.

      Upstairs was almost more posh than the hallway. Again were fresh flowers situated in vases in the hall, crowding a small tree in the picture window at the end. Elegant velvet panels patterned the walls, and each door had subtle ornate carving and metal accents.
       Ami had said she would leave the door unlocked, and indeed it gave easily under Makoto's hand. And if the sights of the hallways were nifty, the large foyer, with its marble tile floor and glittering chandelier, took their breath away. "Sugo-i," Usagi moaned.
       Potted ferns large enough to be considered small trees crowded the foyer itself, along with a few hanging purple and green plants that Makoto pointed out as wandering Jews. It was almost like wandering into a jungle-themed discotheque, one they continued to ogle as they exchanged their outdoor shoes for some plain indoor slippers set aside for visitors.
       Amidst warning to not trip, Minako managed to haul the sword without incident along with her down the hall that connected to the kitchen, another showcase of marble flooring, along with hardwood cabinets and similar marble countertops. The stove looked barely used, sparkling clean, set as it was into the wall. "They must eat out a lot," Makoto mused, peering at the range for a telltale hint of burnt scraps. "This thing is clean enough to lick."
       Through the second kitchen doorway was the den, where Ami sat calmly, a thick textbook in her lap. "Gomen nasai, but we're later than expected," Rei apologized as the blue-haired genius looked up.
       "Daijoubu…I only convinced mama to leave about fifteen minutes ago. She wanted some Korean barbecue for weeks." Ami smiled almost shyly at her apparently devious plotting, closing the book with a snap of pages. "Did you have any trouble finding me?"
       "Your instructions were wonderful, Ami-chan," the tall brunette laughed, holding the folded piece of paper up.
       She got up as Minako appeared, muttering under her breath about her arms not only ready to fall off, but ready to give up and die. The sword, solid stone as it was, had grown extremely heavy, and it was only fear of damaging the expensive flooring, furniture, and apartment in general that kept her from just dropping the damn thing. "Ara, you managed to bring it here without incident?"
       "My arms will never forgive me," the long-haired blonde moaned, though she nodded her head at the question. "Hai, hai. Though do you know how many people asked me on the way how much this thing costs?"
       Usagi, Makoto, and Rei settled into the couch and armchairs with relative comfort, all relieved to be sitting down. Minako was forced to stay standing as she held the sword, eyeing Ami as she held something shiny up. "Before you took the sword home, V-chan, Luna and I tested the blade. Our queen turned it into incredibly strange stone, as if everything down to the last molecule had petrified. And I'm glad you have it by the hilt, as I said; the cutting edges are particularly poisonous, as you thought."
       "I was joking!" Minako protested.
       Ami waved the words away with a quick gesture of her hand. "Still, the stone is unique. It's not merely petrified in normal terms, like a fossil on this planet." She held out a gold ring etched with fleur-de-lis, the stone a relatively fair sized diamond. "This diamond was formed under extreme stress and pressure; once merely coal, it is one of the hardest stones on our planet. V-chan, will you tap the tip of the sword to the diamond?"
       The long-haired blonde blinked, obviously taken aback. She held the hilt in both hands and lifted it up high enough for Ami to angle the ring beneath it, her arms wobbling. With an extreme effort, she merely tapped the diamond with the very tip of the sword, nearly dropping the entire weapon when her arms just gave out.
       But from just the touch, the diamond cracked, chipped into pieces.
       "Kyaaaaaaaaa! I broke the diamond, I broke the diamond, oh, kami-sama, I broke the diamond!" Minako shook frantically as she watched a few more chips fall off and get lost in the thick carpet. The other three were aghast, gaping at the ruined gem in Ami's hands.
       "Daijoubu, daijoubu, V-chan! It's just a diamond!"
       "Just a diamond!?" The long-haired blonde nearly went into cardiac arrest right then and there. She did have a swooning spell, at which Makoto managed to catch her and fan her face. "Just a diamond, and I suppose next it'll be just the royal family's jewel!"
       Ami did that quick dismissal again, waving her hand just so. "My mother can always get more, it's not as if she has no money for such frivolous things. And I was making a point in the name of science, you see." She drew her fingertip across the crack in the diamond, flaking even more loose chips off. "That sword cracked diamond, the hardest stone. And the cutting edge is not the only danger; the stone itself is toxic, though merely touching it isn't enough to kill, or even harm. The entire kingdom is now made of this stone, effectively making it a particularly noxious graveyard."
       On the couch, the odango-haired blonde nuzzled into the soft, especially snuggable cushions. The sword's properties were of no special interest to her, and truly, she had been more delighted at simply seeing Ami's home for the first time than discussing weaponry. With all of the talk focusing on something she didn't give a toss about, she felt herself finally relax, her mind giving up and simply releasing all of its tension.
