Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Redemption ❯ Earthshine ( Chapter 9 )

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

EARTHSHINE


"Come on, Nephrite. Snap out of it. Say something to me.
Anything!" Draco stared down at the far too pale face of
the boy, heart and soul *willing* him to show some sign of
life. Shifting slightly, her sleek, black-clad body in a
crouch, the golden cape draped from her shoulders a bunched
up wad of cloth underneath the curve of her buttock, the
Dragon Senshi remained huddled in the shadows, the youth's
blood-drenched upper body resting against her thighs and
knees.

Black despair welled up within her, threatening to snuff out
everything that remained within her warm and caring, as the
auburn-haired boy continued to lie draped there,
unresponsive. *No, you can't leave me again. You just
*can't*.*

She'd run for as long as she had dared, determined to get
the boy to some sort of help. But when he'd seemed to slip
into an insensate stupor, she'd come to a halt, habit
forcing her to find a sheltered spot away from the prying
eyes of strangers. She couldn't tell then if it was too
late; she wondered now if it was, though she could feel a
thready pulse there under the fingertip of her verdant
glove.

Even as she stared down at the youthful face, a face that
held only faint hints of the powerful man he had been
before, she could see that *something* was beginning to
happen. Her breath catching in her throat and her
antique-gold eyes widening, she lifted her hand from the
boy's neck as his body became surrounded by a faint shimmer
of something that looked to her like greenish-silver
starlight. *The hell--?*

The shimmer brightened, obscuring the features of the youth
draped across her. Through her bodysuit, she could feel a
faint, tingling warmth from whatever energy it was that held
the boy's body in its grasp. Then, abruptly, that body began
to change shape, getting wider, longer, bigger. Softly
gasping, the sudden extra weight startling even though her
dense muscles found it no strain at all to support it, all
Draco could do was continue to watch in absolute
astonishment as the boy she'd held quite literally grew up
in the span of a few heartbeats.

Even after that, the silver-green starlight continued to
play around the auburn-haired man's form, concentrating over
the wound that she knew went completely through his
shoulder. She could feel the corresponding spot on his
back, where his shoulder pressed up against the dark fabric
of her bodysuit, get even warmer, threatening to become
perhaps even uncomfortably so before the glimmering aura
just suddenly cut out, leaving the two of them once more in
the inky darkness of the shadows.

"Nephrite," she breathed, her voice a whisper of awe and
joy. Once more she looked upon that face that she had come
to know so well; once more she held that familiar form
against her.

He was there again, just as she remembered him -- the long
red-brown hair, the broad shoulders and athletic build, the
trim hips and muscular legs, the drop-dead gorgeous visage.
However, the clothes that covered his form were different,
not the Negaverse gray uniform that she'd always seen him
in. No, this uniform, though similar, was jet black -- as
black as night, as black as space -- trimmed in a gorgeous
emerald green, a square of the same color emblazoned on the
shoulder of a sleeve of the jacket. On his shoulders were
the brooches she'd come to expect, only these were different
as well, being oval and smooth, bearing jade-green stones.
And from them hung an emerald-green-lined and silver-trimmed
cape that was as black as his uniform. Around his head
glimmered a silver circlet adorned with another cabochon of
jade-green stone while around his waist was tied a belt of a
lighter verdant hue edged in silver, silver fringing
decorating the ends.

Draco immediately decided that she liked this uniform better
on him than that yellow-trimmed gray one that Beryl had
insisted he wear. This one made him look far more dashing,
in her humble opinion.

"Nephrite?" she called again, worried that he'd still not
stirred.

Slowly, the jade-green eyes opened, clear, beautiful, no
longer marred by pain. With a look of wonder within them,
he realized that he was looking up into a nighttime sky, the
familiar light of his friends, the stars, shining down on
him. For a moment, everything was peaceful, joyful. He
continued to *exist*.

Then the voice came, pulling him from his inward musings,
tugging his awareness back to the outside world. Shifting
his gaze toward the source, he blinked in astonishment,
seeing a familiar face underneath the dragon-fanged circlet
of a Senshi. "Siolan?" he whispered, and with that word
came a rush of images: Zoisite and Lita fighting in the
cemetery, the pain of the ice sword as it had impaled him,
the transformations of two Senshi. Sitting up abruptly,
Nephrite reached down and nearly ripped open his uniform
jacket, a hand slipping in to press against his skewered
shoulder.

*Nothing.* No hole, no sticky blood, not even a lingering
tenderness. *But how... ?*

Draco remained silent, watching, rocking back on her
haunches after the uniformed man slid off her to sit on the
ground and thrust his hand under his ebony coat. Unsure
what to think but also immensely relieved to see him somehow
healthy and whole, she inwardly scowled at the sudden
nervousness that filled her.

Even as he wondered, he could feel the stirrings of
something within him, an intimate awareness of how his body
-- his Gemlord body, he instantly realized; no more did he
feel himself dying around himself cell by cell -- filled his
awareness. It was a power he'd forgotten he had, one that
he'd not even thought about for centuries. The power to
Heal. Somehow, Serenity's gentle touch had reawakened that
ability within his soul.

"Healing... I Healed myself..." he murmured to himself,
absently refastening the ebony, emerald-trimmed jacket. "How
pathetic of me that I had forgotten I had that power."
Slowly rising to his feet, the long cape rustling in the
night air, Nephrite remained thinking over his time in the
Negaverse and came to a simple conclusion. "No, not
forgotten. Made to forget..."

"Nephrite? Are you all right?" Draco asked again, his
apparent inattention to her burning question making her
voice take on a frustrated, insistent tone that overrode the
surging happiness welling up from the place that she had
thought dead within herself.

"Hmm?" The Gemlord turned his gaze to the black-, green- and
gold-clad woman still crouching there next to him. "Yes,
yes, I'm quite all right now. More than all right." Then
his jade-green eyes narrowed, anger settling on his handsome
features. "You never told me you were a Senshi."

The redheaded woman's own ire sparked in response to his.
Once again, she was looking at the brusque, nearly-always
angry man he had been as a general of the Negaverse, and a
part of her felt disappointed at that. "You never asked,"
she shot back.

"I could have used that help. No matter," Nephrite
responded, his voice taking on a tone that announced that
the discussion was closed. "It's in the past now. I have
something to accomplish in the here and now."

"What's that?"

"I need to help Princess Jupiter and her friends."

"For hell's sake," Draco growled, swiftly rising to her
feet. "Helping them almost got you killed."

"I don't expect you to understand," the auburn-haired man
replied. "I do expect you to help. Come on."

"Just a damned minute here," she said, a low growl stressing
her aggravation and masking the stab of hurt at his
brusqueness. After all the time they'd been forced to spend
apart, she'd hoped for something more tender in the way of a
reunion. "I'm not your flunky. Any subordinate association
I had with you was over with the moment that bitch Beryl
decided I'd be better off dead than giving *you* any
backing. I work to please myself and nobody else these
days."

He glared at her, those jade-green eyes looking at her with
some sort of accusation deep within them. "So that's the way
of it? Nothing matters but what you get out of it?"

She drew herself up, throwing her shoulders back with the
iron pride she'd worn in the Negaverse, meeting his gaze
with the razor challenge of her own. "It's made things a
hell of a lot more tolerable ever since I was driven out of
the Negaverse and away from you by Beryl's little
hellhounds." She toyed with a lock of the flaming hair that
tumbled down over her shoulder. "Since you've decided to go
back to acting like the same jackass you were when I first
met you, I've got no problem behaving in a similar fashion,
no matter how much I've missed you." She gave him a
brittle, wicked smile. "So what will you give me to help
you *this* time, lover?"

