Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Redemption ❯ Thunderstruck ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

THUNDERSTRUCK


*Thump, thump, thump, thump...*

The sounds of rapid footfalls on the sidewalk seemed
unusually loud, adding a rhythm to the urgency of the
moment. Her long legs eating up the distance with each
jogging stride, her topknot ponytail of brunette hair
swaying with each step, Lita's mind focused on one thing:
there must have been another attack. Perhaps even now,
another one of them was robbed of her powers.

Guilt tore at her, yet she knew she was partially in the
right. After all, she had confirmed two things: Nathan
Stanford had once been the Negaverse general known as
Nephrite *and* he wasn't involved in the attacks on the
Senshi. Not only that, but he seemed to know about the man
that *was* involved.

She loped across an intersection, there being virtually no
traffic at all on the night-shrouded, residential street.
Looking ahead, she saw the local cemetery, and frowned at
the reminder. Zoisite was out there, somewhere, somehow
back from the dead to plague them once again. It was here on
the grounds of this very same place that the vicious little
general had attempted to take the Orange Rainbow Crystal
from the priest and had attacked Molly. Lita remembered the
cemetery well, having been the only Scout willing to come to
Serena's aid at that time. It was a slightly creepy place,
filled with old, elaborate headstones; on a night like this,
she could almost believe that a ghost or three haunted it as
well.

A wrought-iron fence enclosed the grounds, standing about
four-foot high save for the posts which rose about half a
foot taller. Topped off by small spheres instead of
dangerous points, the black metal fence was more of a polite
reminder that the land within was holy ground than it was
intended to keep people out. This was even more apparent by
the fact that at the corner that abutted the intersection, a
rose-covered gazebo made something of an open gateway for
foot traffic to step into the cemetery from the street.

Emerald eyes focused on the flower-adorned entrance, Lita
swallowed hard and veered toward the gazebo. *So what if
it's a creepy place and it's dark out? You've got to get to
the temple in a hurry, Lita,* the brunette teen told
herself, gathering up her determination and courage. Taking
a path through the cemetery would certainly shorten her
time. A second more and she was past the point of no return;
as she had done months ago but under very different
circumstances, the tall, athletic girl dashed and weaved her
way among the various headstones, memorials and statues that
littered the sacred precincts of the cemetery grounds.

Back out at the residential street, another figure jogged
down the sidewalk, waiting for a lone car to drive by before
darting across the street. Jade-green eyes remaining focused
on the wooden structure ahead, the moonlight making the
roses covering it seemingly glow with a pale light -- they
were white, the color of death, he noted -- Nathan continued
following the fleeing girl. He *owed* her; maybe helping
her out with whatever problem it was she was having would be
a start toward paying her back for what he had done to her
at the end of the Silver Millennium. Trying not to lose
sight of her among the many memorials there in the
graveyard, the athletic boy picked a path through the graves
that would at least keep up with the running brunette.

She always did like cherry trees, though it was Kunzite's
love of the falling petals that had inspired her to shift
her feminine form's teleport field to display a flurry of
the pretty things. Sitting perched up on a sturdy branch of
a cherry tree -- one of many surrounding a small fountain in
the center of the old cemetery -- Zoisite gleefully smiled a
predatory grin as her violet-blue gaze followed the progress
of the running girl. *Just a matter of moments and I'll bag
myself that *child* that dared punch me in the face...* The
Water Warrior couldn't help but feel thrilled at the
concept.

Waiting for the tall brunette jogging down the gravel path
to pass under her, Zoisite gracefully stood, balancing
herself easily on the gently swaying branch. This was going
to be so easy...

The boy was proving to be something of an annoyance, but in
a good way, Sonya decided. Apparently whatever had happened
to him hadn't robbed him of a thousand years of experience,
though she could tell that he wasn't even seriously
considering the possibility that he was being followed. She
smiled to herself at that; she didn't want him to know just
yet that he was.

If she had still been unsure, she wouldn't be now. In just
watching him as he ran after the girl that had been
interrogating him, Sonya could see so many little mannerisms
in the youth that gave him away to one that had known him
intimately. The way he moved, the manner in which he paused
for a moment to regain his bearings, the characteristic tilt
of his head as he watched his quarry before running after
her again -- all of them bespoke of the man he had been in
the Negaverse's control. That he seemed to be free of that
dark control only further heightened her internal elation.

Leaning back against the corner of a residence, antique-gold
eyes narrowed slightly as she observed her target dash
through the plant-enshrouded gazebo, her mood deflating a
bit. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that
she was watching her precious Nephrite -- young and
defenseless now -- plunge back into the endless night of
that unforgiving realm. *No, I won't let that happen again,*
Sonya grimly thought. *I won't let anything mess with him
anymore.*

Antique-gold eyes filled with a determined light, the
black-clad redhead pushed herself away from the house's
siding and crossed the road in an easy, graceful lope. No
way was she going to lose sight of him a second time.

*Three... Two... One...* Violet-blue eyes narrowed in
concentration as each running step took the ponytailed girl
just that much closer to where Zoisite waited. *Now!* The
Western Commander stepped off the cherry tree branch and
into the air, revealing herself to her prey with a mocking
laugh.

"*Zoisite*!" Lita hissed, instantly recognizing that sound.
Looking up into the night sky, her forest green eyes grew
wide as sight confirmed what sound and Raye had told her.
The golden-blond Negaverse *witch* was back, though Lita
instantly noticed that her foe wasn't wearing the expected
gray uniform. Still, that wasn't a detail to be dwelling on.
No, she had to get under cover and transform so that she
could kick the floating woman's skinny little butt. No way
was she going to go down without a fight.

"Well, well, what *do* we have here?" Zoisite purred, a
smirk on her pretty face. "Guess what, Senshi? *Now* I have
time to play with little girls." Her face suddenly taking on
a furious expression, the ponytailed Gemlord raised her hand
and pointed at her target in a characteristic gesture.
"*Zoi*!"

*Figures the little sneak would do something like that,* the
athletic brunette thought to herself as a burst of energy
and a leap to the side kept her from being blasted by the
telekinetic wind and cherry blossom assault. Already well
aware of the other woman's knowledge that she was one of the
Scouts, Lita fumbled around in her pocket for her
transformation pen. A quick glance upward showed the
teenager that Zoisite was preparing for another attack.
"I'll show you, Negadweeb!" she shouted as she held the gold
topped green pen high.

"No, I think I'd rather show *you*!" the slender Gemlord
retorted, gliding down fast, feet first. Hovering in the
air, Zoisite aimed and kicked out with a violet-blue boot,
connecting with the pen.

Lita gasped, feeling her hold on her transformational item
broken. A swift look was all she needed to see the Jupiter
pen fall to the ground a few paces away. Furious, she leapt
upward, latched onto Zoisite's slender leg and let gravity
pull the two of them back down.

Utterly shocked, the Water Warrior let out a shriek of
surprise and indignation as she felt herself be yanked down.
"Let *go*, you Terran brute!"

"Oh, I'll let go, all right. I'll let you go right into the
ground!" Lita shot back, bracing herself the moment her feet
were firmly on the earth again. Using her foe's momentum to
advantage, the tall brunette executed a flawless flip, one
that slammed Zoisite straight into the gravel at Lita's
feet.

*What in the name of the Cosmos... ?* Nathan thought to
himself, hearing feminine shouting up ahead. Redoubling his
efforts, he ran between graves and headstones. *Sounds like
Lita might be in trouble! I need to help her!*

The blue-clad Gemlord's slender body bounced off the
unforgiving land before coming to rest against the gravel
pathway. Ignoring the pain and trying to shake off the
slightly stunned sensation that filled her, Zoisite rolled
over and pointed a hand in the direction she could feel her
foe's psychic presence. Again she shouted her cry; this time
the telekinetic blast was filled with cherry petals that
morphed into deadly little shards of ice.

Once more Lita had been expecting something like that. Seems
as if having being dead didn't change Zoisite's tactics much
at all. Leaping to the side -- unfortunately in a direction
that took her away from the Jupiter pen lying there
glittering in the grass -- the tall Senshi growled under her
breath, then covered the distance between herself and the
downed warrioress in a couple of long-limbed strides. Even
as the golden-blonde woman was attempting to get back to her
feet, Lita tossed a punch that took Zoisite straight in the
gut. With a *whoof* of suddenly-lost breath, the slender
Western Commander ended up a doubled-up heap of gold and
violet-blue on the ground once more. Hoping she had enough
time before Zoisite recovered to grab her pen and transform,
Lita planted her foot to come to a sudden stop, then spun
and ran in the opposite direction. *Have to get my pen and
finish the job on her...*

Nathan skidded to a halt, jade-green eyes wide in amazement.
To his left, the familiar figure of the Water Warrior--now
dressed in what appeared to be ordinary, everyday Lithosian
clothing -- was pulling herself up from being a heap on the
ground, while to his right, he could see Lita running up to
a certain spot and then dropping to her knees, obviously
looking for something. *Cosmos! Lord Obsidian must have
given the order for an attack on Jupiter.*

By all rights, he should be dashing in to help his fellow
Elemental. Nathan rejected that idea on the spot. He wasn't
a Gemlord now, merely a human, and his quest to redeem
himself was more important than anything else. Despite it
being the Guardian of Space himself that was ordering this,
it was wrong -- and not like the Lord Obsidian that he'd
long known.

Even as the auburn haired boy continued to watch the
altercation from a short distance away, Zoisite got shakily
to her feet, a low growl sounding from her. The Senshi was
over there, on her hands and knees, probably looking for her
transformation pen. "You're going to *pay* for that," the
furious Gemlord muttered to herself, calling to her hand a
wicked-looking sword formed of an ice crystal. Silent and
deadly, Zoisite leapt into action, running toward the
brunette girl.

"Lita! Look out!" Nathan took off in a shot, dashing forward
in trajectory that would take him to the ponytailed human.

Gasping in surprise at the new voice, Lita looked up, then
froze in momentary shock, seeing Zoisite sprinting toward
her with a coldly glittering sword in hand.

"I've got you now, Terran!" the Western Commander shouted,
too intent on her prey to see the other person closing the
distance from the side. Bracing herself and lunging forward,
Zoisite was determined to skewer the Senshi, but in a
non-vital spot. She knew Lord Obsidian wouldn't be overly
forgiving if she should happen to kill the key he needed to
get into the sacred chamber of Io Castle.