       Even Rei's comment didn't phase her; something about the use for a toxic sword, holy or no. "….and what can we do with it? Surely it was meant to be used in its prime, not in a solidified rock state! How can we protect our princess with that?"
       "Maybe we can destroy the evil with its poison?" Makoto interjected.
        "Iie…the sword is for physical things…the darkness that we ultimately must fight is nothing more than an aura of evil…" All of them remembered Serenity's description of their last great enemy; shapeless.
       Ami steepled her fingers against her chin. "Perhaps…the enemy has a physical agent, does it not? That woman we saw, the night our princess truly awakened…is she the one the sword is intended for?" She tilted her head, looking towards Usagi. "Ne, Usagi-chan, what do you think….Usagi-chan?"
       The smallest snore was the only response. The odango-haired blonde had slid halfway off the couch in her relaxed state, a bit of drool darkening the fabric beneath her cheek. Such an adorable tableau produced a smile in all four girls as they watched their princess sleep. "She looks so innocent in sleep," Rei murmured quietly.
       "As our princess, she should be so innocent," Minako added, quiet but firm. "But it's not possible in our battle."
       "Minako-chan, you can be so pessimistic," the tall brunette sighed, bending down to gently pick Usagi up into her arms. She didn't see the long-haired blonde's crestfallen expression, the turning away of her head; instead, she walked in the opposite direction towards a door Ami silently pointed out, just visible down another hallway.
       It was obviously her bedroom, by the blue motif and piles of textbooks on the desk. Rei helped to open the door and pull back the comforter and sheets, tucking them in around Usagi once she was lain softly atop the mattress. She continued to drool into the pillow, completely unaware of her change of location, and oblivious to the clicking of the door.
       "I am not pessimistic, Mako-chan," Minako said stiffly upon seeing the tall brunette emerge from the hallway. "I can't help but realize these serious things…Usagi isn't meant to be unhappy and sad, you know that!"
       "Maybe not, but recognizing it and saying it out loud are different things. We shouldn't be burdening her with such matters," the dark-haired shrine girl interjected firmly, settling herself back into the couch.
       The long-haired blonde smiled coyly. "Ne, didn't you once say that when you thought I was the princess? And only Usagi-chan stood up for me, recognizing my experience and knowledge."
       "It's not the same-"
       "But it is! She didn't begrudge me the chance to fight simply because I claimed to be Princess Serenity. Yes, she should be innocent and happy, oblivious to all of this, but she would know anger if we deliberately held back on her. As princess and future queen, her responsibility is to the safety of her kingdom, and if that means losing that innocence, and fighting to destroy the evil, then she will, and we know it!"
       "But how is she to lock it away?" Ami interrupted softly. "Serenity-sama only she can use the Ginzuishou, but now, the sword is involved…"

       "…mmmaaah…"
       It was a most naughty dream this time, one that Usagi had never experienced before. The sensations invoked left her breathless as she opened her eyes quickly to see a powder blue ceiling, her hands clutching the disarrayed comforter. She had twisted and rolled to put herself atop the bedsheets, her body spread out in a lazy, cat-like pose on her side.
       Definitely a vivid dream. Recalling one certain moment had her flushing, touching a hand to her breast as her heart began to pound. "Endymion…iie, Mamo-chan…" What did it mattered? The same ocean blue eyes stared at her in either lifetime, though now, she could remember a particularly wicked gleam to them.
       In the hazy light of the setting sun, she looked around Ami's neat bedroom. With such vague details she could easily deny her situation and pretend it was Mamoru's room, complete with a lovely sunset. She wished desperately that she could share it with him.
       That was silly, of course. She hadn't seen the dark-haired prince since the night on the Tower; simply because she remembered their past lives together, and felt herself wanting to act on those feelings, didn't mean he would do the same. It was a very good possibility that when they rescued him, he would want nothing more than friendship, or that he viewed her as a childish little sister. Either would devastate her.
       Realizing that, she felt a few warm tears trickle down her cheeks. Beneath her school uniform hung the cold weight of the Ginzuishou, reminding her where the warmth now resided; and that it was quite possibly wasted. It was as dead to her touch as his watch.
       "Mooou, my eyes are going to swell up again!" she whimpered, scrubbing at her cheeks and eyes to get rid of the tears. "I hate being this way…I want to be happy and silly again, playing games…"
       Actually, a game sounded good right about now.
       Very good.
       She got up, smoothing out her wrinkled uniform as well as possible, tugging the sheets and comforter into a semi-situated state. Then she snuck out of the bedroom, pausing in the hallway as she heard her friends arguing over the sword; they were still unsure about wielding the weapon, and when. Pouting, she instead crept in the opposite direction, ending up in the dining room, with a clear path to the front door.