He didn't have time for this. Didn't have time to sort out
the morass of emotion he found within himself at seeing her
there, hearing her words. Didn't have time, more than
likely, to really *listen*. All he *heard* was that she
wanted something for her efforts, that everything was a
business deal to her. Everything.

He needed to find Jupiter. The best place to do that would
be at the chapel. There, he could gather his focus and ask
the stars to help him locate the brunette princess.

"You disgust me," Nephrite finally said, turning away from
the gold-caped Senshi and her brittle smile. Walking off
into the night, a black shadow within the embrace of the
surrounding darkness, his tall form then faded away in the
center of a swirl of silvery-green starlight.

The only reason why he was spared a shot in the back was
because Draco couldn't move at all. She stood as if she'd
been turned to stone, something inside twisting and
shattering like a sheet of ice peeling away from a glacier,
coming apart in so many pieces that it felt as if it could
never, ever be healed again.

*You disgust me.*

She had never expected to hear those words. Not after all
this time, after all the pain. He was the only one who
could touch that vulnerable place in her, beyond the armor,
beyond the scarring of her soul, the place that was still
alive.

*You disgust me.*

He was the only one who could touch that place, and with
three words -- three careless, emotionless words -- he had
betrayed her, driven shards of agony into the living heart
of her.

*You disgust me.*

She had suffered without him, suffered as if half her being
had been ripped away. Every day, every moment without him
had added another tiny wound, another minuscule scar to the
knotted surface of her spirit. Seeing him die at the hands
of Zoisite's youma had almost killed her. Finding him
again, even in the form of a Terran boy-child, had revived
her.

*You disgust me.*

And now he had split her soul and made her bleed again.

She sank to her knees, burying her face in her hands, giving
voice to a long, inhuman scream of pain and grief and loss
that echoed across the concrete canyons of Tokyo. People
woke in sudden cold sweats, hearing that sound and wondering
if the sleeping dragon beneath the city streets had awakened
to grieve for something they, the mortals, could not even
begin to fathom...

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

The chapel was warm, comforting, the sound of the dance of
the stars sweet music. Nephrite stood there in the center
of the room, staring up at the night-darkened rose window up
above. Had there been moonlight shining through it, he
would have been bathed in the jewel-toned splashes of light
that would have resulted. But try as he might, his thoughts
wouldn't turn to the task he knew was at hand. No, they kept
dwelling upon the fiery-haired Senshi, the mercenary who had
been one of the last things to have kept any sort of spark
of his old self alive there in the heart of the Negaverse.

They'd been lovers, bound together by a mutual something
that ran hot and bright even in the heart of the chaotic
darkness. Cool and aloof to one another where everyone
could see, they had made up for it in their moments of
shared privacy, the entire relationship one built on who was
taking from whom. Even so, there was *something* underneath
all that, something that stayed deeply hidden for fear of
being strangled in the uncaring reality of the Negaverse.

Words came back to haunt him, words spoken to an innocent,
naive Terran girl. *I don't know what love is...*

*That's not entirely correct,* Nephrite silently mused,
figuring out the truth behind his observation. *I forgot
what love was, but I remember it now... How it feels, what
it is, what it can do...*

Because of the love he'd once had for Princess Jupiter, a
love that he'd betrayed, he needed to make things right for
her. He needed to help her and her friends against whatever
it was Lord Obsidian wanted from them, no matter his past
loyalties to the Guardian of Space.

Because of the love he felt for Siolan, hearing her saying
that he had to give her something in return for her help had
*hurt* and he'd lashed out in typical fashion.

*Because of the love...*

He still loved her. Jade-green eyes widened at the
realization, leaving him breathless. He'd loved her, even in
those frantic moments when they'd fought for dominance over
one another. He'd loved her, even when the reality of his
existence should have killed off anything even remotely
resembling love. And he'd made himself forget what love was
after he'd heard she'd been killed.

And with that realization came another. He'd left her,
walking away from her all by choice. Her words played back
in his head, over and over, making him flush in
embarrassment. Dread filled him as he discovered that he
really hadn't listened to her at all, but rather had focused
on the one thing he was sure she only cared about. She had
missed him, said she was reverting to character because he
had started being a jackass again, yet all he had been able
to focus on was her asking what he'd pay her this time
around for her services.

*She missed me? Could it be... ?*

The curse that echoed through the peaceful atmosphere of the
chapel was enough to blister even the most jaded of ears.
Silver-green starlight swirled around him as he reached out
to where he'd last left her.

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

She wasn't there. The black-clad Gemlord bit back both a
snarl of pure frustration and a growing sense of dread.
Looking around, his heart almost lurched into his throat
when he saw the blood, the broken masonry. Something had
happened to her...

Almost desperately, his gaze scanned along the street. The
shattered brick and the sanguine smears and drops appeared
to form a trail of some sort, pointing the way to where the
Senshi had gone. Whatever had happened, she'd not covered
it up. Black boots making firm sounds against the concrete
under his stride, he followed the screamingly obvious clues,
his sense of panic growing with each step.

Her hands were bloody, which seemed appropriate, though it
was her own dark blood that stained the green gloves --
blood shed from flesh that was bruised and aching from being
battered against brick walls. She had fled that place the
moment she could move again, unable to stand her ground
against the pain that came from inside.

Of course, the professional part of her was aggravated by
the fact that she must have left a trail anyone with eyes in
their head could have followed. The bloodstains and chipped
bricks would have been a dead giveaway, as would the
half-ruined fire escape that had made itself inconvenient to
her and subsequently been ripped up by the Dragon Claws.

Draco lay in a huddled curl on an apartment rooftop, her
bloody hands pressed to her chest. The dull throbbing in
her fingers was almost indistinguishable from the sharp,
stabbing pain in her chest. It felt rather like a broken
heart, but she would never have admitted to such a
romantical notion right now.

*You disgust me.*

The bloodtrail stopped with a twisted, mangled, violently
abused fire escape. Beyond that, there was no further sign
that she'd passed that way in any of the directions he'd
hastily checked. Frowning, Nephrite returned to the sheared
and warped metal, forced himself to relax and open his
senses. Too much time being locked up in a Terran body with
only that one ability allowed him; he'd practically
forgotten about the other powers in his arsenal. Scanning
outward with his mind, he searched for her, somehow knowing
that she would be close.

*Pain... Dull and throbbing, sharp jagged twinges...* His
own heart ached at feeling her reduced to *that*. How
stupid and careless he'd been. Utterly stupid. Utterly
careless.

Using that agonizing despair as a beacon, a sullen red beam
of light guiding his way, Nephrite once again called upon
his power to teleportation to whisk himself to a new
location. Finding himself on a rooftop up above the city
streets, the cool night air ruffling his long hair and dark
cape, the brilliant stars high above and glimmering down on
the scene, he sighed in complete misery the moment he laid
eyes upon her.

That overweening pride was gone. She seemed a huddled,
broken mass, no longer the vibrant, aggravatingly arrogant
and self-confident woman he'd come to love. And he'd
managed to do it, just by saying something in haste and
anger. Swallowing his own pride, the Gemlord slowly walked
over to where the Senshi lay curled up in obvious distress.

Recalling her taunting words, the ones that had disgusted
him so, he softly murmured, "How about my heart, Siolan?"

She knew he was there. In the Negaverse, there were times
when she could have awakened from a sound sleep in an
unfamiliar room and pointed unerringly to his location.
What bothered her was that she didn't know exactly why he'd
come back to find her now. The fresh wound in that
vulnerable place within her throbbed painfully as she waited
for another cruel blow, something that would kill forever
the last scraps of a caring spirit that remained to her.

His gentle words caught her off-guard, just as his harsh
ones had before. She lifted her head slightly, opening her
eyes to gaze at him.