"*No*!" The shout was a long, drawn-out sound of desperation
issued by a male voice. Lita closed her eyes and turned her
head, bracing, expecting to feel the searing pain from the
sword. Zoisite felt the blade connect with flesh, the force
of the strike shuddering up her arm, then grate against
bone, the sudden weight added to her weapon almost making
her lose her hold. Startled at hearing a boy's voice, the
Water Warrior looked down the length of her ice crystal --
and into a pair of pain-filled, jade-green eyes. A shudder
ran through her as she felt her Elemental powers stirring,
reaching out, making a connection to this auburn-haired
human transfixed on her sword. To her utter astonishment,
Zoisite watched as a green square mystically glowed on the
center of the youth's forehead, and she knew without looking
that the tanzanite in the center of her circlet was
responding with the blue triangle in its depths.

*So that's what happened to Nephrite...*

She was only a step or two away from the gazebo when she
heard the desperate shout; the fact that it was the boy's
voice spurred her like nothing else could. Sonya crossed the
floor of the gazebo in a few quick strides, emerging into
the open air again just in time to see Nathan take the
strike that had been meant for Lita.

*No!* Her own cry was internalized, yet no softer or less
desperate than the boy's. After so long, the habit of
silence was ingrained in her, even in a situation like this;
such a cry would only warn her enemy.

It didn't hurt as much as he had thought it would. The youma
thorns had been far worse than this. Even so, sweat beaded
on Nathan's forehead as he stared back at the obviously
shocked Gemlord. The ice crystal sword, as deadly as ever he
silently noted, at least numbed out some of the pain from
the sheer coldness of the blade sticking completely through
his left shoulder. Strangely enough, he also noted that his
hands were cold. He must be grabbing the sword...

*Oh God, he's hurt,* was all that Lita's mind could focus
on. Startled by the turn of events, she continued to kneel
dumbfounded in the grass to the side of the gravel pathway,
her transformation pen momentarily forgotten.

She recognized Zoisite instantly, of course. She had hated
the spoiled blonde general before, but that hate doubled at
the sight of the other woman's ice blade sunk into the
auburn haired boy. Sonya's mouth went dry and her gut
clenched with the sheer force of her rage.

*Nephrite,* the Western Commander's mind repeated, and with
the name came the memories. Thousands of years of listening
to the stargazing Earth Warrior telling her that she was too
young or too inexperienced to take on a task or a mission,
the knowledge that he had tried to convince Kunzite to delay
accepting her into the Elemental Guard because of her youth,
the many times in the training arena he had turned cold and
callous, pushing her beyond her limits. Nephrite had
*always* disliked her, from the very beginning, and that
animosity had turned vicious in the Negaverse. The hatred
came flooding back, and Zoisite's expression swiftly turned
to one of cold fury and triumph. *Looks like I'll be able to
dish out twice the payback...*

Her approach was silent and inhumanly fast; the tableau
still hadn't broken -- Zoisite staring at Nathan, who
clutched at the sword through him, while Lita, kneeling on
the grass, stared in shock -- by the time she was within
range. The only warning she gave was a faint snarl, a sound
that could easily be lost in the wind that sighed among the
tombstones.

Sonya's leaping kick landed perfectly, her heel taking the
slender warrior in the solar plexus, throwing the smaller
woman back. Zoisite managed to retain her grip on the ice
sword, but the force of the blow along with the sudden loss
of focus caused the blade to weaken. With a resounding
*crack*, the crystal broke in two, part of it remaining in
Zoisite's grip and the other part still impaled through the
auburn haired boy's shoulder. Nathan screamed in agony as
the torque against the breaking weapon stretched out the
through and through wound, making the bones of his shoulder
girdle grind against one another. Suddenly on the verge of
fainting, the youth staggered to the side. Next to him,
Sonya landed and whirled to catch him before he could fall.

The way she held him wasn't like a simple rescuer supporting
a victim; it was unmistakably the manner in which a lover
holds the beloved one. That was the one thing Lita
immediately noticed as she scrambled to her feet, broken
from her shock by the abrupt attack against her assailant
and Nathan's ungodly cry.

"Take him and get out of here," Sonya snapped at the
brunette girl. "I'll take care of *her*."

"Just a minute--" Lita started, frowning, instantly annoyed
by the imperious tone barked at her by the redheaded
stranger.

"Do as I say!" the black-clad woman roared in reply. It was
so hard to make herself do it, but she released Nathan,
letting the teenaged girl take hold of him.

"I need my--" Lita tried again.

*Cosmos... Got to get... Senshi...* Zoisite groaned, shaking
off the effects of the blow from seemingly nowhere. Obsidian
was going to be so *angry*. Keeping her mission foremost in
her mind, doing her best to just *ignore* the pain wracking
her petite form, the Western Commander gathered herself up
and rose from being a heap on the ground for the third time
that night.

Sonya glanced once at the blonde woman, who was struggling
to her feet, then flicked her gaze to the grass around Lita,
Nathan and herself. A glint of green and gold caught her
eye; she snagged the small object with the toe of one soft
boot and kicked it unerringly up to her hand. Shoving it at
Lita, she growled to the girl, "Here! Now *go*!"

The ponytailed brunette took one look at the stranger's
fierce, dragon-like eyes and decided not to argue with the
formidable-appearing woman, especially not with a wounded
Nathan in her grasp. A Scout's job was to protect those that
couldn't protect themselves, and whatever the auburn haired
youth had been before, he didn't look very capable at the
moment. "You got it," Lita acknowledged, tugging on Nathan
while she took a couple of steps back, preparing to make a
swift retreat. Her plan at the moment was to get the wounded
boy to safety, then transform and help the other take on
Zoisite.

Seeing the girl start to leave with Nathan, the redheaded
warrioress turned her full attention to the one that started
this entire mess. She was going to make Zoisite pay *dearly*
for what she did to the boy. However, Sonya only had enough
time to get her sights focused on her prey -- the slender
blonde was standing now, swaying just a bit and trying to
concentrate again -- before a sudden blow from out of the
blue struck Sonya full in the back hard enough to shove the
redhead into a nearby memorial. Even the black-clad woman's
extraordinarily tough body had a hard time shaking off the
effects of being slammed face first into the cold,
unforgiving and unyielding marble tombstone. She bounced
off the stone and fell heavily to the ground.

"Zoisite! Get the Senshi! *Now*!" came a shout from behind
where Sonya had been standing. The new voice was deep,
masculine, commanding.

Heart leaping into her throat, the Water Warrior looked over
at the source of the order, newfound hope rising up within
her. *Kunzite!* Gracefully spinning on a dainty, booted
foot, the ponytailed Gemlord rushed after the fleeing pair
as well as she could. Letting go of the energy used to keep
her broken ice sword manifested, Zoisite redoubled her
efforts to catch up to the Senshi, still too rattled to
effectively teleport.

As the one half of the crystal blade disappeared into thin
air, the other half did as well. Nathan gasped as the cold
hardness stabbed through his shoulder faded away; though the
pain lessened as the tortured bone and flesh could return to
their normal positions, he could now feel the slide of his
warm blood dripping down both front and back at an alarming
rate.

The Fire Warrior stood perched atop a tall memorial, hands
held at the ready to let loose another devastating
telekinetic blast, white cape and silver-blond hair ruffled
by the gentle night breeze that blew among the graves. Pale
lavender eyes narrowed wolfishly as he watched the one that
attacked Zoisite start to recover from his blast.

Sonya feigned a dazed sluggishness, pushing herself slowly
up with one hand and shaking her head. She caught sight of
something in the grass next to her -- the top corner of the
weathered marble tombstone, probably snapped off from the
violent impact of her inhuman body. Her eyes flicked
sideways, toward her assailant, and then narrowed coldly as
she recognized Kunzite and the aggressive stance he held.
With a loud groan that suggested she'd been hurt
considerably by the attack, Sonya brought her other hand up
to support her -- and curled her fingers around the chunk of
marble. Its weight was comforting.

She timed it well, as usual. She waited for a few seconds
longer -- a length of time that, combined with her pretense
of injury, was just enough to make Kunzite flick his
pale-lavender gaze away to reassure himself that the other
Gemlord was running off in the direction Lita had gone with
Nathan. Then Sonya's lithe, athletic body snapped around, an
arm hurling the stone in the same motion, directly at
Kunzite's head.

The tall man reacted just as quickly as Sonya remembered he
should; his telekinetic blast engulfed the stone, reducing
it to bits of gravel. He reoriented swiftly on her, but she
was already on her feet and taking action, a liquid rush of
movement. There was a single gleam of light from around her
hands as she came within two steps of the marble obelisk
upon which Kunzite stood.

The silver rings on her fingers, and the bracelets and
chains joined to them, changed. Instead of the simple
jewelry, Sonya now wore a pair of gauntlets formed by a band
passing around the palms of her hands and her arms just
above the wrist, with narrow, flexible ribs connecting the
two bands. The skeletal gauntlets supported a set of four
curving talons, made from no Terran metal, that arched out
over her fingers.

Those metallic claws cut through the slender spire of marble
like hot knives through butter; then she grabbed the stone
rod and thrust upward before Kunzite could teleport or
levitate himself out of range. With vicious accuracy, she
aimed to strike him in the location where Gemlord males,
like human males, were exceedingly vulnerable.

Running for all she was worth, practically dragging the hurt
and weakening boy with her, Lita made her way toward the
other side of the cemetery. A swift look at Nathan's pale
face, stark in the silvery light of the moon, was enough to
make her realize that she might not be able to get him to
safety after all. "Come *on*, Nephrite. Keep going. Just a
little farther . . ." the brunette teen encouraged, though
her expression remained grim. *What am I going to do? The
nearest hospital's too far away to run there...*

The redheaded woman's thrust hit true; the Southern
Commander dropped very inelegantly from his perch to hit the
ground hard, hands clutched protectively over his crotch
while writhing in agony. Regardless of the obvious hurt,
Sonya knew better. Kunzite's one tough bastard; she couldn't
count on even *that* stopping him for too long. All she
really needed, however, was *long enough*.

Racing after Zoisite on silent feet, she was determined to
keep the little brat occupied in order to facilitate Lita's
escape with Nathan. Sonya *could* have simply taken him to
safety herself and abandoned the girl to whatever Zoisite
planned for her, but despite everything -- the destruction
of her home, the time in the Negaverse, the soul-numbing
pain of loss, and the years spent here on Terra -- the
red-haired woman still felt the sting of honor, the need for
justice, the urge to protect the helpless.