       Shoes were exchanged, and she was out the door, running for the elevator. She felt incredibly anxious, a dire need to get to the Crown; jabbing at the button for the elevator, she hopped from foot to foot. The sole passenger must have thought her mad once the doors opened, and she saw the blonde doing her little dance. She kept it up down all four floors, rocking from heel to toe, bouncing from foot to foot, repeating as needed.
       Everything was a blur. Her heart pounded within her chest, the same as it had in her dream, and it grew intense the closer she came to the Crown. When she finally stood in front of it, alone on the sidewalk, her heart felt ready to burst. "This feeling…like the first time he called me 'Usako.' Am I still dreaming?"
       Inside, she could make out someone sitting at the Sailor V game, not unusual; many diehard fans of the long-haired blonde kept trying desperately to defeat the game, and several swore there was no end. They were most likely right, as Minako had slyly inferred that it was merely a subtle training system for the girls.
       Never once giving a thought to the fact her friends would be frantic upon finding her missing, she stepped through the sliding doors to find the Crown almost completely empty. Only the two seated at the Sailor V game were present, and Usagi slowly realized that the blond man draped possessively against the dark-haired player of the game was Motoki. "O-onii-san?"
       Empty eyes lifted to see her, and they were so cold, so dead, that Usagi took a step back. She felt a sudden spasm of fear as he smiled. "Usagi-chan…konnichiwa." His voice was throaty, all the more menacing by how unfamiliar and alien he was acting.
       But when the other man turned to stare at her, she very nearly fainted. She shuddered all over as Endymion, with his black eyes, regarded her with interest, in the same intensity that Motoki had. As if she were some sort of dish to be eaten. "Ara ara, so you're Usagi-chan? With those unusual odango…"
       "M…M…" Her throat felt dry; the name would not form properly. As he stood up, her throat closed off entirely, and all she produced was a squeak as he came close, closer, reaching out to touch her peculiar hairstyle. The smile and his eyes were cold and unusual, but the closeness of his body, of his warmth, inspired a vivid memory; it could be no one else.
       However… "I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm working here part-time now; I go to school with Furuhata-kun, at K.O. University. Endou," he murmured into her ear, removing his hand with a deliberate brush of fingertips against her neck.
       The touch was not repulsive, was in fact the very opposite, but she recoiled. "E-endou? But…but…"
       "Don't be afraid, Usagi-chan, Endou is just being friendly," Motoki said.
       Beneath the smell of some inoffensive cologne, Usagi could just barely recognize a thick stench; the smell of the underground, of dampness and mold. She remembered smelling it once before, in greater amounts, and as Endymion loomed over her, she pistoned her arms out. Into his chest she punched, not thinking, just reacting, screaming "NO!" at the top of her lungs.
       In Ami's apartment, they had just discovered her missing.
       Below, in the command center, the computer began to shriek an alarm.
       "Shimatta, where is Usagi-chan?!" Rei snapped as they gathered in the den once more, having searched the entire apartment. "She must have snuck out without us noticing…"
       Minako's shirt pocket began beeping, the white feline frantically trying to reach them. She pulled her transformation pen out, only to hear him yelling, "Something's happening in the Crown! The enemy is trying to infiltrate us!"
       Quite suddenly, it dawned on them where Usagi had to be. The long-haired blonde literally vaulted over the couch as she ran for the front door, followed closely by her allies, the sword left to drop into the carpet. "Usagi-chaaan!"
       The odango-haired blonde scrambled away from the dark-haired prince as he tried to grab her, laughing at her fear. "Yare yare, is the strong sailor soldier afraid of me? And you can be no one else with that silly hairstyle, I remember it! Tsukino Usagi no Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity!"
       She was no fighter, but she tried her best now. Motoki was coming around from the other side as she frantically kicked out at Endymion's leg, hitting hard enough to drop him. She hastily clambered over one of the consoles as the blond dove for her, just missing as she leapt over mere seconds before impact. Her landing was spectacularly clumsy, and she slip-slid towards the Sailor V game, which, miraculously, was sliding back to allow her access.
       "The Ginzuishou, princess!" Endymion was snarling now, all pretense of goodwill gone. She screamed as he caught one of her pigtails, yanking her back hard enough to pull a few hairs loose, and she slid across the floor. "I have no more patience to play games, to sit around and wait! Give me the holy stone, and I'll kill you quickly!"
       Outside, night had fallen, taking with it any possible witnesses. The doors melted away into solid glass, allowing no access, as Endymion pulled the wriggling, struggling odango-haired blonde into his arms. "Iie, you can't be Mamo-chan…stop it! Stop it!"
       "You could have made this easier, princess," Motoki purred, holding onto her legs to further halt any escape.