Ye gods, he was magnificent in the starlight, somehow more
real, more *alive* than she had ever seen him, and a soft
sweet ache blossomed beneath the painful gash in her soul.
She forced her voice to emptiness, wary and uncertain of his
motivations. "Don't mock me, Nephrite. We're not the same
people we used to be. Why should you offer to pay me in
*that* coin?"

Starlight continued to shine down on them, on him, as he
swept his jade-green gaze over her. Maybe it was a trick of
what light there was, between the stars he'd called on to
show him things and the bright, artificial lights erected by
mortal hands to stave off the shroud of the night, but there
seemed to be an echoing pain there on his face even though
she was sure his jaw tightened in that way it always did
when he got annoyed with something.

He crouched down then, lowering himself to get more to her
level, that emerald-lined cape pooling into sable darkness
beneath him against the roof of the apartment building. "Why
do you feel my offering you my heart is a mockery of you?
The currency isn't good enough for you, then? What would you
want from me, Siolan?"

Before she could reply, he was speaking again, now looking
obviously annoyed. But his words made it clear that it was
himself that he was angry at, not her. "Though I'm sure
there's nothing in this world or any other that I could
offer you to make up for what I've just done. I'm sorry."

He hoped the apology would be enough. The words came hard;
it had been a very long time since he allowed himself to
even acknowledge responsibility for anything negative
happening to another. The last time he had done so, it had
been to a grief-stricken, young Terran girl, and he had
wanted her to know, before what he thought would be the end
of it all, that he truly was *sorry*.

He felt the same way now, wanting to take back his stupid,
hasty words and make it somehow better for her. So many
mistakes . . . He shook his head slightly, long mane of
auburn hair sliding against his caped shoulders. "I'm sorry,
Siolan. I hope you can find it in you to believe me."

Draco watched his face for a long moment, her golden eyes
expressionless, unreadable. Then she pushed herself up on
her elbow, reaching out to touch his face; her glove left a
smear of her own hot, dark blood on his skin. "I never,
ever heard you say 'I'm sorry' before. Not once." A
slight, rare smile flickered across her lips. "That was
almost worth the price of admission all by itself. And you,
by the way, look spectacular in that outfit."

Sitting up on her heels, she pushed the heavy mane of red
hair back behind her shoulders, wincing as she moved her
fingers. "Well, Nephrite. If you want to help the little
lightning-tosser, we'd better get moving. I left her facing
down Kunzite when I took you out of there. And by the
way...?"

She grabbed his collar and pulled him very, very close.
"Can you explain what in nine screaming hells *happened* to
you? You were a *Terran boy*, and now you're not, and
either I get some answers or we're going to have a fight
that makes the arguments we *used* to have look like
schoolyard tiffs."

The Gemlord's immediate reaction was to stiffen up, the
lines of his body taking on a haughty, offended tone. How
dare she think she could just yank him around as she
pleased, especially after he'd *apologized*, especially
after he'd told her he'd give her his heart, *especially*
after he'd been hit and interrogated by Lita and then
skewered by Zoisite? The light in his eyes turned hostile,
brittle, but Nephrite fought back the anger. When he spoke,
his low, richly-toned voice was pitched at a conversational
level. "Yes, Siolan, I can promise you some answers, but
this isn't exactly the time or the place. The Inner Senshi
need help, and they need it now. Please... Just trust me
for once? And while you're at it, could you please let me
go?"

It was almost endearing, seeing the dark-clad man acting so
noble. Almost.

"I need to return to the chapel at home and find out what's
happened to Jupiter. If Kunzite's taken her, I need to try
to rescue her. If he somehow managed to not get her, then I
need to meet with the Senshi and find out just what's been
going on," Nephrite added, his gaze continuing to meet the
antique-gold one of the woman holding him by the collar of
his ebony jacket.

Draco watched his expression change; the corner of her mouth
curved in a dusky smirk. He always *did* have a bit of
pomposity in his character. She'd found it entertaining to
puncture his ego now and then, just to keep him from getting
too full of himself.

"I always did trust you, even in the Negaverse." She pulled
him a notch closer by his collar, her lashes shading her
brilliant eyes suddenly. It wasn't one of the hard,
aggressive kisses that he was used to getting from her; this
was a light, delicate butterfly-kiss, a teasing, tempting
stroke of her lips across his. *Then* she let go of his
collar. "Just for old times' sake, I'll actually let you
take the lead. Let's go."

Of all the things he expected her to do -- after all, he was
well aware of her obstinacy, her need to control and
dominate; he was *still* amazed that he felt anything tender
toward someone with her personality -- *that* was one not
even on the list. At the tug on his clothing, her face
getting closer, he'd closed his eyes in response to the
gradual inability to keep her smirking visage in focus.
That petal-soft brush of her lips sent an almost
electrifying tingle down his spine; were it not for that, he
would have sworn he'd only imagined such a gesture. In many
ways, just that little action, so seemingly out of character
to the Siolan he remembered from centuries past, drove home
her observation that they had both changed. Perhaps it was
the truth for them both.

He was still just a bit dazed when he felt the pressure on
his jacket holding him in place disappear, though her words
sent a spark of his old, easily-ignited ire flaming through
him. *How *generous* of you,* he mentally responded, though
the continued tingle on his lips from the contact with hers
kept him from actually uttering the words.

Shaking off the aftereffect, Nephrite softly growled,
irritated at himself for being so easily affected by
something as minuscule as a feather-light kiss. "Well, then.
If you're going to tag along, can you do so under your own
power?" His words had something of a sneer to them; his
pride was still wounded that she'd kept the fact that she
was Sailor Something-or-Other secret from him all those
centuries. "Or will I have to club you over the head and
drag you off by your hair?"

Draco laughed -- his slightly dazed expression was *worth*
the growly tone -- and grandly slipped her hand into the
crook of his elbow. "Don't make offers that excite me
unless you *want* to forget about finding Sailor Jupiter,
handsome. Let's go."

It seemed almost the most natural of things for her hand to
be there, so casually placed, though neither one of them
really paid attention to the drying dark liquid staining her
green gloves and most likely being smeared against the black
fabric of his uniform jacket. The sultry little purr that
slipped into her voice made Nephrite even more aware of her
presence there, and part of him wondered if she was still as
good as she had been all those centuries ago.

However, the other part of his mind was already reaching out
across the distances, making that mental connection between
*here* and *there*. Letting the comforting power of his
inborn energy swirl around body and soul, he opened himself
up to the transfer.

Light flared around them both -- around her -- a scintillating
radiance that was somehow soothing and exciting both. This
is what starlight would feel like, were it a tactile rather
than a visual sensation. The swirl of iridescence
surrounded her, sucking her in...

Then there was *nothing*. No sound, no sight, nothing but
the throb of her heartbeat like a great drum whose sound
filled the entire universe. One, two, then three beats
passed before she was suddenly back in reality again.

The first thing she noticed as sensation again became part
of her awareness was that she still had a hand on Nephrite's
arm. The second thing she noticed was that she was in a
place that had the hushed and peaceful atmosphere of
someplace holy. Darkness surrounded them, alleviated only
by the light of four candles, each one gleaming from within
a colored container, the dancing hued light flickering
across a bare floor. To the north, high above the flame
surrounded by emerald green glass, a rose window of an
intricate star-like design overlooked the area contained
within the church-like, sparsely-furnished room.

The place was hauntingly familiar. He'd had a room just
like this in his private quarters within the Negaverse.

"Now to find out what happened to Sailor Jupiter," the
auburn-haired Gemlord said, his voice one of the few sounds
that would never disrupt the quiet power of this place.

It was an unnervingly familiar place, but Draco felt
something... different about this chamber. The one he'd
maintained in that cavernous, sun-less realm had never felt
so *pure*, so unstained. It had felt a lot less gloomy than
the rest of the dark domain, but comparing it to here was
like matching a candleflame to a bonfire.