Whatever Zoisite was up to, Sonya was going to see to it
that the brat didn't get it.

*********************************

Garnet leaned back against the cool stone wall, wondering
just what to do now. Much as he wanted to rush in there and
ask his *friend* just what the hell was he doing, something
about the Guardian of Space's body language warned him off.
There was something just not quite right with Lord Obsidian,
and until he could figure out what that something could be,
the redheaded spy would need to tread carefully. Sighing
almost soundlessly, he ran the fingers of a hand through his
wine red colored hair. Steeling himself, he leaned forward
again, once more letting his violet gaze peer out into the
sacred Hall of the Mirror.

Seemingly lost in his own world, Obsidian turned away from
the Mirror's disconcertingly reflective surface and slowly
made his way over to that long, low table that had become
some sort of a focus for the attentions of the few Gemlords
Garnet knew were alive.

*What is he doing now?* the young male asked himself,
keeping his cloaking ability tight around his presence. As
far as any of them knew, he was still sleeping; it would be
to his advantage at the moment to have Obsidian continue to
assume that. *And just what is on that table, anyway?*

He'd noticed it, just in passing, however, when he had come
roaring off the three-stepped dais and lit into the elegant
Fire Warrior for all those long years of pain and suffering
brought about by the Negaverse. That Zoisite had been
prompted to usher him off swiftly after that hadn't given
Garnet enough time to figure out what was going on over
there. Now, however, his curiosity came to the fore as he
watched the dark lord take up a position next to the piece
of furniture and stare down at what must be its top.

Obsidian reached down, picking something up. For a moment,
the spy couldn't make out what it was -- then he wished he
hadn't been able to realize what the object was that his
lord was holding.

A soulstone.

Garnet felt a sudden, queasy lurch in his stomach. The
Guardian of Space was holding the forlorn remains of some
hapless, dead Gemlord, staring at it as if it somehow held
the answer to something. Were they all there? Is that why
Kunzite had been so focused on that low table when he'd come
blithely through the Mirror, not sure what he'd find?

It seemed a particularly sad, pathetic fate for the proud
race that had spent so long helping their lord watch over
the Balance of the Cosmos.

With a faint sound of rustling cloth, the dark haired
Guardian walked away from the disconcerting display, taking
a couple of steps toward the Mirror. Closing his eyes,
Obsidian cupped his hands around the grayish-yellow stone.
It was time to bring in the next player even as the other
two were out gathering the key needed to get the Emerald of
Forests.

At the entryway on the opposite side of the circular Hall,
Garnet watched in fascination as the black-clad lord of the
Tower obviously concentrated on the soulstone cupped
carefully in his hands. The sensation of power tingled on
the very edges of the spy's awareness as the seconds ticked
by, the atmosphere in the round chamber becoming steadily
heavier.

Then, suddenly, the power was gone; the surrounding air
abruptly lighter.

Even as the unobserved watcher blinked his violet eyes in
surprise, Obsidian's voice grumbled, breaking the silence of
the Hall. "Damn."

Still cloaked by his aura of concealment, the spy's violet
eyes stayed focused on Lord Obsidian as the Guardian of
Space apparently thought over his options. Whatever he had
been trying to do to the pathetic remains of one of their
people, it apparently hadn't worked out, judging from the
older Gemlord's reaction.

"Not quite enough power..." Obsidian slowly turned, hand
holding the dead soulstone coming up to rest against his
chest over his heart. At first gazing sadly at the mystic
Mirror, he then shook his head slightly. "A development not
anticipated. Forgive me."

He crossed the remaining distance between himself and the
Vortex Mirror, then lovingly caressed the smooth, glassy
surface of the Symbol of Space, the one hand clutching the
gray jewel remaining against his breast. "I didn't realize
pulling you into the Vortex itself would insulate you so
much from gathering energy. So slow..."

Obsidian's quiet soliloquy abruptly broke off. To Garnet,
continuing to watch from the shelter of the vestibule across
the Hall from the dais, it looked as if he ruler had just
thought of something. The dark lord's expression was
clearly visible in the uncannily reflective surface of the
Symbol he served.

"Ah, yes... The Senshi..."

Dark eyes narrowing in an almost predatory gaze, Obsidian's
gold-trimmed sable cloak flared out slightly as he suddenly
whirled to stare at the vitreous prison in which he'd
trapped Sailor Andromeda. "Just as I and mine are agents of
Matter, so are the Senshi agents of Energy. With the whole
of a galaxy to draw from..."

Hand still clutching the yellow-toned, dead-gray stone, the
regal Gemlord stalked over to the crystal of glass the color
of deepest green. Holding out his free hand, the golden
signet ring -- the seal of his office as the Guardian of
Space -- glittering coolly in the light of the illumination
crystals, Obsidian laid a palm against the room-warmed
glass. Bowing his head, he seemed once again lost in
concentration -- but only for a moment.

The chuckle voiced by his lord made the hairs on the back of
Garnet's neck rise. Continuing to gaze upon the unfolding
scene in slight, but ever increasing horror, the redheaded
sneak soundlessly gasped as he realized just *what* his
friend was doing.

*It can't be... He wouldn't stoop to that...* But he was.
Lord Obsidian was acting no better than some blood-sucking,
Chaos-spawned vampire.

Glittering-yellow light began to glow, surrounding the
glassy prison, gathering around the Guardian's tall form,
but concentrating mostly near the hand pressed against the
crystal's side. The sensation of ambient energy filling the
Hall returned, making the atmosphere feel charged and heavy
to Garnet's Gemlord senses.

It seemed like an eternity to the psionically-cloaked and
concealed spy as he witnessed the entire process. By the
time the Lord of Lithos stepped away from the hapless
Senshi's glass prison, the light was all but gone from the
deep green crystal. Conversely, the gleam around Obsidian's
hand was bright, lighting up the entire Hall like a
miniature sun. Garnet was forced to shield his eyes against
the glare, even as the dark lord knelt down on the
Zodiac-adorned carpet and reverently set the soulstone down
before him. The bright light was suddenly extinguished as
Obsidian pressed his glowing hand against the dead, gray
jewel, forcing the ill-gotten energy into the stone.

A new light began to shine, one from deep within the forlorn
soulstone, one that was a deeper, more orange color than the
bright, sunlight-yellow energy stolen from Sailor Andromeda.
As Obsidian rose to his feet and stepped back, his cloaked
body casting something of a sinister shadow across the
carpeted floor, that new light began to pulse with the
rhythm of a heartbeat, growing in intensity.

Garnet's violet eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly
understood what he was seeing. One more of the fallen
Lithosians was being brought back to life, his or her
crystallized pattern being energized with enough power to
wink back into full existence. This then is what had been
done to Kunzite and Zoisite. Looking at the hue of the light
being given off by the reawakening soulstone, the
intelligent spy was sure he knew who Lord Obsidian had
chosen to resurrect this time.

*Jadeite...*

The pulsing, golden-orange light finally reached a brilliant
crescendo then abruptly winked out. The effect on the
concealed Gemlord's eyes was something analogous to the
sudden, drastic silence immediately following an
overwhelming cacophony. In the apparent darkness, a figure
lay on the Zodiac-decorated carpet, clad in the clothing of
an ordinary citizen of Lithos. Garnet immediately noticed
that the outfit was composed of shades of yellow, amber,
orange and gold.

"You never answered me, my lord..." The new voice was low,
cracking and rough-sounding from apparent disuse.

"I'm willing to forgive, so long as you obey me from this
moment on," Obsidian responded, dark eyes remaining fastened
upon the newly resurrected Eastern Commander of Air.

The figure lying on the floor stirred, pulling himself up
slowly to finally come to rest in a sitting position.
Athletic torso covered by a golden yellow tunic trimmed in
metallic gold, a short cape made of a golden orange colored
material hanging from his shoulders where it was pinned to
the tunic by a pair of twin brooches made of yellow-orange
jade cabochons set in yellow gold, and his legs clothed in
golden yellow trousers tucked into knee-high, brown leather
boots, Jadeite made for a less menacing image at the moment
than the last time Garnet had ever seen him. Reaching up to
rub his amber-colored eyes, the golden circlet adorned with
a yellow-orange jadeite cabochon glittered underneath his
blond, relatively short-cropped, wavy hair, the Eastern
Commander made a soft, groaning sound. "I'm eternally
grateful to you for ending my punishment at Beryl's hands."

"If I didn't *need* you so much, I would have been very
tempted to leave you that way," the Guardian of Space
replied.

Jadeite immediately froze, then looked to the dark-clad Lord
of Lithos, his own face virtually an expressionless mask.

Frowning to himself, Garnet carefully shifted his weight,
his curiosity keeping him in place and observing the
exchange. This sure didn't *sound* at all like the Obsidian
he'd known so well. If anything, the Guardian of Space
tended to be possessive about those under his rulership.
That he'd actually think of leaving one of the Gemlords
behind in the cold embrace of the Negaverse seemed very,
very wrong. Witness the long centuries of silent agony
Obsidian endured -- *still endures, like I do,* Garnet told
himself, refusing to believe that *he* could have given up
on ever locating the missing Tanzanite -- with one of his
precious Gemlords seemingly gone without a trace.

Before the cold hollowness could once more settle within the
redheaded spy's heart, the dark lord's next words caught
Garnet's attention. "Go get some rest, Commander. The
resurrection will swiftly make itself known. I'll need your
sharp mind in clear focus so that you can find something for
me."

"Find something, my lord?" Jadeite echoed, an expression of
sudden curiosity on his handsome face.

"Yes. You'll need the power and database of the Record for
what I have in mind. You are one of the best when it comes
to computerized systems. I have need of that skill."

"It shall be my pleasure, my lord," the Warrior of Air
responded. "By your leave?"

"Of course. I will call you when I need you to begin your
search," Obsidian replied, turning his attention back toward
the shimmeringly reflective surface of the Vortex Mirror.

The salute came swiftly and easily to Jadeite. Fist clasped
over his heart, he bowed slightly in the direction of the
tall, black and deep-green clad figure, then turned away.
Marching off in a crisp, efficient stride, the blond Gemlord
took about two steps before his athletic form faded away in
the midst of an orangish-amber glow.