       A black blur bounced off his back, yowling; all Usagi saw was Luna's enraged expression, claws extended, before the dark-haired prince screamed in pain, releasing her to stumble away. The black feline ripped at his face without holding back, so bloodying him that Motoki released Usagi as well to help his master. He grabbed at Luna's tail and ears, forcing her off as he yanked sharply, and flung her across the room.
       "Luna!" the odango-haired blonde cried, the thump of the little cat's body hitting the wall coinciding with the louder thud of four bodies hitting the glass outside. Torn between disbelief and shock, she never noticed the hand coming towards her face, slapping her back onto the floor. As she lay there, stunned, the crystal obeyed the laws of gravity and rolled out of her collar to slide on its chain to the tiles.
       Bloodied, healing with every minute, Endymion grinned in victory. Unfortunately, the wounds on his face were nothing as the windows then blasted inwards, glass mingling with lightning and powerful yellow magic to slice across his upper body. He erected a shield just in time to suffer slight damage, but glass still stuck out of him like a cruel parody of a porcupine. "Usagi-cha-Chiba Mamoru-san? How is that possible?" Mercury gasped.
       "Apparently, our enemy has a high rate of turnover," Venus stated grimly, pointing her finger. "And it doesn't matter, he's trying to hurt Usagi-chan! Crescent Beam!"
       The shield didn't even bow under the impact. Motoki came around to tackle Usagi as she crawled to her feet again, pinning her arms to her sides. "The Ginzuishou, that's all our master wants!" He slid his hand along her shirt roughly, searching for the hard lump that signified the crystal, as she twisted in his arms.
       "Furuhata onii-san?" Jupiter and Venus both exclaimed, mouths agape at the blond's unruly behavior.
       Mars unleashed her flames on the dark-haired prince as Venus called her power to her hand. "A dose of good magic should snap him out of this…Venus Power! Love Crescent Shower! Pour down! Release him from his bad dream!" she shouted, letting it fly at Motoki's back. It exploded on impact, bending him backward as he released the screaming odango-haired blonde; the gold magic engulfed his body, and he groaned before sinking to the floor.
       Artemis, peering out from the opening beneath the Sailor V game, was nearly squashed by the falling Usagi. She curled up on the floor where she landed, clutching at the crystal beneath her shirt, heaving with unshed tears. "This isn't possible…Mamo-chan can't be hurting me…he can't be doing this…!"
       "Usagi-chan, pull yourself together!" Artemis slapped his paws at her side, frantic. The fog that began creeping through the room was violently dispersed by a sudden blasting wind, one that ripped buttons off the consoles and pulled decals off the sides. "You have to stop him!"
       "I can't! Not Mamo-chan!"
       "Usagi-chan!"
       Venus cried out at she was slapped away in mid-air, attempting a kick. She fell back into Mercury and Jupiter, leaving Mars to once again scream her attack, missing as the dark-haired prince stepped aside. "Usagi-chan, would Mamoru-san hurt Luna? He's the enemy now, you have to do something before he kills everyone!" Artemis argued.
       The wind surged up again, and it lifted the odango-haired blonde off her feet, shoving her back again. She hit the edge of the Sailor V game, felt her brooch dislodge and fall down into the command center before she could catch it. Gasping in pain, she hardly felt Endymion's hand on her neck, pulling her head back; he gestured, and the crystal levitated up into his reach. Artemis sprang to attempt the same trick as his black counterpart as the dark-haired prince grabbed the cold stone, snapping the chain.
       He released Usagi and stepped back, perfectly timed as Jupiter released her lightning.
       Artemis, in mid-air, changed direction violently.
       "How incompetent of you all!" Endymion laughed as Venus screamed, holding aloft the Ginzuishou in triumph. "Losing my willful puppet was nothing compared to gaining the holy stone! When my mistress finally assumes command of this pathetic planet, I'll be sure to ask that you be killed quickly for your bungling. It will be a mercy."
       "Iie…"
       Usagi, knowing she was unable to fight back in her current state, dropped herself through the opening into the command center. Disoriented and bruised, she landed roughly on her ankle, crying out into the chamber. Above, she could hear her allies throwing attack after attack, obviously failing; all she could think of was Luna's still body on the floor, Artemis and his singed fur. She grabbed up her brooch, screaming "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

       Light cascaded out from the opening, brushing past Endymion.
       Startled, he turned around to behold a pissed, upset soldier standing atop the Sailor V game, fresh and ready to fight. In her hand was the moon stick. "For the past, and the future, the sailor soldiers will fight! And as Sailor Moon, I'll stop your evil once and for all!"