Her hands throbbed as she stepped away from him, and she
winced, flexing her battered fingers. She'd really done a
number on them; she knew she ought to go soak them in ice,
but it didn't seem like an appropriate moment to ask
Nephrite to point the way to his freezer.

A couple of steps forward, the booted feet silent in the
hushed atmosphere. Nephrite closed his eyes and bowed his
head, starting to slow his breathing. *Take one deep breath
in and feel the ambient energy begin to fill you, let that
breath out slowly, feeling any tension, any disturbance of
your harmony drain out with the breath. Take another breath
in, deeply, feel the energy...*

Something... wasn't right. It was a something that poked
and prodded at him, keeping him from easily centering
himself. A corner of his mouth turned down; the sensation
was a hauntingly familiar one, but one he couldn't place
right away. Somehow, somewhere, he'd sensed this before,
but for the life of him...

Abruptly the auburn-haired man turned, found himself gazing
at the redheaded Senshi. The words were out before he even
had time to think on them: "Something's wrong with you..."

Before she could protest, before she could deny his
statement, he was there at her side, strong hands grabbing
her by the wrists, lifting them up so that he could gaze
down on her verdant-gloved hands.

Darkness stained them, and he remembered the trail he'd
followed -- broken masonry, twisted metal and drips and
smears of blood. Blood. She'd hurt herself. *That's* what
he was sensing, the pain her injuries were giving her. Yes,
that made sense... It was a part of this power that had been
reawakened after so long, a part that searched for pain from
injury, disease or poison in order to combat it head on, to
make whole and healthy again that which no longer was.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Nephrite asked, still holding
her wrists in the grip of his hands. "Or is it only here?"

Draco blinked, surprised. It wasn't as if he'd *seen* the
blood on her gloves; there was something else going on here.
It actually took her a moment to recover from her
startlement and answer. "That's it. Kunzite threw me
around a bit, but those are just bruises, nothing
dangerous."

"This shouldn't take overly long," he replied, eyes closing.
Within him, this newly awakened power surged and churned,
the need to make her whole again creating a somewhat
insistent demand. It frightened him, just a little, to
sense this part of himself becoming demanding after being
strangled into oblivion for so long. Even so, the mastery
of it came back to him easily enough.

His hands began to become limed with that silvery-green
radiance that seemed to be the true manifestation of his
powers; Draco could see the faint glow there in the darkened
chapel. Then came the warmth, flowing out of him and into
her, the pain in her torn and abused fingers giving way to a
rather pleasant-feeling tingling. She could sense
*something* happening within, that warmth and tingling
turning to an almost itching sensation, even as the heat
from him continued to flow through her, searching,
seeking...

In his mind, he could see how the tissues should be,
*willed* them to mend themselves back into the pattern they
should have as dictated by her genetic code. Though hidden
by the fabric of the green gloves, Nephrite knew that the
lacerations and abrasions were fading away as new tissue
replaced that which was lost or damaged. Other things wrong
came to his attention; as she said, most were just deep
contusions, and they too were efficiently handled by the
power that surged through him in its quest to heal.

It was swiftly done, the Healing not needing to be an
extensive one. Slipping from the trance-like state, Nephrite
let go of Draco's wrists and took a step back, opening and
blinking his eyes as he went about the business of
reorienting himself.

He'd forgotten just how *good* Healing could make one
feel...

"What shouldn't take..." Draco cut herself off, feeling
that odd, warm tingling. She stared at him mutely, then
looked down at her gloved hands, *knowing* that the torn
flesh was sealing, the bruises fading. The sensation was
startling; it had been literally hundreds of years since the
last time she had received magical treatment. Never would
she have imagined that her Negaverse lover could possess
that power...

Her voice was only a whisper as he stepped away. "Who are
you really, Nephrite?"

Jade-green eyes stared back at her; his jaw set again in
that hardness that gave away his sudden irritation. "Not
now, Siolan. Any other time, I'd happily indulge you, but
right now..."

A shake of his head, that magnificent mane of his swirling
slightly around his face and shoulders, and then he walked
away, back to the center of the hushed chapel. He faced
north, toward that emerald-covered flame, toward the rose
window, toward what looked like some sort of altar -- Draco
could see it as a small rectangle of what looked like dark
stone, about waist high, a velvety-looking cloth of one of
the most gorgeous shades of dark green she'd ever seen
draped over it -- there against the wall opposite the
doorway into the sacred space.

He was a dark shadow there in the flickering candlelight,
and she could hear him take a couple of deep, slow breaths.

"The movement of the stars knows everything."

His simple sentence was voiced with a conviction that
brooked no challenge to his apparent belief. But it wasn't
until he took a deep breath and continued speaking that she
even realized that he was performing some sort of ritual.
And as he spoke, Draco watched in fascination as the chapel
darkened even more, the space in the center of the room
becoming filled with the moving, living and breathing image
of what seemed to be the star system in which this planet --
Terra -- resided, the stately orbits of the nine planets
against the background of the stars of the Zodiac projected
there for them to see like some sort of great cosmic dance.
And the sound... She couldn't quite place it, but the
impression she would always have later was that she had
heard every sound imaginable voiced together in perfect
harmony into a song that filled the entire universe with a
crystalline pure melody that defied all description save a
very pale expression as "aum".

"I call upon the planet Jupiter, stately ruler who oversees
expansion, opportunity for new growth and one's talents..."

Within that vision of the dance of the stars, the orbit of
the largest Solar planet began to pulse with a verdant
light, the astrological symbol for the planet glowing
greenly in the heart of the illusory sun.

"Show to me your warrior, mighty Jupiter," Nephrite
continued, mind holding the image of the girl he knew was
the Senshi of that planet, his will reinforcing his desire
to locate the ponytailed brunette. "Give to me her current
location."

The miniature sun in the center of the vision, still shining
with the Jovian glyph, began to pulse, a heart-like rhythm
that seemed to keep time with that awesome, ageless music.
Then a beam of emerald light shot forth from the center of
the vision like an arrow, striking the deep green stone in
the center of the silver circlet Nephrite wore around his
head. Draco heard him gasp, then give voice to a
barely-heard moan and in neither case did she get the
impression that the sensation was *unpleasant* for him.
Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Ah yes... Lita Kino, otherwise known as Sailor Jupiter, the
Energetic Warrior," the black-clad man finally said, his
deep voice holding a note of triumph. Within the heart of
the planetary vision, the redheaded Senshi could see an
image of the tall girl form. It appeared as if she were
talking to a number of other girls -- two blonds, one with
black hair, one with short blue hair -- her actions animated
and agitated both, even though the vision didn't appear to
come with any sound.

A flash of movement caught her eye; in the darkness,
Nephrite's white-gloved hands moved to either side of his
body in what seemed to be a gesture of dismissal, for the
entire illusion of the dance of the planets and the song of
the stars faded away after that, the illumination level in
the chapel rising to what it was before the auburn-haired
man had intoned the phrase that had started the ritual.

With a faint purr of satisfaction, Nephrite turned to smile
a bit at his visitor, the location of the girl who was
Sailor Jupiter set and held in his mind. "I need to pay
Lita and her friends a visit. You can either stay here and
amuse yourself, or come along for the ride. You might get
some of your questions answered if you tag along, but
otherwise, I just don't have time to give you any
explanations at all."

The corner of Draco's mouth curled slightly at the
less-than-acceptable impression of those words.
Intellectually, she was still awed and intrigued by what
she'd just seen, but her temper was quick to rise at the
note of dismissal that seemed to lie within his tone.