As Garnet continued to watch, Obsidian frowned darkly at his
own reflection in the Symbol of Space. "Well, seems as if
West and South have run into a little trouble. If you want
something done, I swear..." Muttering that to himself, the
Lord of Lithos held out a hand toward the glimmering Mirror,
then stepped through, the surface giving way like a pool of
black water.

*********************************

His body was failing, slowly but surely. He'd felt this
before, this sense of lightheadedness, of feeling his energy
fading away, but almost always it had been from the
perspective of an observer. He probably should be more
alarmed than he was, sensing his life trickling away for a
second time, but at the moment, Nephrite had other things on
his mind.

Zoisite was closing in.

"Get back here, you Terran brat!" the Water Warrior's shrill
voice called out.

Lita gritted her teeth, hazarding a glance at the boy
struggling along next to her. *He's not going to make it,
not at this rate,* the ponytailed teen told herself. *Gonna
need to transform.* "Nephrite, this isn't going to work!
Wait a minute!"

"Huh?" The auburn haired boy stopped in his tracks, pale
face turned toward her.

The tall girl winced, noticing just *how much* blood stained
the other teen's now-ruined, once-expensive shirt. The
ruddy crimson covered an alarmingly large area.

*Good. Just hold still for a bit longer...* Zoisite leapt up
into the air, golden ponytail swirling around her shoulders,
her violet-blue eyes narrowing while she raised a hand and
took careful aim.

*No! I won't let you hurt him again!* Sonya inwardly
growled, antique-gold eyes focused on the floating
miscreant. Abruptly breaking her stride, snapping her legs
together and extending her arms down and outwards -- to hell
with hiding; besides, most mundanes remained clueless due to
the nature of the magic, and at the moment, she didn't
*care* if that Negaverse witch found out -- the redheaded
woman's voice rang out in an almost exultant call -- "Draco
Celestial Spirit Ascend!"

Three gasps sounded as the words filled the air. Three
pairs of eyes -- violet-blue, jade green and forest green --
scanned the immediate area to search for the source of the
roaring shout.

Lita couldn't believe it. *Another *Scout*?* Her hand
tightening on the Jupiter pen, she knew that there was no
longer any doubt about her decision to trigger her own
transformation. There was no guarantee that the unknown
Scout would be an ally, even if she had returned the younger
girl's transformational device to her.

Zoisite outwardly snarled even as she inwardly cringed.
Visions of Lord Obsidian blasting her beloved Kunzite to a
stone then shattering the helpless gem filled her head,
pushing her into further desperation. Not only were there
witnesses and interference, one of the damned troublemakers
was another accursed Senshi!

Nephrite felt his heart leap into his throat. That *voice*!
He recognized it, even after so long; it sent a thrill of
*something* through him. *She really *is* alive! And a
Senshi as well?*

Strangely enough, part of him was suddenly outraged that she
had *dared* keep *that* a secret from *him*. He felt
utterly betrayed, but that sensation quickly faded as he
watched the awesome sight of the transformation.

A sudden burst of radiance illuminated the surrounding area
of the graveyard. A fountain of light -- gold, silver, green
-- swept upward from Sonya's feet; she raised her arms,
throwing back her head, and the light followed the motions,
fanning outward from her arms like vast wings, arching above
her raised face in a graceful, serpentine neck and wickedly
dragonish head, limning her legs with a half-coiled tail.

The ethereal shape tightened around her, its colors
changing, wrapping her in a black, skin-tight uniform; the
tail twined her calves, becoming emerald-green boots. The
wings sheathed her hands and forearms in green, overlaid by
the skeletal, clawed gauntlets of the Dragon Claws. A green
belt formed around her waist, its buckle a swirl of gold
that resembled a flame. Green pauldrons appeared on her
shoulders; a pair of heavy golden brooches set with fanglike
pieces of ivory pinned a long cloak of a similar golden hue
to the pauldrons. The dragonlike head of the radiant
apparition descended suddenly, jaws opening, seemingly about
to swallow her skull; instead, though, the light dissolved
into a golden circlet set with three ivory fangs, points
downward, the middle fang reaching a point between her
eyebrows, the other two slightly shorter.

The remainder of the brilliant aura dissipated outward in
cometlike streaks. Suddenly a lot more menacing than she'd
been before, the redheaded woman took a long, slow step
forward, a wicked smile on her face. Playtime was over, and
the *real* fight was about to begin.

The moment the draconic transformation was complete, Lita
lifted her green and gold pen up toward the sky. "Jupiter
Power!"

The glimmering astrological symbol of the planet Jupiter
formed within the verdant orb at the apex of the
transformational device then began to spin in the depths of
the sphere. Lifting a leg by bending her knee and thrusting
out her free hand as if to ward off anyone who would come
too close, the tall, athletic girl's form began to spin as
well while bolts of silvery lightning erupted from the small
emerald globe to swirl around her. Forming a sphere of
three whirling rings of electrical energy around her, they
momentarily looked something like a map of an atom,
electrons rotating in an orbit around the core of proton and
neutron before collapsing in around her as her body
continued to turn. The crackling energy began to solidify
against her, turning into her Scout uniform from the feet
up. Dark green ankle boots, a white bodysuit decorated with
a forest green ruffled miniskirt and sailor-like kerchief,
the bows at chest and back being a sugary pink color,
elbow-length white gloves lined with forest green and a
cloth choker of the same verdant hue made up the Energetic
Warrior's Sailor Scout outfit.

Antique-gold eyes scanned over the scene, narrowed in a
predatory glare. Noting the brunette kid taking a stance,
it was all Draco could do to suppress a growl that
threatened to well up from the depths of her chest.

Hand still clasped to the entry wound in his shoulder, his
palm slick with his warm, still-flowing blood, Nephrite
turned pain-filled, jade green eyes to stare at the figure
of a warrior he'd not seen for centuries. Even as he
blinked and Jupiter opened her mouth to say something, there
was a momentary flash of a memory, of seeing the graceful
and noble Princess Jupiter in her sailorfuku firing up at
the manifestation of the Negaforce with her most basic
power, only to be blasted into oblivion like she was simply
little more than an irritating insect.

*He'd* made that possible. At the time, the death of the
Senshi hadn't touched him at all. Now, seeing her again, an
intense sense of guilt and regret tore at him deeper than
the pain of the wound through his shoulder.

He couldn't let anything else happen to her, not now. He
needed to redeem himself.

"In the name of--" the ponytailed girl began to yell, her
body held in an emphatic, aggressive stance.

"Shut the hell *up* and get him out of here!" Draco shouted
as the other Senshi began to spout out some sort of pathetic
nonsense. "I've got Zoisite!"

"Like hell you do! *Zoi*!" Throwing both hands forward, the
Water Warrior released a frantic blast of telekinetic wind
and cherry blossom petals -- petals that almost instantly
transformed into razor-sharp ice crystals.

A low growl sounding in her throat, Sailor Draco leapt
backwards, away from the glittering, knife-edged rain. Even
with her strong, dense musculature and the planet's lighter
gravitational field, she wasn't quite fast enough. A few of
the little brat's shards struck her, ripping slashes into
skin and black bodysuit alike, tinging off the golden
pauldrons on her shoulders and lacerating her cheek.

Jumping lightly at the harsh command of the strange Scout,
Jupiter decided not to argue with the other Sailor.
Scooping up the steadily weakening boy, she breathlessly
ordered him to hang on. "Need to get you to the nearest
hospital, Nathan," she added as the auburn-haired youth
curled his good arm around her neck.

He really couldn't argue with that. Already he was feeling
light-headed and a detached part of himself was silently
noting that it wouldn't be much longer before he lost
consciousness. Doing his best not to hinder the Senshi as
she carried him, he closed his eyes as Sailor Jupiter began
to run through the cemetery with him.

A dangerous light gleaming in her eyes, Draco watched her
prey carefully while the sound of running boots distracted
the levitating little brat. Zoisite's head was turned
slightly, a look of shock on the exquisite features framed
by that floating cloud of golden-blond hair. Reaching up to
her stinging cheek and feeling wetness against the palm of
her hand, Draco grimly smiled. *You're gonna pay for that as
well.*

"Cosmos *damn* them," Zoisite muttered, observing her target
fleeing with the human the Northern Commander had become.
"Come *back* here, damn you!" she screeched, focusing her
mind and feeling her teleportational powers flare up around
her.

Soundlessly, the redheaded warrioress jumped up into the
air, the power of her non-human body combined with Earth's
gravity giving her the ability to leap upwards an impressive
amount of height. The first few pink petals were beginning
to swirl around the blue-clad woman's slender form when the
soles of Draco's green boots connected hard against the
upper edges of Zoisite's slender shoulders. A grim smile of
triumph graced the Senshi's face as she bent her knees.
"Eat dirt, brat," she growled.

*No! This *can't* be happening to me!* the Western
Commander's stunned mind silently shrieked in that eternally
drawn-out moment before she hit the ground -- hard -- yet
again.

Pain blossomed throughout Zoisite's petite body as she was
smashed between the unyeilding earth of the graveyard and
the unforgiving mass of the dense object that had brought
her down. Through the haze of it all -- she wasn't overly
sure -- but she thought she heard a few sickening *snaps*.

She was still dazed as she felt something tugging on the
silken locks of her ponytail. Then came a vicious yank,
lifting her head off the ground--and with *that* came a new
agony as her shoulders shifted in ways they were never meant
to move. Zoisite lost what little breath she had retained
when she let loose of a tortured scream, pain totally
engulfing her awareness.

Draco dispassionately watched the play of emotions on her
prey's dirt-streaked face, waiting for the brat's shrill
outburst to die down into choked sobs. The other warrior
had to be hurting badly. From what she remembered about
their former encounters, Draco knew that the blond rat would
never willingly allow a foe to know how badly hurt she truly
was unless the pain was just too much to internalize.
"Payback's a bitch, isn't it?" the black- and green-clad
Senshi murmured while she continued to hold her downed foe's
head by the convenient handle of Zoisite's ponytail.

Despite the searing pain that continued to dominate her --
each breath was more torture -- the Water Warrior's
violet-blue eyes flew open to stare up at the unknown
Senshi. That *voice*! She'd heard that very same line
before...

Antique-gold eyes, full of a righteous fury, stared back
into the smaller female's agony-glazed eyes. "Siolan,"
Zoisite whispered, swallowing hard. By all that was holy in
the Cosmos, Nephrite's pet dragon had come back from the
dead to guard him...