       "Your speeches leave you vulnerable." The dark-haired prince reached out, ostensibly to grab her; but his hand closed on empty air. Her four allies watched with stunned pride as Sailor Moon landed atop another console, her usually clutziness completely forgotten in her anger. She moved gracefully, skillfully out of a blast of energy, holding the moon stick up. "Moon Healing Escalation!"
       Like a fine mist, healing magic spread out over the room. Artemis whimpered, as did Luna. On the floor, Motoki groaned in pain, holding his head as he woke up. Her wounded allies stood anew, preparing for another battle.
       But Endymion stood untouched, sneering as he repelled the magic from his body. "Weak, pathetic, and you, the inheritor of such a holy stone!"
       Arms appeared from behind him, a woman's slender pair. As darkness grew behind him like a cancer, those arms wrapped around his chest, caressing him in the same possessive manner Motoki had earlier. Beryl's piss-yellow eyes were the next to appear, along with the grating, painful laughter. "Ara ara, my Prince Endymion, don't concern yourself with her weakness! You see, she was always so pitiful."
       "You…." Sailor Moon stared in horror as the woman fully revealed herself, smiling the same derogatory, mocking smile she had upon Mamoru's capture.
       Endymion tilted his head back beneath her slow stroking, like a cat being petted. "Does it hurt you to see your loving prince in my arms, Princess Serenity? I hope it makes you suffer, for everything you ruined in your silly, insipid passion!"
       "He truly is Endymion?" Mars said in disbelief.
       "Of course! It makes this ever sweet…perhaps, I'll allow him the great honor of killing his beloved princess. He won't need her, after all, once I become the queen of this planet, taking him as my king! Metallia-sama need never grow strong, and will become my servant!"
       The dark hole behind Beryl had to be a portal; as it grew, the winds increased, attempting to pull everything through like a vacuum. "I will be known as a great queen, no longer of a dank Dark Kingdom but of the world, and the name 'Beryl' will be sung for eternity!"
       Everything not attached began flying towards the opening, nearly hitting the sailor soldiers. They frantically danced around, dodging all manner of chairs, buttons, and empty aluminum cans, only to be rocked to the floor as the roof, unable to contain the pressure, blasted up and off. Sailor Moon was the only one, surprisingly, not screaming by this point, so focused was she on the woman laughing at her.
       And it was Venus who yelled, "Beryl, the devil's advocate, the witch woman who sold her soul! I remember you, and your bloody crusade! Don't you realize, the evil uses you even now, as it did then!"
       Insults were hurled, as Motoki moaned at Mercury's feet. He opened his eyes to see a particularly long length of thigh, a tousled mass of blue hair, and the open sky through the ragged hole in the ceiling. Realizing he was better off unconscious, he shut his eyes tight again, willing the world to just stop.
       Outside, people were gathering as the shattered bits of roof came raining down. Police sirens rent the air as they drove frantically to the scene, though the towering blackness of dust and garbage that was reaching up into the sky was now hard to miss.
       Beryl was unaware of the chaos she was causing, or maybe, she knew perfectly. She brushed off Sailor Moon's attempt at an attack, slapping her tiara away in mid-air. Venus's golden beams were diverted, ricocheting off to slam through the glass windows and into the crowd outside. Jupiter watched her lightning simply disappear into the darkness.
       "I will know the secrets of the Ginzuishou, princess; I will have everything denied me once before!" At her silent command, Endymion darted at Sailor Moon, catching her before she could run again; his hand closer around her throat once more, lifting her off her feet. "Youth, longevity, it will all be mine!
       "I knelt in offering to that prophesied darkness, and I have waited for the rewards for a millennium…nothing can stop me, I have won! All of your preparing, your feeble attacks, have been for nothing."
       The odango-haired blonde dangled, kicking her legs uselessly.
       Venus dove over the consoles, fighting the wind to dart in closer to the piss-eyed queen, screaming something that was completely lost in the air. As she leapt for the last time, the stone sword appeared in her hands, and she wielded it without pause to breach the space between Endymion and Beryl, burying the blade into the queen's chest to the hilt.
       Two lifetimes of anger went into the thrust, and the force of it drove the queen to her knees. Enraged twilight blue eyes stared at her, defiant, blood splattered and streaked across her face. Beneath her hands, the sword pulsed like a halogen light, cracking; Beryl's blood darkened, revealing the true metal of the blade beneath it. With a shriek of sound, the stone disappeared completely.
       The entire weapon glowed brilliant.
       Endymion's expression revealed nothing but emptiness as he watched his queen writhe on the blade. He held the odango-haired blonde aloft as he turned his head away, completely ignoring her twisting and gasping. But his grip relaxed slightly as Beryl spat out a gout of blood from her lungs, spattering it across the floor and over his boots, as she tried to crawl towards him. The sword's blade jutted from her back, the hilt scraping the floor. "My…my prince…my handsome p-prince…"
       "You stole what wasn't yours to own," Mars said quietly.