"I'll go with you, Nephrite." She paused before landing the
below-the-belt shot. "After all, we saw what happened the
last time you tried to help Jupiter." She flicked a hand
pointedly toward her own shoulder, in about the same place
he'd been stabbed. "You obviously need someone to watch
your back, and there isn't a single living soul on the
planet who's likely to be as good at that as I am." It
wasn't really a boastful tone; it was the matter-of-fact
self-confidence that she'd always had.

Just like that, the smile he'd directed her way vanished,
replaced by a look of smoldering anger. Without a word, he
quickly crossed what little distance there was between them.
His hand darted out, grasping the wrist of the hand that had
indicated where he'd taken the ice sword through his
shoulder, his grip not exactly a gentle one.

"As you wish," he snarled, then mentally crossed that
distance between *here* and *there* once again. For three
heartbeats, nothing existed to Draco's senses, but the
moment she was solidly returned to reality, the mysterious
man had turned loose of his hold on her. Turning his back on
her, long cape flaring out with a gleam of emerald and
silver, he started walking through the grounds of the Shinto
temple. Let her come as she chose; this would be as far as
he'd take her at the moment.

If he kept behaving like this, he was going to have to put
his little mission aside. Arguments *did* have a certain
effect on her, after all, and the manifestation of that was
definitely hormonal in nature.

She timed it well; the flare of his cape got it out of the
way long enough for her to swat his backside. "Temper,
temper, handsome." Glancing around, she frowned slightly;
this place did seem oddly familiar somehow...

Yes -- now she remembered. She'd sensed the movement of the
Negaverse in this world again, and come looking for its
source. Jadeite had been here, if she recalled correctly;
she had avoided the amber-eyed blond general like the
plague, but kept tabs nevertheless.

Cherry and ginkgo trees were artistically arranged around
the immaculate landscaping that was intended to promote the
harmony of the place. Like many areas of worship, the
Cherry Hill Temple was well cared for; it was a natural
beauty that spoke to Nephrite even as he walked among it,
mind focused on something else. Of course, the pat on the
rear was both an annoying and exciting little distraction.
Stray thoughts flickered through his mind, of the tumultuous
reconciliations that had always seemed to be the sequel to
one of his heated arguments with the redheaded mercenary
that had been assigned to his command.

As much as that sent a spark of anticipatory desire through
him, he knew he needed to concentrate on this. Storming up
along the immaculately swept walkway, Nephrite reached the
double doors that lead into the temple and gave them a push.
They opened soundlessly, giving him entry into the sacred
confines of the building.

There was a slight, wicked smile on her lips as she
sauntered after him. He seemed to know where he was going;
she'd let him lead in this little dance. Afterward, maybe,
there'd be time for another sort of dance...

Once again, he mentally cursed the distraction the Senshi
following him represented. With the awakening of his true
self, the Cosmos was a myriad of conflicting and confusing
sensations. The sanctity and quiescent power of the place,
the emotions of those within, the ever-present song of the
stars -- all of it filled him now, colored his every
perception, showed him just how lifeless he'd become as a
soldier of the sunless Negaverse.

For once, he truly understood how one could be dead yet go
on living.

Voices came to him: youthful, vibrant, feminine. Scanning
over the area with his jade-green gaze, Nephrite found he
couldn't immediately see the source of the sounds.
Discovering another set of double sliding doors before him,
he grabbed the wooden frame of one of them and slid it aside
as well.

"You mean to tell me that Nathan took the blow for you?" a
girl with long, sunny blond hair, the part of which would
have been framing her sweetly pretty face tied back with a
bow of red ribbon. She was intently focused upon an
agitated-appearing, but essentially unharmed, Lita, as were
the other three teenagers in the temple sanctum. Amy and
Serena were the only two he immediately recognized; the
third female was a sophisticated-appearing beauty with long
black hair and was wearing the white and red outfit of a
temple priestess.

"Yes, I did," he responded, answering the blond stranger's
question while striding confidently forward into the
sanctuary. The crackle of the sacred flame was suddenly
very evident in the silence that descended upon his
entrance.

Behind him, Draco swept into the room as well, making for an
imposing sight as she took up a watchful spot behind the
auburn-haired man. She couldn't help but mentally smirk at
the expressions on the teenagers' faces.

The quintet of girls rose as one, shifting positions to
loosely arrange themselves in a semi-circle, facing the
black-clad man and his imposing, redheaded companion. That
they were utterly astonished at the appearance of the former
general and the strangely-dressed woman was agonizingly
obvious by the expressions on their youthful visages and the
tone of their feminine voices.

"Nephrite!"

"What's he doing here?"

Who's that with him?"

The Gemlord kept his own expression neutral as the girls all
spoke at once. However, one particular question caught his
attention, fixed his focus there.

Lita stepped forward, surprise and concern evident in her
forest-green eyes. "Are you all right?"

Nephrite stooped to giving the athletic teenager a
reassuring smile. "Yes, Lita, I'm all right now."

A corner of Sailor Draco's mouth twitched downward as she
caught the look of relief that crossed the ponytailed
brunette's pretty face.

"I'm glad--" Lita began to speak, only to have the strange
Scout's gruff voice interrupt, cutting her off from saying
anything more.

"So how did you manage to get away from Kunzite?"
Antique-gold eyes narrowed slightly, keeping their gaze on
the girl.

"He turned tail and ran once we showed up to help," the
blond with the loose, sunshine-hued hair responded.

It took all of Draco's self-control to *not* roll her eyes
at the child's claim. The Dragon Senshi knew Kunzite far
better than she'd ever really wanted, and she certainly knew
him better than these children could ever know the
silver-haired general. *However,* she added, turning her
gaze to the back of the auburn-haired man standing before
her, *even I may not know any of them all that well after
all.* "I seriously doubt that."

"It's true enough," insisted the other blond, the one with
the twin ponytails topped by round buns. "As soon as we
showed up, he stepped back and then just teleported away."

"Something must be up," Nephrite commented, frowning in
thought. "That doesn't sound like Kunzite's style at all."

"So what do you think is going on?" challenged the
black-haired girl, the one that was apparently a priestess
here at the Cherry Hill Temple.

"Don't you think we'd better ask him what he's doing here
first?" argued the blond again, the one with the red bow in
her hair. "For all we know, he could be involved in all
this--"

"Then why would he try to stop Zoisite and Kunzite not once
but *twice*?" Lita shot back.

"Children," Draco said in a tone of profound boredom,
raising her voice enough to be heard over the others, "have
you ever heard the phrase 'don't look a gift horse in the
mouth'? We're here to help you. The mere fact that we
could find you and we haven't raised a hand *against* you at
this point ought to be a good indicator that we're on your
side." She studied the rings on her left hand, idly running
the tip of her tongue over her teeth. "Of course, if you
don't want our help, we'll be on our way. If you decide to
settle down and work with us..."

"Then what?" the priestess asked, violet eyes continuing to
hold a light of challenge deep within them.

The rings and the fine chains joining them to the bracelets
shimmered and flared; the wicked arcs of the Dragon Claws
flashed in the light of the sacred fire.

"Then the other side has a lot more to worry about than a
couple of teenaged girls." Draco's smile had the same
razor-edged crescent quality as the curve of her blades.

A number of the teenagers visibly bristled at the stranger's
words, looking downright offended. However, before any of
them could say something, the girl with the short, blue-hued
hair sat back down and opened up a slim, compact notebook
computer, speaking as she did so. "Assuming, for argument's
sake, that we accept your offer of help, what assistance,
exactly, could you give us?"

"He knows something about what's going on, Amy," Lita
responded, turning to face the other teen. "He knows who it
is that's ordering Kunzite around."

"Is that true?" the girl Nephrite knew as Serena queried,
her blue eyes staring at the black-uniformed man.