"Damned straight," Draco acknowledged, roughly shoving her
downed prey's head back to the ground of the cemetery as she
turned loose of the long hair she'd held in her unrelenting
grasp. In her swift assessment, she knew that the annoying
little brat was no longer an immediate threat.

*Now for Kunzite,* she quickly reminded herself, gracefully
rising up off the apparently broken woman. Turning
slightly, she began to sweep her golden gaze over the
surrounding tombstone-scattered area. *Where is he?*

She had just enough time to see the bolt of violet-pink
energy racing toward her before it struck. Acting on pure
instinct, Draco leapt to the side, but the energy still
caught her across the knees, tossing her further sideways.
Pain lanced across her ribs as she crashed into a cold stone
monument to some probably long-dead Terran, the white and
gray-streaked marble cracking under the force of her impact.
Forcing herself to relax and go with the flow of the
momentum, the caped Senshi rolled, then scrambled back to
stand on her booted feet. Dragon-gold eyes narrowing, she
silently snarled as her gaze fell upon a tall, pale-haired
form levitating up in the air.

Pale eyes focused wolfishly on his target, Kunzite thrust
his hands forward, turning loose of another bolt of
violet-pink energy at the bodysuited warrioress. *You're
really asking for it as well, Whitey,* Draco mentally
growled as she ducked behind the marble tombstone that had
only moments before taken the force of her landing. A soft
grunt sounded as the battered stone broke and fell, striking
her across the back; for her, the piece of marble's impact
was virtually nothing. Shrugging off the stone, Draco rose
and braced herself, her feet wide apart, before pointing the
deadly Dragon Claws straight at the caped nuisance. "Draco
Raking Talons!"

The very second the final syllable of her attack phrase fell
from her lips, eight thin lasers of greenish-white light
erupted from the points of the talons affixed to the
skeletal gauntlets worn over her verdant gloves. Their
radiance cast eerie shadows across the graveyard's lawn as
they ripped their way through the air toward their intended
target.

*Oh Cosmos! Oh *Cosmos*!* Zoisite whimpered, truly
*frightened*. Sensing her beloved mentor near and hearing
the ensuing sounds of the conflict between the
dragon-blooded mercenary and the Fire Warrior, the fallen
woman had fought back the pain and had done her best to get
up and get the hell out of there to someplace safe enough to
regroup. To her absolute horror, she'd discovered that any
attempt to move her arms set off even more episodes of an
agony so great, she'd hovered a few times on the edge of
simply passing out. **Kunzite!** she mentally shrieked,
outwardly sobbing in both fear and pain. **I can't move! I
can't *move*!**

His former lover's desperate cry lanced through him.
Viciously moving a hand in a gesture of warding, Kunzite
flicked his cold gaze to the Western Commander's prostrate
form while the greenish-white lasers ineffectively needled
themselves against the surface of the translucent sphere of
violet-pink energy he'd invoked around himself as a
protective shield. The Water Warrior's shoulders were
quivering, and her violet-blue-booted feet were restlessly
dragging across the ground while her hands fisted and
unfisted themselves against the lush green lawn of the
sacred ground. But her arms themselves...

He had to get her out of there.

A bit of a self-satisfied sneer momentarily crossed the
redheaded Senshi's visage. From the grim look on Whitey's
face over there, his little bratty playtoy must've become
quite broken on impact. Though the lavender-caped warrior's
expression hadn't obviously changed, Draco hadn't spent a
thousand years studying the most powerful of the Negaverse
generals without picking up the subtle shifts of emotion
Kunzite allowed himself to show. *Good. He cares enough
about the little rat that he'll not be an immediate threat
either,* she thought, stepping behind herself. Golden eyes
remaining focused on the pale-haired man, she took another
step backwards. No way in hell was she going to turn her
back on an enemy, especially not one as potentially
dangerous as Kunzite. Even so, Nephrite remained her
priority. As frail as a human boy and sorely wounded as
well... *No! He's *alive*!* she mentally hissed. *I'd
*know* it if he died again.*

Another step back. She *had* to get to him. Had to get him
some help. She would *not* fail him again.

Draco took yet another step back, the movement of
*something* off to the right catching her immediate
attention. A shimmer of deepest-green light suddenly faded
into view, bringing with it a figure almost as tall as the
pale-haired man she'd been keeping an eye on.

Darkness, as deep and as black as space itself, seemed to be
the newcomer's motif. He wore what appeared to be in the
silvery light of the moon clothing of an all-black color
somewhat similar to the odd outfits that Zoisite and Kunzite
both were currently wearing, including a full-cut long cape
that billowed around his solid-looking, athletic form. Dark
hair framed a face that seemed to be both inhumanly handsome
and inhumanly cold. The only relief from the darkness was
the glitter of metallic gold that decorated his clothing and
his person.

The other thing the retreating Senshi noticed about the
newcomer was that he carried himself like one used to being
in command. He raised an arm and pointed at Kunzite, even
as the stranger's melodic baritone shouted out an order.
"Get the Senshi! Now!"

A nod of his head, then a swiftly executed -- but elegant,
as always -- salute and the Fire Warrior disappeared, his
tall form momentarily surrounded, then engulfed, by the
violet-pink radiance of his teleportational field.

The stranger's dark gaze then turned to the still-prone body
of the fallen Water Warrior. The moment the black-clad man
took a step toward the hapless Zoisite, Draco knew that it
would be safe to turn and run. With the newcomer obviously
focusing on the little brat and Whitey apparently sent to
fetch Sailor Jupiter like some sort of truant pet, her only
thought was to get to the fragile Nephrite and get him the
hell out of the way of what Kunzite's master wanted. Green
boots digging into the well-tended soil of the graveyard,
she took off like a shot in the direction she'd seen the
other Senshi flee with the wounded boy.

She had to get him the hell out of there before he got
caught in the crossfire.

Other green boots, these ones a shade the color of forest
foliage, pounded along the asphalt of an alley that their
owner knew would be a more direct route to the hospital
nearest to the cemetery where the attack had taken place.
Her legs aching, her breathing coming in gulping gasps of
the slightly chilled night air, her determination was truly
the only thing keeping Jupiter going. The teenaged youth
that had once been a Negaverse general was getting heavier
by the moment, even with her Jupiter-enhanced strength.
That he looked so pale, his eyes closed, didn't help the
normally optimistic girl think the best of the situation.
"Nephrite!" she gasped, still dashing along the alleyway,
the scurrying sounds she caught telling her that her
thundering footsteps had disturbed a cat -- or worse --
poking around in the trash bins. "Still with me?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, his eyes remaining closed. He was
beginning to feel colder, the desire to sleep starting to
overtake him. Silently, he thanked Jupiter's jostling him
with every pounding step of her run. The jarring made it
easier to fight off the deadly tiredness. *Must stay awake,*
Nephrite admonished himself.

"Glad to hear it," she panted back, turning on a foot to
begin dashing down the rather deserted street underneath the
impassionate orangish light of the streetlamps.

"Stop and drop the boy, Senshi!"

Nephrite lifted his head up, jade green eyes flying open.
He instantly recognized the deep voice that had barked out
that command.

"Kunzite!" Jupiter hissed, abruptly coming to a halt,
looking upward in an attempt to locate the Negadweeb. *Up
there!* Spying the oddly-dressed general perched atop the
balcony of an apartment across the street, her forest green
eyes narrowed slightly as she noted the lavender-cloaked man
elegantly poised to let fly with some attack or other.

"Put the boy down, Jupiter, or I'll be forced to hurt him as
well," the Fire Warrior commanded, frosty eyes focused on
the pair of teenagers.

The athletic girl tightened her mouth slightly. There
really wasn't any other choice, not under the current
circumstances. Staring daggers at the apparently casually
waiting Negajerk, the ponytailed brunette slowly knelt down
to lower the ashen-faced youth to the concrete sidewalk
beneath her booted feet.

"Don't," Nephrite softly breathed. "He wants you, not me.
Keep running."

"I can't!" she harshly whispered back, keeping her gaze
locked on the watching male. "It's my fight, not yours.
You're hurt enough as it is."

"He'll hesitate as long as you're holding me," Nephrite
replied. After all, he'd known the Fire Warrior for
centuries, had worked under him for just as long.

"I can't take that chance," Jupiter hissed in reply. Laying
the other teen down on the pavement as carefully as
possible, she grit her teeth and stood up again, taking a
few deliberate steps away from the wounded kid.

*Silly fool,* the auburn-haired youth mentally grumbled,
stifling a cry of agony as he rolled over onto his good
side. He *knew* Kunzite, knew how honorable he truly was
beyond the influence of the Negaverse. With Lord Obsidian
the one pulling his strings, the idea of the Southern
Commander continuing to have his personality perverted by
Metallia's obnoxious influence seemed to be a remote
possibility indeed.

"Leave him out of it," the ponytailed Scout demanded, taking
another few steps away from her wounded schoolmate. Kunzite
had proven over and over to be a treacherous bastard, and
she'd be damned if a stray shot accidentally hit the fallen
boy just because he'd been too close to her.

*No! Don't!* Jade green eyes widened in desperation as he
saw the regal Senshi step even further away. Groaning in
pain and struggling to his feet, he could see that damning
scene playing out before his mind's eye yet again, the Inner
Senshi doing their best to defend royalty and kingdom, only
to be slaughtered by a force far beyond their ability to
harm.
Jupiter set her feet apart, her arms and hands rising to the
position needed to trigger her attack. "Jupiter--"

"Zai!" Kunzite shouted, turning loose of the energy
throbbing in his hand. Violet-pink radiance erupted around
him, lighting up the balcony, making unnatural shadows race
across the pavement.

The auburn-haired boy didn't even make a sound. He *had* to
set things right! He *had* to prove to them all that he was
*sorry* for what he'd done.

The bolt never hit Jupiter. To her surprise, something got
in the way, a something that hadn't been there a second
before.

There was a terrible-sounding *thud* as that something
dropped to the concrete at her feet.

"Foolish child," Kunzite growled, flicking back his cape in
irritation.

Looking down, the ponytailed girl's forest green eyes
widened in silent horror as she realized that *something*
had been Nephrite.