       The piss-eyed queen rolled onto her side, spasming with pain. Above her, the faces blurred, and she could remember herself as a young girl in the palace, watching the forbidden romance. The cold pain she felt knowing Endymion could never be hers….the triumph over taking him away from Serenity. "And you…even forget the other…for her…my Prince Endymion…."
       Sailor Moon dropped, coughing, tears streaking her face. Though she had infinite reason to hate Beryl, to feel avenged by her death, she still cried; and as she held out her wobbling hand to the bleeding, dying queen, Beryl simply vanished. The sword, still coated in blood, clattered to the floor at her knees.
       In Endymion's hand was a tiny nimbus of light.
       But wasn't alive, not by a long shot; the odango-haired blonde could sense it. It was reflecting her sorrow and pain, but the bulk of its power was still buried deep within the dark-haired prince. He, however, didn't seem to realize the truth, which was obvious by the sudden grin on his face. All he knew was that the cold and lifeless crystal was now glowing, which meant something good. "Infinite power for my mistress."
       "Iie, Mamo-chan!" Sailor Moon cried, watching in horror as he turned away to flee through the black hole, the crystal showing as a mere pinpoint of life through the unfathomable darkness.
       Almost at once she felt her allies grab her arms, her waist, holding her back before her body could follow the directions of her mind. They knew she would follow her prince into jigoku itself; and the anguish on her face was plain. "Sailor Moon, you can't just follow him without knowing what lies on the other side!" Venus argued, placing herself between her princess and the windy tunnel.
       "I'm attempting to calculate its point of origin, but without a lock on Mamoru-san, I can't do it!" Mercury was the only one not holding onto Sailor Moon, instead rapidly scanning her goggles. After Serenity had scoffed at such crude technology, the blue-haired genius fully realized the potential of her goggles and gave herself over to it; made of Silver Millennium tech, it read her brainwaves as well as the physical info input. Her mind calculated, formulated hypotheses, and it all fed itself into her eyewear.
       She was functioning at the speed of thought, but the response was always the same; without an anchor to trace, she had no reasonable way to pinpoint the location. "Undoubtedly, the portal would end at our enemies' kingdom, but unless one of us goes through…!"
       "That isn't an option!" Jupiter, her fingers around one of the odango-haired blonde's arms, grabbed onto a console behind her to anchor herself.
       Whatever Venus said in response was lost in the sudden gain of wind intensity, and they were all blasted apart as warm and cold air collided above their heads. The air began to twist and funnel, cyclonic, ripping even the heaviest, secured objects free and throwing them around. Within the Crown a tornado had formed.
       The crowd gathered outside screamed in panic, crushing one another as they tried to escape the open street. A lone, undamaged TV in a picture window down the road flashed warnings, the reporter calmly reminding people to seek shelter before something bounced off their heads. The monitor was then blown apart, glass shards ripping into the fleeing bodies, as the wind sent them flying with the speed of a train.
       Out of the building rose a cold, fine mist, and it expanded to rapidly engulf the street and many of the smaller stores. Without the opposing temperatures to whip up the circulation, the tornado began to fragment and lessen, dropping people and chunks of objects back onto the concrete. As soon as it had been born, it died.
       Inside of the game center was a twisted wreck of machinery and scattered toys, tokens, and yen coins. Jupiter had been buried beneath a pile of UFO catchers and its torn-apart machine, her legs cut and bleeding, her fuku torn indecently, with Mars almost neatly lain out next to her without any injury at all, save for a bruise on her forehead. Mercury moaned behind the stripped counter, having landed in a tangle of limbs on the floor and not at all graciously.
       Sailor Moon lay almost peacefully against one of the few remaining consoles, her skirt lost in the winds, leaving only a few shreds of blue fabric, one of her odango undone. She opened her eyes slowly, looking about to see the decimated Crown and her guardian soldiers; but she knew without needing to search that Venus was gone. "V-chan…"
       "Where the hell is Venus?!" the dark-haired shrine girl yelled most ungraciously, unable to sense what her princess could without thinking. "Was she foolish enough to take the fight to them alone?"
       "She was blown through the portal," Jupiter snapped back, her voice strong despite her obvious injuries. She sat up, not even bothering to cover her exposure as she heaved the machine off her legs, and stood upright slowly. Her ponytail had come undone, and it rippled down far enough to modestly cover her bared breast, but she shoved it back behind her soldiers impatiently. "We have to find the enemy, to seal them away, before they attempt to use the Ginzuishou!"