"Yes it is," the Gemlord started to reply. "At least, I
believe I know to whom it is that Kunzite seems to be
answering. Tell you what, girls. How about a deal? I'll
tell you what I know in exchange for you telling me what you
know is going on. Maybe between us, we can figure it out."

Though the five of them continued to look him and Draco over
suspiciously -- some of them more so than others -- the
resulting consensus after a short discussion was agreement
to his proposal. Over the course of the next few moments,
the sacred fire of the temple continuing to cast flickering
illumination on the scene and its snapping and popping
seemingly underscoring the fervent conversation, the Gemlord
and the Senshi told their tales to one another. Still
standing behind Nephrite, the fiery-haired Draco kept
silent, listening, her arms crossed over her chest and her
body in a relaxed stance.

She didn't like the story she was hearing. Apparently the
trouble seemed to stem from the ruler of Nephrite's people,
a certain Lord Obsidian -- Draco nodded slightly, realizing
that this confirmed what she'd overheard as she had
eavesdropped in on the tense conversation between Lita and
Nathan. For whatever reason, Obsidian was attacking the
girls because he needed something -- certain gemstones that
were locked away within the castles that had belonged to the
princesses the children had been back during the reign of
Queen Serenity. What made the news bad was that Obsidian
was sabotaging the young Senshi, having his flunkies Kunzite
and Zoisite mess with the magical foci of their planetary
powers. What made the news even worse was that Obsidian was
also the Guardian of Space.

That alone sent a shiver of dread down the golden-caped
warrioress's spine. The empire from which she'd originally
come -- an ancient culture now dead and gone, scattered to
history like ashes in the wind -- had known about the Vortex
Mirror and the one who watched over it. Though her people's
legends had hinted at Lord Obsidian having godlike powers,
there were only a couple of things that the Dragon Senshi
knew for sure about the shadowy Guardian. The first was
that he was supposedly the physical incarnation of Space
itself, that no place that existed was closed off to his
ability to access it. The second thing was that he was a
champion of Order, his actions always being directed toward
the preservation of the universe against the forces that
would tear it apart.

That he seemed to be thrashing the young planetary warriors
of his home system disturbed the hell out of her. "It
doesn't make any sense," she insisted, her antique-gold gaze
shifting from the quintet of teenagers to stare again at
Nephrite.

"Regardless of how it looks, there has to be a *reason*,"
the black-caped Gemlord responded. Running the fingers of a
hand through his thick, wavy hair, he racked his brains in
an attempt to discover what the Guardian of Space could be
attempting through these actions. "Are there any special
properties to these jewels?"

The *tick-tick-tick* of fingers dancing over a computer
keyboard filled the pause. "According to my database," Amy
answered, "those stones are supposed to hold strong focusing
abilities for their corresponding classical Element."

"That's why they were locked away," Raye added, violet eyes
staring off into the shifting flames of the fire as a stray
memory came to her, one from a very long time ago. "Legend
had it that they were what remained of the primal forces
that had created all matter, those forces becoming frozen
into stones as their energies cooled."

Mina nodded, blue eyes widening slightly as something of a
remembrance hovered at the very fringes of her recall.
"That's right. Anyone who controlled all four at the same
time would supposedly have enormous power over physical
matter, so the jewels were separated, kept safe from anyone
wishing to misuse them."

"So those affiliations explain why three of the four stones
were located in those particular castles. What about the
yellow one?" Lita inquired, leaning back against the wall,
her arms crossed over her chest. During the course of their
exchange of information, a part of the ponytailed brunette
recalled seeing an emerald in a hollow in the Sacred Oak
that grew within a special chamber that she *knew* awaited
them all there in the heart of Io Castle, floating high
above the turbulent surface of the planet Jupiter. That had
been long ago, when she had been someone else... "The ruby
in the Sacred Flame of Mars, the sapphire in the Blessed
Fountain of Mercury, the emerald in the Sacred Oak of
Jupiter..."

"That would lead one to expect that the final gem would be
found in the castle of the princess affiliated with the
Element of Air," Draco stated. But before she could add to
that, having thought of something further, the intellectual
girl with the short hair spoke up.

"Unless that pattern's too obvious and wouldn't keep the
gems safe from anyone determined to collect them and use
them." Amy frowned slightly, tapping out a few more keys on
her compact, portable computer.

The fiery redhead growled softly under her breath. "I was
just about to say that myself."

"Well, unless we have something more to go on, we're going
to have to take a wild guess whether we're dealing with a
bluff or a double-bluff," the auburn-haired man stated,
sweeping his jade-green gaze over the six females there.

Draco shrugged, settling her hands on her hips. "In the
absence of further evidence, we might as well assume that
the pattern's going to hold true as-is. Unless, Nephrite,
you ever heard Obsidian talk about these gems before?"

A shake of his head in the negative emphasized his answer.
"Never. I didn't even realize that these stones existed in
the first place."

The black-bodysuited Senshi's mouth twisted wryly. "Well,
then, even if *we're* wrong, it'll still accomplish the
expected result if *he* happens to be wrong as well. We'll
still catch him red-handed, and hopefully with his pants
down. Figuratively speaking, of course." Her gaze settled
on Mina. "What this particular pattern suggests, correctly
or not, is that the fourth stone's in the royal residence of
Venus. Before we do anything in that direction, though..."

She looked at Raye, then Amy. "I suspect we ought to work
on fixing what's already broken."

"I have an even better idea," Nephrite stated. "Since it's
actually the stones Obsidian wants, not necessarily the
girls themselves, how about you and I get the other two
stones first, then restore the powers of Mars and Mercury?
If nothing else, it'll take the heat off the Senshi."
Stepping forward, he stared at first Mina, then Lita,
jade-green eyes lingering on the tall brunette for a moment.
"What do you say? Will you help Sailor Draco and I get the
stones?"

"What exactly are you suggesting, Nephrite?" the ponytailed
teen asked, her forest-green gaze meeting that of the
dark-clad man's.

"I'm suggesting that you and Mina both trust Sailor Draco
and I enough to take you to your respective castles and let
us into those protected chambers."

"If we gets those gems first," the redheaded Senshi added,
sure she knew exactly what the gorgeous Gemlord had in mind,
"that'll turn Obsidian's focus away from you." Of course,
she didn't like the idea of that focus falling on Nephrite,
not one bit. But she could certainly handle the attention
the Guardian might toss their way.

"Precisely," the low-voiced man confirmed. "So what say
you?" His gaze swept over the four there, almost pleading
them to accept. He knew they were actually very capable as
Senshi, but this was *Obsidian* they were discussing, and
the Elementals may even now be beginning to rediscover their
true natures.

One by one, the teenaged girls turned their gazes to one
another, uncertainty and wariness on their faces. "What do
you think?" Mina asked.

"I say we go for it," Lita emphatically replied. "He's
helped me out already twice, risking almost everything. I
trust him."

Nephrite smiled at that, feeling a deep sense of relief that
the athletic brunette truly trusted him. He felt vindicated
now, and eager to show them all that he truly had changed.

The smile on Draco's face cooled just a bit as she caught
the very pleased expression on the auburn-haired man's
visage.

"Well..." Serena began, looking from one girl to the other.
"I'll admit, he's actually done nothing but helpful things
since his return--"

"Are you *sure* you can restore what was taken from us?"
Raye demanded, cutting the twin-ponytailed girl's words
short.

"It's more than likely just a matter of restoring the
balance of the sacred objects that were messed with," Draco
replied, casually inspecting the way one of her skeletal
gauntlets reflected the dancing firelight. "Either way, you
can count on us for two things: we *won't* mess with the
tree and the whatever-the-hell is there in your castle,
Mina, and we'll certainly do our best to fix the fire and
the fountain."