Her dragon-green boots making little sound at all as she
rushed along the streets of the night-shrouded Japanese
city, her verdant cape flared out behind her and her red
hair streaming back in the wake of her rapid passage, Draco
followed that sense all Senshi have in the proximity of
another of their mystic fraternity. Somewhere out there was
Sailor Jupiter, the Jovian energies distinct to her inner
senses. *And where she is, he'll be there as well.*

She almost missed the alleyway, but the moment she darted
past it, the feeling of the other Senshi's energies suddenly
seemed to be coming from behind her as well as to the right.
Coming to an almost immediate halt, Draco turned, her golden
gaze searching. Instantly spotting the narrow, one-lane
road between buildings reaching upward into the nighttime
sky, she mentally nodded to herself and changed direction.
The Terran-made structures loomed over her as she ran
between them, a cold smile once again coming to her, curving
the corners of her mouth upwards, when the younger Senshi's
form came into view at the end of the alleyway. The smile
got just a bit wider when she next made out her beloved
Nephrite's youthful form struggling up to his feet. It had
to be one of the most beautiful sights she'd ever seen.

The joy was short-lived. Even as she ran toward the two
figures, determined to scoop up the boy into her arms and
run with him away from Jupiter, away from whatever it was
that Kunzite's master wanted with the younger female, she
saw the brunette girl take up an attack stance, saw the area
in front of them light up with the distinctive brilliance of
the general's energy attack.

Saw her beloved Nephrite, fragile and utterly *human* now,
leap forward, tossing that frail body of his in front of the
violet-pink blast. Saw *her* Nephrite fall to the hard
concrete ground and lay far too still at the feet of the
girl that had dared punch him.

The Water Warrior was in terrible pain. A corner of
Obsidian's mouth turned down as the agony continued to
intrude upon his awareness, the entire Western Quarter
radiating nothing but the pain that even now kept the
slender woman sobbing into the torn-up ground. Something
unanticipated had intruded on his plans, something for which
Zoisite hadn't been prepared.

Even as he knelt down, a new presence made itself known, red
light momentarily painting the surrounding area with a
garnet hue. *Not overly surprising that,* the Guardian of
Space silently commented as the younger Gemlord dashed past
him to almost literally throw himself to his knees on the
ground next to his fallen sibling. "Oh *Cosmos*, Zo',"
Garnet groaned, his face showing his astonishment and
panicked concern, a hand reaching down to tenderly touch the
golden blond woman lying sobbing and writhing on the verdant
grass.

"I can't move my arms, Gar," she replied, her voice cracking
and sounding almost hysterical, the sobbing sound making her
once again the little sister in need of a protective older
brother.

The redheaded spy half turned, his hand moving lower to wrap
warm, comforting fingers around one of the hurt Gemlord's
hands. Violet eyes glanced upward accusingly at the dark
form of his people's lord even as he spoke, his low voice
having a hint of steel to it. "We need a Healer, Sir. Now.
Or she's going to be useless to you." *How *dare* you send
her up against something that could *do* this to her?* he
wanted to shout, but he had always known when the right time
for such thoughts to be voiced had occurred, and this just
wasn't one of those moments.

Obsidian frowned, though Garnet couldn't tell whether it was
in thoughtfulness, irritation or something else. For a
long, tense moment, those almost fathomless dark brown eyes
gazed down at him. Then the Guardian of Space nodded his
head once in a gesture of affirmation. "Take her back home,
Lord Garnet," he softly spoke. "I shall follow and attend to
her."

"Thank you, my lord," the spy responded, his gaze and his
attention both shifting back to the golden-blond woman lying
on the ground. "Hang in there, kiddo," he gently crooned,
leaning forward to carefully wrap his arms around Zoisite's
petite form. "I'll take you home. We'll make it all
better."

As gently as possible, he started to rise, cradling his
sibling in his strong, capable arms. But the moment her
upper torso was lifted from the ground, he could *feel* her
shoulders flopping forward in an unnatural direction
downward, her arms dragging virtually useless. The scream
of agony to which the youngest Gemlord gave voice cut right
through Garnet's heart, making him force himself to suppress
the hot bolt of pure rage that filled him, rage with which
he wanted to lash out at Lord Obsidian.

Both collarbones had to be broken. There was no way he
could physically carry her in comfort; any position he tried
would cause some sort of torque on the injuries. "Oh
Cosmos..." he groaned again, lowering her as hastily and
carefully as he could.

The frown remained on the dark lord's face as he watched the
attempt. "Stand back a moment, Garnet," Obsidian softly
commanded, raising a hand toward the young Lithosians.

A glint of pure fury deep within his violet eyes, the
redheaded Gemlord did as Obsidian asked, his fingers
lingering with a touch meant to give Zoisite some comfort
before he broke contact entirely. Even though he was
internally furious with his lord for getting his beloved
little sibling in a situation that had hurt her so much,
some of that anger faded slightly as he realized what the
Guardian was doing.

Zoisite's little body began to rise in the air, every inch
of her apparently telekinetically supported in a way that
allowed no movement save that needed to maintain the Water
Warrior's rapid breathing. As soon as she was high enough
off the ground -- at approximately the very level at which
he would have had her were he able to hold her in his
embrace, Garnet silently noted -- her body began to slowly
rotate, eventually coming to a halt when she lay there
floating on her back in the air.

"Gather her in your arms and teleport her through the
Mirror," Obsidian murmured. "I shall continue to support
her so."

"As you wish, Sir." That was an order he certainly had no
qualms against. Stepping up to his levitating sibling, he
once again wrapped his arms around her as best he could,
determined to not cause her any more unnecessary pain. It
was bad enough with what she was feeling throbbing there in
the back of his mind through the ancient bond he had with
her, a bond formed when the two of them as well as two
others all swore a pact of siblingship with one another. "I
promise everything's going to be okay, Zo'," Garnet
whispered to her, staring down at her, letting her see the
love and concern on his face.

Her large, violet-blue eyes opened, the long lashes parting
to allow her to gaze up at the ruggedly handsome Gemlord.
She managed to give him a weak smile, a loving expression
that seemed somehow even more endearing being there on a
face that was streaked with dirt and tears. "Always knew I
could count on you, Gar," she murmured back.

He gave her an answering smile, then mentally reached out
for the oh-so-familiar pattern of the Symbol of Space.
"Vortex Mirror Return."

Obsidian echoed the ancient command, his black-clad form
disappearing a fraction of a second after the younger
Gemlords winked out in the center of Garnet's
teleportational field, the helix of scarlet light erupting
from the ground to wind upward around himself and Zoisite.

Even in that terrible moment, when every happy feeling she
had sank into a morass of fear and rage, Draco moved with an
almost eerie silence. Too long out in the field, doing jobs
that make quiet an absolute necessity, made making as little
noise as possible second nature to her. She'd seen the
angle of that blast; taking an educated guess, she narrowed
her eyes in concentration even as she was in midstride. The
air around her shimmered and rippled, suddenly looking like
a mirage dancing above the horizon in the middle of the
desert. Buildings, objects, sources of light, they all
became distorted images as the field formed around her. Then
came the flashpoint, that one particular moment when just
*enough* energy swirled around her. Space literally folded
in on her, swallowing her up into its rippling, gaping maw--

--and spat her out right where she wanted.

Gemlord senses abruptly screamed out a warning. Someone had
joined him up there on that balcony. Kunzite whirled as
fast as he could, only to feel a sudden burst of fiery agony
rake across his ribs, the sound of his cape and tunic being
shredded accompanying the unexpected sensation. Gritting
his teeth, he lashed out with a hand, grabbing his "guest"
by the wrist before she could slash the other set of wicked
claws at him. Violet-pink fluid -- the Southern Commander's
blood -- dripped down to spatter against the surface of the
balcony as Draco curled her still-free hand up into a fist
and punched outward at the other warrior, hoping to skewer
that handsome face of his with her Dragon Claws.

Lupine eyes narrowed as Kunzite jerked his head to the side,
the soft whisper of the deadly metal and the faint breeze of
the talons' passage caressing his ear. He never felt even a
tug as a few strands of his glorious, lavender-highlighted
mane floated down from where they had been severed to join
the spatters of his blood on the balcony.

"Oh my. I've managed to cut you," Draco hissed, leering at
her foe. As quick as lightning, her free hand clamped down
on Kunzite's forearm inches beyond where he had a tight grip
on her right wrist. A bend of her black-clad knees, a twist
of her supple body just *so* and she brought leverage and
strength both to bear against the caped male.

Almost too late the Southern Commander felt his booted feet
lift off from the building's surface. Violet-pink energy
flared around him as he brought his telekinesis into play,
cushioning the blow his tall form suffered when the brutal
Senshi tossed him against the apartment wall.

*Cold, empty, dark...* He seemed to be floating there in an
infinite *nothingness*, no sense of anything save the
awareness of himself, of his rapidly beating heart. *Is
this it then?* Nephrite asked himself, the memory of the
darkness and the tiny star of hope playing through his
thoughts. *Am I facing the end?*

*No! I tried!* he called out into the unending, inky
blackness. *I swear to Cosmos that I tried!* Panic filled
him, a terror beyond all imagination that made even his
sense of *himself* falter under the power of the emotion.
The desire to *exist* clawed at him, threatening to choke
even his thoughts to ineffective whimpers.

He didn't want to no longer *be*.

A pinpoint of brilliance appeared, like the first star to
grace the surface of a twilight sky; a gentle *presence*
made itself known to him. *Yes, Prince of the Element of
Earth, you tried.* In slight amazement, Nephrite felt what
seemed to be a delicate hand come to rest against his
forehead, felt a sudden warmth permeate the place where the
deep green jade stone embedded within his circlet of rank
would have been were he wearing it. Somehow, that
comforting hand was reaching into his very soul, pulling up
the very powers denied him in his mortal, human existence.

*There is no greater sacrifice one can make than to risk
everything for the sake of another.* The soft voice held
something of a note of relief and joy both. *With no thought
of yourself, you did what you could for someone else. Such
nobility deserves to be rewarded...*

Before Nephrite's surprised mind could make a thought in
reply to that, the heat sitting there where his circlet
should be, underneath that presence's hand, began to radiate
throughout him, filling his awareness with a warmth and
comfort beyond anything he could recall ever experiencing
before. The sense of *self* faded before that warmth, even
as the darkness gave way to a scintillating radiance.