       Artemis and Luna, still obviously wounded, crawled out from beneath similar piles of shredded plastic and wood, padding slowly towards the soldiers. "The seal cannot be placed without the Ginzuishou," Luna panted, collapsing at the odango-haired blonde's feet. "And the Ginzuishou has not yet come truly to life…"
       "But we saw it glow, Luna!" Mercury replied, even as her eyes skimmed over the screen of her goggles. "And with Venus now on the other side, I can trace her energy signature."
       "Iie." Sailor Moon massaged her neck, her white gloves stark against the darkening bruises Endymion had left on her skin. Her voice was hollow as she added, "It responds to me, as the carrier of the blood of the Moon, but its true life is still within Mamo-chan…protecting him…it listened to my wish."
       Obviously, none of them knew what to say to that.
       But then, Mercury cheered, snapping her fingers in victory. "Ya ta! I've traced V-chan north, to the Arctic Circle! Once there, the signal is distorted, but I'm almost positive I have the exact longitude!"
       Sailor Moon, still sitting on the floor, held up her arms. "This is our destiny, minna; let's face it with positive spirits, and together!"

       When the cyclone ripped the long-haired blonde away, she had still been standing in front of the portal, and Murphy's Law had come into affect to throw her straight through it. Tumbling head over ass over heels, she never touched the ground until she was halfway through the room that the portal opened into, and there she skidded on her hips and shoulder to hit the wall.
        "….itaaai."
       At least it had been her, and not her princess. She watched the black hole shrink, already far too small for her to even squeeze through, and pop out of existence to reveal a blank stone wall. The temperature dropped considerably, and she shivered, curling her arms across her chest for warmth.
       The room was a natural cavern, and she rested in a small alcove, out of sight. But she could hear someone talking, a familiar voice that said, "...and Beryl had been defeated, Metallia-sama. She proved weak."
       "Yare yare, I knew she would fail me," another voice said, and with a violent shudder of disgust and loathing, Venus realized who the brainwashed prince spoke to. "But it doesn't matter! Give me the holy stone, so I may properly form myself, and lower the cloud of darkness upon this disgusting, bright planet!"
       She held her breath, clenching her fist in front of her face. The whispered words coalesced into the usual golden magic, though she concentrated to keep it at a steady, low level, holding her fist close to her heart. This was going to be an incredibly stupid kamikaze attack, but if she could stop Metallia from using Endymion as a puppet, or a possible body to inhabit, it would be worth death. She only wished she could see Usagi one more time before she got herself killed in possibly painful ways, but life was never fair.
       As she stepped out from the alcove, she saw Endymion on his knees, face upturned in blank rapture as the dark cloud above him spiraled. In his hand the Ginzuishou gave off the tiniest energy, meager warmth, reflecting the golden gleam of her magic as she fully revealed herself.
       In the confines of the room, the energy of Venus seemed to crowd the corners, battling the darkness and pushing it away. Metallia snarled, shaking the walls as the light touched her, and Endymion began to turn as Venus pointed her finger. "Venus Love Megaton Shower!"
       Endymion drew up his arm, blocking his eyes as she yelled, finally, "Release the evil from our world!" and released the attack.
       Soldiers and youma in the floors above were decimated as her attack punched through the stone ceilings and floors, cresting above the castle itself in the cold Arctic. Like a beacon it shone brightly for miles, shaking the entire castle to its ice foundations as Metallia screamed angrily, her puppet prince forcing a teleport mere seconds before the light hit him. He collapsed outside in the cold on hands and knees, shielding himself from the worst of the elements as he watched several roughly carved turrets collapse.
       And then, the light died. He waited for a good solid minute before attempting to teleport back into his queen's chamber, prepared to throttle the stupid blonde bitch the moment he appeared. But it wasn't needed; before he could initiate the spell, he heard Metallia's laughter in his ear. Broken free of her confinement, and soaked with energy, her anger was now forgotten, and she appeared in front of the prince on the surface. Within the dark epicenter floated Venus, unconscious, drained of her energy from the attack.
       "Foolish soldier. Perhaps I will use her body for my vessel, as a reward for freeing me!" Metallia laughed, lifting the long-haired blonde's body upright within her grasp.
       "Leave V-chan and Mamo-chan alone!" a voice screamed out of the snowdrifts yards away. Healing energy, the very sort of power Metallia couldn't even attempt to gorge upon, spat out at them as Sailor Moon walked out from behind the drifts, holding the moon stick aloft.
       Venus dropped to the frozen ground as Metallia retreated, compacting herself to float behind her puppet prince. The remaining sailor soldiers walked up behind Sailor Moon, looking fiercely determined as she lowered her weapon. "The instrument of evil," Mars pronounced as she pointed towards Metallia. "The reason for our pain and suffering in two lifetimes…"
       "…this time, we won't fail," Jupiter added, clenching her fist.
       "We believe in our princess, in Usagi-chan!" Mercury said in closing, as they flanked the odango-haired blonde.