Amy closed the cover of her laptop, then stood up, keeping
it in the grasp of a slender hand. "We're no worse off than
before. After all, at least we have some idea who it is
we're facing. And if Sailor Draco and Nephrite here can
restore our Scout powers, then we're certainly better off
than just standing around and waiting for Obsidian to try
again."

"All right then," the sunshine-blond teenager finally said,
turning her azure gaze to the former Negaverse general and
the newly-discovered Scout, "I'll agree to let you into the
sacred chamber of Magellan Castle."

"You know I'll let you into Io Castle," Lita swiftly
replied, stepping toward the black-clad man.

"Not so fast," the redheaded Senshi softly growled, striding
forward and planting herself between Nephrite and Lita. "We
better our chances by splitting up. This Obsidian just had
his prize taken away from him. I'm betting on him making
another attempt at you, Lita. Therefore, you and Raye can
come with me. I'll handle anything that pops up."

"Draco..." Nephrite started to protest, reaching up and
resting a hand on one of the golden pauldrons that armored
her shoulders.

"It's not worth a discussion, Nephrite," the
black-bodysuited woman insisted. "You don't want your Lord
Obsidian to know your whereabouts, correct?"

"Yes, but--"

"No buts," Draco said. "Even if Zoisite tells him about you,
you're better off not putting yourself into the line of
fire. Take Mina and Amy with you. If he tries to get Lita
again, I'll deal with it." She wickedly grinned, winking an
antique-gold eye at her beloved. "You know I can deal with
just about anything, handsome."

He didn't like it; the scowl on his face betrayed his
dissatisfaction. Even so, he knew she was more than likely
right. They stood a better chance trying to get both stones
at once as well as restoring both foci simultaneously.

"What about me?" Serena piped up, looking a bit put out.

"Yeah, what about you?" Raye responded, walking over to the
blond with the twin buns. Before anyone could protest in
anger at her rather sharp words, the raven-haired priestess
continued, "We need someone here to hold the fort, Serena,
and to be back-up in case they do try to do something. If
you're here, then they won't know that we can get you to
help out." Turning to face the strange Scout and the former
general, the fiery girl's violet eyes narrowed slightly.
"Isn't that right, Nephrite, Sailor Draco?"

"Is *what* right?" the redheaded Senshi asked, voice having
an edge of annoyance to it.

"You and Nephrite will come fetch her if something happens
and she's needed," Raye clarified.

"Yes, of course," Draco replied, her tone switching to
boredom as she continued to admire the cool, metallic gleam
of the Dragon Claws. Anything to get this show on the road.
These girls sure knew how to fritter away time.

"See?" the Shinto priestess said. "You're our
ace-in-the-hole, Serena."

"All right. You can count on me," the blond teen replied,
nodding in agreement, her pretty face set in an expression
of serious determination.

Silent and watchful, a tall, dark form stood in the shadows
near the partially open door. Beyond, the flickering of
firelight illuminated the scene that had been expected, of
the teenaged girls gathered together. From this vantage
point, however, only the figures of the young Terrans could
be seen. The voices, however, confirmed the presence of two
others.

"Then it's settled," the dark-uniformed Gemlord stated,
gesturing with a white-gloved hand toward the group. "I'll
take Draco and the first group--"

"No need for that, handsome," the gold-caped Senshi quickly
responded. "I can take them under my own power."

Nephrite frowned, turning his jade-green gaze to the
redheaded woman. "Something else you neglected to tell me?"

"You never asked. Besides, you've always just grabbed and
teleported in the past." Draco gave him a wicked little
grin, one that was intended to show him both that she wasn't
about to be sorry for anything he assumed in the past and to
drop him the hint that this wasn't worth getting upset over
-- especially with what she had in mind as consolation.

Growling softly under his breath, the Gemlord suppressed the
urge to say something scathing. Instead, he held a hand out
to Mina and Amy. "Come on. Take my hands and let's get
going."

"Raye, Lita, if you would?" Draco said, golden eyes focused
on the two for which she'd be responsible.

Stepping back away from the rest of them, Serena watched,
blue eyes wide, as first Nephrite, Mina and Amy disappeared
within a shimmer of what looked to be silvery-green
starlight, and then her other two friends and the strange
Scout faded away in what looked like something that could
only be described as spatial origami.

"Good luck, everyone," she murmured to herself, folding her
arms over her chest. Hopefully, they'd all be back soon,
with nothing untoward happening.

She never realized that something untoward was about to
happen to her until it was far too late.

Serena took a step, turning her back on the area from where
the others had apparently teleported. Movement caught her
eye; looking up, suddenly startled, she had no time at all
to react to the dark figure that was abruptly *there* like
some vengeful spirit. A hand closed around her throat, not
hard enough to cut off her air but certainly firm enough to
give her the impression that whomever it was that had her
was strong enough to easily overpower her. Blue eyes wide
in terror, she looked up into the eerily placid face of a
man.

He was ungodly handsome, just as he seemed to be ungodly
strong. Eyes as black as night, as cold and hard as
diamonds, stared back at her from a face as gorgeous as an
angel's, a visage framed by a mane of hair as dark as his
eyes. Under the silken strands of his bangs, Serena could
see a silver circlet adorned with a single cabochon gem of
ebony hue. For a moment, she thought she was seeing the
Lord Obsidian everyone had been talking about, but for some
reason, her mind remained fixed on the metal of the
stranger's circlet. Obsidian supposedly had a golden one.
This one was silver, the shining white metal accenting the
darkness of the man's hair and clothing.

Shivering slightly, her mouth suddenly dry, she continued to
stare up at the elegant man that towered over her, her hands
instinctively reaching up to try to pry his unyielding hand
from around her throat. However, that was availing her to
no effect at all; his cool-skinned hand remained as
immovable as stone.

"The redheaded woman," the dark stranger demanded, his high
baritone smooth, the tone more than enough to give his words
the edge of command despite their being softly spoken, "who
is she?"

The blond girl swallowed hard, her slender fingers remaining
curled around the man's wrist just beyond where his
silvery-gray sleeve cuff encircled him, the fabric brushing
against her hands. That same silver-gray relieved the utter
blackness of the man's clothing around his neck, down the
length of the front of his tunic-like shirt in a wide band
and along his broad shoulders in equally wide stripes. The
rest of his outfit, from the best she could see in the
flickering illumination of the firelight, was a shadow of
sable: mid-calf-high boots into which were tucked slightly
bloused trousers, pants that were loose enough for movement
but not loose enough to be a hindrance and a belt around his
waist that sported a silver buckle. "S--s--sailor
D--d--draco," Serena finally stuttered out.

The stranger merely nodded, as if that was the answer he
expected. "Where did they go?"

Large blue eyes continued to stare up at him in fright. The
ponytailed girl hesitated, a hand leaving his wrist and
drifting downward. Determined to remind the young Terran
who was exactly in charge, the black-haired man gave her the
slightest of shakes, tightening his grip just enough to let
her realize that he could probably snap her neck with little
effort.

He'd probably do it too, before she had any chance at
reaching her brooch, let alone call upon her lunar powers.
Those glittering, hard-as-diamond eyes continued to bore
into her, seemingly reaching to the very core of her.
Shuddering in fright, the teenager blurted out, "The
castles."

"What castles? You'll need to do better than that."

Feeling the fingers of the stranger tighten a bit more,
Serena gasped. "Let go! You're hurting me!"

"Answer my questions," the ebony- and gray-clad man quietly
said. "What castles? And I don't like having to repeat
myself."

"Io... and Magellan..." the teen choked out.

"What are they doing there?"

Serena hesitated again, shivers going down her spine. If he
was another one of Obsidian's lackies...

The shake the dark-haired man gave her was a stronger one.
He wasn't going to tolerate her holding back. If she only
had some reassurance that she could be faster than him,
she'd grab her brooch and try to transform. It was an
almost sure bet that the stranger could seriously harm her
before she could even get the magic words out of her mouth.