The moment the impact of her victim hitting the wall
shivered up her arms, Draco let go of her hold on the pale
haired man. Standing there, feet apart and poised for any
sort of instantaneous reaction, her golden eyes kept vigil
on Kunzite as he dropped hard to the balcony. Nephrite was
still her overriding concern; much as she'd love to take out
a few pounds of flesh from Kunzite in payment for injuries
sustained in the past, she just didn't have the *time*.
Even now he could be bleeding to death down there on that
pavement.

Let Kunzite have the other Senshi. She needed to get the
boy out of there.

Dragon green boots scraped against the surface as she bent
her knees and coiled her body under herself. A push of her
legs and she was airborne again, leaping high up over the
concrete and metal railing and soaring down toward the
street below, her bright red hair and golden cape flaring
out behind her. Despite her denser mass and the force of
gravity pulling her down, the black-clad Senshi landed on
her feet as light as any cat. By the time Kunzite was back
on his feet, she was there at the downed teen's side.

Forest green eyes remained focused on the tall, caped
general. Now that the strange Scout was down here on the
ground with her, Jupiter had a perfect shot and knew it.
Never once taking her gaze from Kunzite, the ponytailed girl
shouted, "Get him to safety! I'll deal with Kunzite!" The
other Scout was quick and strong both; she should easily be
able to get the unconscious Nathan out of the way of being
hurt even worse.

Draco only smiled a bit at the girl's bravely-spoken words.
Dropping to a knee, a mental command made the thin, deadly
blades of the Dragon Claws retract; a cold, barely heard
*shing* disturbed the silence just before the redheaded
warrioress scooped up the still form of the boy into her
arms. Even as she was lifting him up and returning to a
standing position, she could feel electricity begin to
crackle in the air.

"I call upon the power of Jupiter!" the green and white
uniformed Scout cried out, her gloved hands once again
forming the gesture needed to channel the energies. Above
the green, oval-shaped jewel in the center of her tiara, the
slim, miniature lightning rod housed within extended itself,
silvery lightning beginning to coalesce around her. "Jupiter
Thunder--"

Hugging the auburn haired boy's form close against her,
Draco did her best to not think about how still his body
remained, how unresponsive he seemed to be. The brilliant
light of the other Senshi's attack illuminating the
night-shrouded street, Draco took off in a ground-covering
sprint. She had to get help. She wouldn't -- couldn't --
fail again.

At the forceful shout of his lord's intended victim, Kunzite
made an annoyingly casual gesture. Not even sparing the
fleeing Senshi a look -- he had no interest in the boy, and
he could ill afford to try to avenge Zoisite, not with the
order to get Sailor Jupiter in effect -- the Fire Warrior
kept his predatory gaze on his target, even as his
protective shield snapped back up into place.

"--*Crash*!" White-hot lightning sizzled through the air,
arcing upward at the command of the one that had released
its elemental force, making eerie shadows skitter across the
the asphalt and up the sides of the surrounding objects. It
then sputtered and gutted out as it struck the swirling,
translucent sphere of violet-pink energy that surrounded
Kunzite.

"You'll have to do better than that, Jupiter," the pale
haired Southern Commander cooly stated.

*********************************

Within the wall of the circular room, the tall, flat surface
of the Vortex Mirror began to ripple and dance like the
surface of a pond disturbed. The surface bowed out
slightly, then broke and shimmered apart like so much dark
water, giving way before Garnet's entrance into the sacred
chamber at the top of his lord's tower. Stepping down off
the dais, his boots making soft footfalls on the three
stairs as he walked to the floor, the young spy turned and
waited for the Guardian of Space to appear.

"Gar, I'm scared..." Her voice sounding both lost and
forlorn, the injured Gemlord turned her pain-filled eyes to
stare up at the redheaded man holding her as carefully as
possible.

"Shh. Don't talk and save your strength, Zo'," came the soft
reply. "We'll get you fixed up right away."

If she could have, she would have reached up and grabbed the
older Gemlord's black T-shirt, her fingers curling into it
with a deathgrip. As it was, she could only lie there
loosely cradled in Garnet's arms, pain throbbing throughout
her. **You don't understand, Gar. I screwed up. The entire
mission became a flop because of me, and he'll make
*Kunzite* pay the price for my mistakes.**

He turned his violet gaze from the still-glowing Mirror to
stare down at his little sibling's ashen face, internally
wincing at the hysterical note that had crept into her
telepathed voice. "What do you mean, he'll make Kunzite
pay?"

**Had to promise to help him. He's our true ruler after all.
But he said that if I screwed up as badly as I had on the
mission to safeguard Beryl, he'd see to it that he... that
he'd...** Zoisite slammed her eyes shut, trying her best to
not lose it and start crying all over again, though a choked
sob escaped her. **He's going to kill Kunzite and then
shatter his stone, all because I *blew* it!**

"He's *what*?" However much he'd like to clarify what it
was that his sibling was afraid of, Garnet found it suddenly
prudent to not pursue that line of inquiry. He could sense
the very moment that the Guardian of Space stepped into the
Hall from the Vortex Mirror. Lord Obsidian had a way of
filling a room just by his presence alone.

"I have her, Garnet," the Lord of Lithos softly intoned as
he stepped down from the dais and came to a halt near where
the pair of younger Gemlords were, his melodic baritone
voice sounding gentle and concerned both. He raised a hand,
the gold and obsidian signet ring glittering faintly in the
light of the illumination crystals, green light of the
deepest hue flaring softly around the Water Warrior's
slender form. "Do me a favor and go over to that table over
there. Pick me out a Healer."

"Pick you out a Healer, Sir?" Garnet echoed, stepping back
away from the wounded woman. Something within him shuddered
at the possible implication of those words, something that
dreaded just what he might see, something that could be
almost as bad as watching the Elemental Guard, those four
supposedly there to protect Lithos among other duties,
blithely work for something as *wrong* as the Negaverse was.

"Yes. We'll need one for Commander Zoisite," Obsidian
confirmed.

The Water Warrior let out the breath that she hadn't
realized she was holding, though that sent new twinges of
pain through her. He'd used her title still. That was a
good sign at least. Doing her best to force herself to
relax, Zoisite floated there under her lord's power,
listening to her brother's almost silent footfalls as he
crossed over the Zodiac carpet toward the low table that had
become something of a morbid shrine for the Guardian of
Space to dwell upon.

*Cosmos...*

Garnet stared down at the table, his mind recoiling from the
sight. The surface was covered with a rainbow of
soulstones, loosely arranged in groups--all of them dull,
gray, *dead*.

All of them. He was looking essentially at an
open-to-the-air mass grave...

He forced himself to set aside his emotions; they would only
cause more trouble right now. Numbly, he studied the
lusterless, seemingly worn stones; almost by itself, his
hand reached out and picked one up. It was the easiest to
identify in that morgue of souls, the dual shades of dead
gray giving away the identity crystallized within.

He returned to Obsidian, putting the stone into the palm of
his lord's waiting hand. Despite its dimmed, lifeless cast,
it was still recognizable -- half golden-yellow, half rich
violet, with almost no mergence in the colors at the
dividing line.

"Ametrine, my lord," Garnet said, rather unnecessarily; it
was said more to reassure the suffering Zoisite that help
was being found than anything else.

The Lord of Lithos quirked an eyebrow up, apparently just a
little bit surprised at the identity of the Gemlord Healer
the redheaded spy had chosen. However, one Healer was as
good as another, and this one could be equally useful at
other things. Curling his hand around the bicolored
soulstone, Obsidian softly murmured, "Stay with her, Lord
Garnet. I shall attend to this."

"As you wish, Sir," the younger man responded, taking those
last couple of steps between himself and where the slender
form of the Western Commander floated in the air in a supine
position under a power not within her own control. "Sir...
?"

Obsidian turned slightly at the sound, pausing. He had
started to walk away from the others, stone in hand, when
Garnet's hesitant question had caught his attention. "What
is it?"

The redheaded Lithosian kept his violet gaze on his people's
lord, respectful but challenging as well. "Zo' did her best
and obviously ran into something she wasn't prepared for.
She needs your support now, not your censure, Sir." The
honorific held just the smallest hint of ice in its tone.

*Oh Cosmos, Gar... Don't make him *angry* for Cosmos's
sake...* Zoisite inwardly groaned, squeezing her eyes shut
even tighter. She could just see it now, the Guardian of
Space losing his temper and denying her any help at all, all
because her sibling had decided now was a good time to stick
up for what was *right*.

"I'll keep that in mind, *Lord* Garnet," the black- and
gold-clad Guardian grumbled as he turned back away from the
pair and continued his walk across the Zodiac-carpeted
floor. His footsteps hardly heard in the vast, echoing
chamber, Obsidian smiled faintly as he approached the
vitreous prison of his own making that stood there next to
the Vortex Mirror.

He'd enjoyed that last time, the feel of drawing that golden
power out of the trapped Senshi. There was something quite
pleasurable in doing that, and in a way he looked forward to
doing so again. Coming to a halt before the solid effects
of his own power, the Guardian of Space reached out with his
free hand and lightly caressed the glass matrix of deepest
green. *Yes, I feel it... The energy of an entire galaxy,
waiting, potent...* Long fingers slid along the glassy
surface as Obsidian closed his eyes, mentally reaching
within, seeking out to find that reserve of bright yellow
power.

**What's he doing, Gar?** Despite the pain and the fear,
Zoisite was as curious as ever. Floating on her back, she
couldn't see anything from her vantage point -- though
opening her eyes would have helped some -- save the frescoes
high up on the Hall's domed ceiling, but she could feel the
stirrings of *something* beginning to tickle the edges of
her telempathic senses. She hated not being able to see for
herself what was going on.

"Shh. Save your strength, Zo'," the redheaded spy softly
admonished. Shuddering inwardly, his numbed mind realizing
what his lord -- his *friend* -- was doing, Garnet decided
that the best course of action was to just not think about
anything and ignore all that was going on. Concentrating
instead on offering some comfort to his injured sister, he
reached out and carefully took one of her hands in his own,
intertwining their fingers. "He's going to bring back
Ametrine to Heal you."

Much as she would love to ask her red-haired sibling why
Ametrine -- she knew that there were some sort of hard
feelings between the dual Gemlord and Garnet -- something
about the spy's tone of voice kept her silent. With the
throbbing pain dominating just about everything in her
awareness, Zoisite found it too much effort to pursue
anything, even with her innate curiosity.