       Again, the crystal pulsed in Endymion's hand, brighter this time as Sailor Moon's conviction strengthened.
       On the snow, Venus moaned, rolling her head. Seeing him standing over her, unaware of her return to consciousness, she reacted as quickly as her dulled senses would allow, and kicked up with the toe of her shoe. And even as he saw her move, she was still faster; he shouted in pain as she connected with the back of his hand, ripping his skin and sending the Ginzuishou flying between the two groups.
       He viciously kicked her in the ribs in return, and dove for the stone.
       "Usagi-chan!" the girls screamed, as she moved to catch her inheritance.
       Venus grabbed onto Endymion's legs, twisting him into the snow as Sailor Moon tried to run through knee-deep drifts, the crystal still in the air. She wasn't given much time as the dark-haired prince backhanded the long-haired blonde, shoving her away to again chase the Ginzuishou.
       Metallia seemed to swallow the lone soldier, holding her within what would be relative to a gut, attacking her again and again with energy. Venus screamed bloody murder, twisting within the black mass as her princess began to jump like her namesake through the snow. The other three soldiers threw attacks at Metallia, only to watch her swallow them whole, unfazed.
       As the crystal came within a foot of the ground, both Moon and Endymion dove forward as much as they could, hands extended. Having longer arms, the prince yelled in triumph; but the princess closed her fingers over his, both of them touching the sacred gem. The warmth flooded out from her palms as the Ginzuishou, again possessing the life she had relinquished to keep her prince safe, radiated its power once more.
       But instead of releasing Endymion from his bondage, he slapped her away, keeping the crystal within his hand. Before she could react she felt the blast of his attack against her chest, flinging her straight up into the air. As she fell back down, she saw her allies given the same treatment in a stronger increment, Venus thrown across the way like a bat to bring them all down in a heap of painful, twisted limbs. She herself hit the snow hard, the cold just as shocking as the sudden pain shooting up her arm.
       "You can't defeat the Dark Kingdom, sailor soldiers," Endymion crowed, lifting his hand. Dark energy spiraled from his palm as Metallia settled around his body, cloaking him in her essence as they both laughed. His eyes, still the same dense black, stared his princess down as she began to cry.
       "Serenity….mama…I can't do this, I don't have the strength…! Mamo-chan, was this our true destiny?!"
       Behind her, Venus slowly stood, unsteady on a twisted ankle and badly bruised right leg. "We have our ways, Earthen prince," she said, her voice graven and scratchy. The sword, forgotten in the Crown, appeared in her hand, and by the way she clutched it, it was still too heavy for her untrained arms to wield properly. But she gripped it with both hands, swinging it around as she tried to leap above the snow and at the dark-haired prince.
       "You possess a strong spirit, Venus. If only I could say the same of your princess!" he sneered, flicking his attack into her hard enough to slam her back.
       "We would all die for her, can you say the same for your convictions?" Mars taunted, holding her hands out. The chant she rapidly ran through was intelligible to her allies, but the results her obvious as a ball of energy formed. "Akuryou Taisan!" she finished, banishing the darkness as she aimed her attack at Metallia.
       It was absorbed as the others had been, returned times ten.
       Endymion was laughing cruelly, the glow of the Ginzuishou visible between his fingers. His amusement never faltered, even as Sailor Moon lifted the heavy sword from where it had fallen, locking her knees to hold herself steady. With her friends fallen and badly injured, they couldn't stop her as she slogged through the snow one more time, dragging the sword with her. "Mamo-chan, I can't watch you do this anymore….I can't allow this evil!"
       "And what will you do, little princess?" He sneered, holding his arms out. "Will you cry and attempt to reach the 'goodness' in my heart?"
       "Iie."
       She stepped forward suddenly, swinging the blade around like a baseball bat. Nothing happened, as he simply laughed at her clumsy attack.
       Then the blood gushed out from the slit in his stomach, blinding her.
       Everything between them turned red as the blood poured down his legs and into the snow, and his expression twisted into shock. "Perhaps this was always my only option, Mamo-chan, and in our next lives, we will be truly happy," she whispered.
       "You can purge the evil, Usagi-chan, you know you can!" Jupiter cried, as shocked as the others at their friend's sudden violence, but inwardly relieved. Without a vessel or a puppet, Metallia would be more defenseless, easier to attack.
       But the odango-haired blonde didn't plan it that way, and as Endymion leaned forward, caught in the act of falling, she pressed her mouth to his. It was a loving, lingering kiss, and as she closed her eyes, his opened wide to reveal white within white, solid black turned to solid white. Blind, but cleansed.
       She smiled gratefully, and lifted the sword with one last surge of tired muscles to shove it with all of her might into her yielding stomach.