A downturn of the handsome man's expressive lips. She was
only making him angry. Closing her eyes, Serena whimpered,
"The stones... They're getting the stones..."

"One at a time, or at the same time? And be quicker with
your answers. I'm not overly fond of waiting either."

The blond swallowed hard again. There wasn't anything she
could do, other than answer him. "Same time."

"Ah. Two teams then. Where did Draco go?"

"I--io C--castle."

The dark stranger loosened his grip just slightly, but not
enough to give Serena any hope of being able to break free.
He seemed momentarily lost in thought, the black eyes
seemingly looking *through* her for a fleeting second.
"Hmm..."

A sound of rushing air, a bright streak of red and green.
The helpless teen felt a sudden rush of hope as her azure
gaze caught sight of a flying rose, the stem striking hard
against the stranger's hand that was holding her in its
grasp. Amazingly, the verdant missile was deflected by what
seemed to be the stranger's own skin. With a solid sounding
*thuk* the rose embedded itself into the floor of the Shinto
temple, red petals bright in the illumination of the
firelight.

"Only cowards pick on little girls," came a voice,
authoritative and masculine.

Serena's eyes lit up with happiness. *Tuxedo Mask!* Here
was true hope at last. He'd certainly save her, like he'd
done a number of times before.

"How about picking on someone your own size?" the voice
continued.

The dark-haired stranger's jaw tightened. That botanical
missile hadn't scratched his skin, but it had still been a
rather stinging annoyance. Well, then, this was yet another
development to handle. Handle it he would.

As swift as any serpent striking, the tall man went into
action. A shift of his grasp just so, perfectly applied
pressure to just the right spot, and the blond Terran was
out like a light after the briefest of struggles. Letting
her slim body slump to the wooden floor, he turned on a
booted heel, then leapt for the source of the masculine
voice.

At the door to the sanctuary stood a noble figure, athletic
form clad in a perfectly-tailored black tuxedo, a white mask
around eyes as blue as the ocean and a sable top hat perched
gallantly atop a raven-haired head. A white dress shirt
under an equally snowy waistcoat, along with white gloves
were the only things relieving the blackness of the
newcomer's outfit, save for the bright red lining of the
cape that swung jauntily from his shoulders. Seeing the
other man coming his way fast, Tuxedo Mask stepped aside,
pulling his walking stick out from under his black cape.

*Time to take out the would-be hero in the asinine formal
wear,* the taller stranger thought to himself, making a grab
for the dark cloth of his new opponent's flaring cape.

Tuxedo Mask retreated swiftly, twirling his sable,
silver-tipped walking stick before him, keeping it between
himself and the other like a shield. This one moved fast,
making him just a bit more wary.

Just how fast was almost instantly demonstrated. Black eyes
narrowing, the circleted stranger made a grab for the
twirling cane. The black stick abruptly stopped, a slender
baton between the two of them.

As the taller man tried to pull it from his white-gloved
grasp, Tuxedo Mask grit his teeth and twisted the cane just
so. A mental command and the sable rod abruptly lengthened,
catching the other man square in the gut.

Lightning reflexes went into play. The stranger grabbed the
telescoping cane with both hands, setting his feet apart to
widen his stance. Long, long years of training took over as
he set the muscles in his abdomen to brace against the force
of the walking stick even as he relaxed the rest of himself
to work with the momentum, to be the reed that bows to the
wind and not the ridged tree that breaks. The moment he
stopped sliding across the temple's wooden floor, he
tightened his grip on the now pole-like weapon and proceeded
to do his best to divest his foe of it. An instant of
concentration and he could see the pulsing, flowing glow of
energy around the tuxedo-clad man, a shifting, faint, wispy
fire of blue-green.

Tuxedo Mask set his jaw, blue eyes narrowing in
determination. The other man remained standing, holding
onto the telescoping cane, two developments that he hadn't
quite counted on. Worried about the continued stillness in
the sanctuary of the temple, he braced himself for any
attempt to wrestle for the silver-tipped weapon and flicked
his ocean-blue gaze to the still, blond form that remained
lying there on the other side of the room. *Serena...*

*Now!* The stranger saw the aura dim, a temporary lull in
the other man's power. Muscles moved in perfect harmony,
channeling a strength beyond any ordinary human. The cane
was ripped free of the short-haired man's white-gloved
grasp, the size diminishing as swiftly as it had gained it
once it was free of its owner's hands. In the same fluid
move that had torn weapon from foe, the black-haired
stranger tossed the now normal-sized walking stick aside.
It clattered to the wooden floor and rolled away even
further as the two males sized one another up for the next
exchange.

Each of them wary, they kept their gazes locked on one
another, black and blue, each equally determined. Wanting
to reassure himself that his beloved Serena was all right,
Tuxedo Mask began inching his way slowly toward her,
circling in order to keep an eye on his opponent. The
dark-clad stranger circled as well, elegant hands before him
in an almost relaxed yet guarded pose. Boots scuffled
lightly across the wooden surface of the flooring, soft
sounds in the tense stillness.

Some unspoken signal passed between them, a mutual attempt
of two warriors each looking to best the other. Black and
black, silver-gray and white, the pair of men dashed
forward, meeting in the center of that invisible circle.
Tuxedo Mask made a grab for the other's clothing; the
stranger quickly turned and stepped, presenting his side --
and therefore a smaller surface area -- to his foe even as
he dodged the attempt. Reaching out himself and connecting
with sable and scarlet cloth, the stranger twisted a fold of
his foe's cape around his hand. Planting himself, he gave
the cloth a sharp tug.

Pivoting with the momentum brought about by the yank on his
outfit, the tuxedo-clad man lowered a shoulder and charged
forward. The impact between the two was solid, forcing the
stranger to step back. Still holding his fistful of cape,
his body weight set again, the stranger made a grab for the
same pressure point he'd used to quiet the Terran girl. A
flash of movement catching his ocean-blue gaze, Tuxedo Mask
jerked backwards, away from the attempt. Elegant fingers
caught on white cloth; top hat and mask fell silently to the
sanctuary floor to lie like forgotten toys.

A momentary sense of recognition flashed over the
circlet-adorned stranger. *I've seen this one before...*
However, no name came to him, and the still-determined glare
the young man gave him left the stranger little time to
wonder who among all those he'd met in the past this
dark-haired warrior could be.
The unmasked man elegantly spun, again using the hold on his
cape as a pivot point. As he swung back around to face his
opponent, he followed through with a toss, a single,
long-stemmed red rose materializing in his white-gloved
hand.

For just an instant, a memory filled the stranger's mind, of
a flash of crystal flying through the air of a battlefield,
of excruciating pain before profound darkness. *Not again!*
The stranger jerked his head to the side. Even feeling the
thrill of fear making a ripple in his otherwise calm
concentration, he forced himself to obey his orders. Only
Draco was to be eliminated; anyone else he was to do as
little damage as possible.

The flowery missile embedded itself in the wall of the
sanctum, a few strands of glossy, jet-black hair caught in
the thorns, even as the stranger jerked his foe harder
toward him. His other hand connected, just as he had hoped
it would, and he used the spike of energy his fear had given
him to reinforce the grip on the pressure point.

It was over swiftly. Taking a breath to regain his calm
center, the raven-haired stranger let go of his downed foe,
letting the young man's body drop to the floor. Both
Terrans would recover in a short amount of time, but he was
planning to be long gone by then.

Io Castle, the child had said. Draco was there, attempting
to take away one of the stones needed by Lord Obsidian.
Something of a cold smile settled on the man's angelic face,
even as his form swiftly disappeared from the crown of his
dark-maned head downwards.