*Power. Energy. The tingling brilliance of a galaxy... *
The dark lord shivered in delight as his awareness touched
that reservoir of golden brilliance. Drawing it into
himself, he could feel every nerve humming with the energy,
the feeling of pleasure rather exhilarating. He siphoned off
the trapped Sailor Andromeda's power slowly, savoring the
growing state of bliss that taking the energy gave him.
*What a rush...*

For a moment, Obsidian even forgot the reason why he was
doing this, why he needed the energy in the first place. But
then he became aware of holding something hard and round in
his hand, and it came back to him.

*Ametrine. Need to give the energy to them.* Stepping
back, hand lingering on the surface of the glassy prison
with a reluctance to let go and stop, Obsidian quietly
sighed as he forced himself to break the contact. Mentally
balancing the power stolen from Andromeda within himself, he
turned his attention to the double-colored stone.

Remaining there halfway between the center of the round Hall
and the polished surface of the Vortex Mirror, the pair of
young Gemlords could feel the steadily growing sense of
power swirling around them, could see the brilliance the
yellow energy gave off as it lit up the place. Garnet
swallowed hard, pushing aside all the images that came to
him from what he had witnessed before. Zoisite softly
moaned, not only in agony from her current injuries, but
also because what she was sensing emotionally from the
Guardian of Space was just too horrible to contemplate...

The stolen energy reluctantly given to the dead soulstone,
the citrine and amethyst gem glowing under its own power as
the soul within awoke, Obsidian knelt down and placed the
gently pulsing jewel down onto the rich carpeting that
covered the floor. He then stepped back, deep brown eyes
narrowing slightly as he watched the young Gemlord regain
life and form.

*... If it's my life you want, not my love, I give it to you
freely...

Memory of pain -- a blast so powerful that it split one form
in twain, killing one part, leaving the other nearly
crippled with agony and grief, staring into amber eyes that
held almost no emotion. *So cold... So violent... What
happened to you to make you so?*

Garnet watched silently -- when the bright light had
suddenly been no more, he just had to turn his violet gaze
to the events going on near the three-stepped dais --
holding Zoisite's hand in his, as the reawakened Gemlord
stirred on the floor. Draped in fine veils of
violet-and-yellow silken fabric that ornamented rather than
concealed, the body was sleek, graceful, androgynous in its
balance of wiry muscle and smooth curving lines. The
curiously beautiful face was marred, at the moment, only by
the tiny jewel of a tear that slipped beneath the lashes of
one eye. Those eyes -- violet and gold splintered together,
like the long hair that framed the Gemlord's face -- opened
a moment later, as the sense of being *alive* slowly
registered.

Ametrine sat up slowly, looking around with dreamy
confusion. Catching sight of Obsidian, the young Gemlord
gasped softly and started to rise.

Only one form came to its knees, but when bare feet held
weight against the floor, *two* bodies stood there. In those
few brief seconds, that oddly nonsexual body blurred and
then separated, the one form of blended masculine and
feminine flowing apart into two forms, each one obviously of
a specific sex. To Garnet's watchful, violet gaze, it
looked something like mitosis or the forming of two amoeba
from the splitting of one.

Ametrine's division of physical self was instinctive,
knowing how others became uneasy around that eerily asexual
shape. They had found, over the centuries, that most others
responded better if the physical form had an easily
identified gender of male or female. Manifesting dual forms
at once had been the Lithosian's instinctive compromise.

Lord Ametrine had short blonde hair and clear amethystine
eyes; Lady Ametrine's rich violet hair hung in a long
opulent cloak past her waist, and her eyes were a vivid
sunlight-gold. Still holding each other's hand, the twinned
selves of Ametrine rushed to greet Obsidian, identical
bright smiles on their faces. "My lord! You're all right!"
the lady called out, a bright smile gracing her face, an
expression as sunny as the color of her eyes.

"I knew we could count on you, my lord," the lord stated at
nearly the same time as his other half spoke.

Obsidian smiled back just as brightly. For a moment, the
Cosmos was a slightly better place. One more of his
precious people lived again. As the twin bodies crowded
around him and he found himself in the young Lithosian's
dual embrace, the Guardian of Space chuckled and hugged them
back in equal measure, both lord and lady alike. "I'm glad
to see you too, Ametrine."

Observing from something of a distance, Garnet set his jaw
and plastered a rather fake smile on his face. Yes, the
dual Lithosian was quite fond of the dark lord -- most
Gemlords were; after all, Obsidian held a special place
within their entire society -- but did they have to be so
*obvious* about it? Luckily for the young spy, the reunion
was short-lived.

Noting that the newly reawakened Gemlord was about to launch
into a double questioning of what's happened and what's gone
on, Obsidian slipped his arm from around the amethyst-haired
lady and held up that hand in a gesture of warding off.
"Before you start asking me all sorts of things, I have need
of your skills, Lady Ametrine."

"My lord?" both the lord and the lady asked, their voices
blending together perfectly, golden and violet eyes
registering their startlement.

"Zoisite's been wounded. I need you to Heal her."

Instantly the twin Gemlord turned their eyes toward the
center of the Hall, amethyst and citrine gazes falling on
the floating blond and the far-too-cheerful-appearing
redhead. The lady nodded, long hair swaying just slightly,
then rippling around her as she briskly strode over to where
Zoisite continued to be levitated. "What happened to her?"
the lord asked, turning his attention back to the Guardian
of Space.

Before Obsidian could reply, Garnet growled out an answer.
"She ran into something big and nasty. I would think that's
obvious."

"No sense in remaining angry about it, Lord Garnet," the
dark lord responded. "While you Heal the Western Commander,
I'll tell you what I know, Ametrine."

************************************

*Sorry, little Senshi, but face it. It's just not going to
work.* Kunzite watched, seemingly dispassionately, as yet
another arc of blue-white lightning lit up the evening sky
and blazed through the air toward his swirling shell of
protective energy. The silly child had blasted away at him
a couple of times, both getting the same result. Against
her basic attack, he had very little to worry about.

"Get down here and fight like a *man*, Kunzite!" Jupiter
snarled, seeing her Thunder Crash still have no effect
against her elegant, pale-haired foe.

"Well, well, isn't this your lucky night?" the Fire Warrior
purred, smirking slightly. "I feel like humoring you just a
bit." A toss of his arm sent his cape flaring outward while
simultaneously dropping his protective shielding. He then
leapt up and balanced for a moment on the railing of the
apartment balcony just long enough to shift his momentum
forward before springing forcefully forward. Pale lavender
cloth and lavender-tinged hair rippled in the wake of his
telekinetically-guided freefall. Landing on his booted feet
as graceful as any great cat, Kunzite allowed himself a
faint grin as he watched the green- and white-clad Senshi
draw herself up into a wary stance.

Sailor Jupiter was determined to not give him even a moment
to prepare. Though startled at his sudden descent, the
ponytailed girl swiftly recovered, her pretty face settling
into a grim expression. The minute he touched down onto the
city sidewalk, the Energetic Warrior burst into motion, one
white-gloved hand bunched up in a fist. "Eeyah!" the
brunette shouted as she swung her fist right at the smirking
man's face.

That smirk never once faltered as Kunzite leaned swiftly to
one side, dodging the blow with perfect precision even as he
took a step back. Just as easily dodged were the second,
and third punches, each one making a few strands of his hair
float in the wind of Jupiter's fist and each time he took
another step back.

"Damn you," the athletic girl growled, darting forward and
attempting to deck the Negadweeb yet again.

*Smack*.

Jupiter gasped, forest green eyes going wide as she felt the
momentum of her hand stop dead. Her foe had caught her hand
in his, the long fingers forming a stronger-than-expected
prison for her gloved fist. Growling, she lashed out with a
foot, only to feel herself suddenly up-ended violently, her
back crashing hard against the pavement of the sidewalk.
The damned bastard must have grabbed her by the foot and
used her own momentum against herself.

"Is that the best you can do?" Kunzite softly murmured,
raising a hand and pulling up energy within himself. It was
all but over now.

**Kunzite! Return to the Tower, at once!**

The Fire Warrior hesitated, jaw setting in annoyance. Just
like last time, when he and Zoisite had almost had the
remainder of the Rainbow Crystals from Tuxedo Mask; victory
was in his grasp, and he was being called away.

However, it wasn't his place to question. From the tone of
Lord Obsidian's command, the Southern Commander would be
best served by instantly obeying. **As you wish, my lord.**
Inwardly sighing, the tall Gemlord stepped back away from
the prostrate Senshi, lowering his hand and shifting the
thrumming energy to different channels. He'd need that for
the teleport back through the Mirror into the Tower in the
heart of the Vortex.

"Venus Crescent Beam *Smash*!"

The new voice cracked through the air, the sounds coming too
fast for Kunzite to react swiftly enough. The caped Gemlord
had only enough time to turn toward the source of the shout
before the racing bolt of golden energy struck him. He hit
the wall of the apartment building hard, his breath nearly
knocked out of him.

"Hurry up, Moon! He's not going to stay off-balance for
long! Jupiter? Are you all right?" Orange heeled shoes
making sharp footfalls against the asphalt, her long
sunny-gold hair flowing out behind her, Sailor Venus hurried
over toward where the brunette Scout was beginning to climb
to her booted feet.

*I don't have time for this. Vortex Mirror Return!* Feeling
the power of the Symbol of Space reach out and surround him,
pulling him towards it, Kunzite relaxed and let the obsidian
artifact take control, yanking him from the physical reality
of Terra and into the Vortex between all places.

"Damn, he's getting away," Jupiter complained, straightening
up while watching the oddly-attired man's form shimmer away
in the midst of an aura of violet-pink light. "Yeah, I'm all
right, Venus," she added, frowning as she absently began
smoothing down her rather ruffled Scout uniform.

"Oh, Jupiter! I'm so glad to see that you're okay!" Red
boots clicking along the hard surface of the street, her
twin bun-topped ponytails streaming out behind her, Sailor
Moon loped over to where the other two Scouts were standing.
"You're not hurt or anything, are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Just a bit furious, that's all." The
tall brunette sighed, then turned to look over at her
friends. "Come on. Let's hurry back to the shrine before
they regroup and come back. I'll tell you what happened to
me and then you can tell me what happened earlier."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Venus confirmed, starting down
the street. Right behind her came the other two, the trio
of girl warriors keeping eyes and ears open for any sign
that their foes had returned. There was going to be a lot
of explaining to do on everyone's part.