Hands Fall Together by Kihin Ranno

Part Six: Blood Debts

It was a strange thing to live in the Dark Kingdom. Its secluded location in the wilds of a frozen wasteland made required nearly all of the population to remain hidden underground, where warmth was hoarded and trapped as desperately as the energy they harvested. There was no outside world for those denizens. The number of youma who ventured to Tokyo was miniscule in comparison to the rest of the population, and very few had ever been exposed to the elements for a long period of time. The brief exposure was enough to make them want to avoid it at all costs.

That was nothing compared the storm and fury of the Queen's rage.

Beryl's scream echoed throughout every corridor and chasm within her fortress. Some would later claim that the walls shook and cracked, while others would say that their blood ran so cold they could see their breath hanging visibly upon the air. The cowards fled, while the courageous immediately journeyed to the throne room where they would hear just what had caused her outburst.

Whether cowardly or courageous, the Shitennou had no choice but to respond.

Kunzite, Zoisite, and Nephrite arrived at Queen Beryl's feet just seconds after they had found cause to go to her. Not a one of them dared to speak first, but merely kept his head bowed and his fist closed tight to his chest. Not even Kunzite questioned her, though this was out of wisdom, not fear.

Beryl was on her feet, a remarkable occurrence in and of itself. Usually, no matter how enraged she became, Beryl did not rise. A monarch was not meant to exert herself in such a manner. But now it seemed that whatever had happened had been enough to make her want to pace. Perhaps it meant she was angry enough to take it out on her citizens.

Several groups of youma began to quietly take their leave of the room, but Beryl would have none of it. She thrust out her hand, shooting dark magic out at the horde. It impacted the wall above them, causing significant damage to it and several of the youma standing at rather unfortunate spots. No one else tried to move.

"You would be wise to stay," Beryl spat, her jaundiced eyes flashing violently. "What I have to say concerns you as much as my Shitennou."

Now reminded of propriety, Beryl drew herself up to her full, imposing height. She looked out at her demons and at her generals and told them the news, her voice steadied with a forced calm, but still quaking enough to fill them all with fear. "Jadeite, the second-in-command of the Shitennou has done a great disservice by me. He stood before me a short time ago and assured me that with the help of Tetis, one of my most valued and trusted subjects, he would be able to bring me the heads of those who threaten our mission and our very way of life. He promised me that he would not fail again... and he has fallen short once again.

"The assassin Tetis lies dead at the hands of Tuxedo Kamen and the Sailor Senshi."

The uproar from the crowd was immediate. They had lost other sisters to, but never had they lost someone as important as Tetis. She was one of their most revered and most powerful. The younger demons had idolized her and the older ones had always treated her with the utmost respect, regarding her as a kind of elder in spite of her youth. Her close ties with the Queen herself had ingratiated Tetis to her own kind, advancing her status in a virtually classless society.

And now she was dead.

Nephrite could not help but stiffen at the dissonant cries that reached his ears. He had seen packs of youma driven to feral anger before, but he'd never had his back turned to them. He knew that the lot of them would most likely be no match for even just the three Shitennou standing there in head to head combat, but most warriors for the Dark Kingdom had been taught to ignore any rules of engagement if they knew of them at all. Zoisite also looked nervous, but, much to Nephrite's annoyance, Kunzite didn't even twitch.

"I value the Shitennou above all others," Beryl explained, silencing the crowd instantly. "But Jadeite has disgraced us for the last time."

Nephrite felt his jaw tighten in a knee jerk response, one that came too quickly for him to examine it. Even without the aid of the stars, he knew what was coming.

"I hereby proclaim that Jadeite is as good as dead to the Dark Kingdom," Beryl snarled, waving her hands about dramatically. "No one who wishes to remain in my good graces, and therefore remain alive, is to grant him solace. He is a failure! An incompetent! A disgrace to our lot! He is as good as a traitor for what he has done in destroying Tetis!

"Therefore, I order that if any of you should see Jadeite hiding in my kingdom, you are to destroy him! You are to murder him without mercy! Bloody my walls and tear him to shreds! Leave his carcass to rot in the darkest corner of hell! Burn him from my memory and purge him from this Earth! Kill him, and avenge your sister, Tetis!"

Beryl's rousing speech had the appropriate effect on her lower subjects. Nephrite had been present for a number of other situations similar to this. Kunzite had had several underlings back when he had been running London operations. If they hadn't been killed by Sailor V, Beryl had condemned and killed them rather publicly. Every other time, Nephrite had regarded the ritual with a cool distance. After all, what did he care if some incompetent or another was killed? It set a clear example to everyone else, and, as far as he was concerned, got rid of all the riffraff.

But this was different. This was Jadeite.

Nephrite dared to turn his head in Kunzite's direction, perhaps expecting him to speak up as he had done so many times before. Kunzite had risen to Jadeite's aid in the past, but for reasons Nephrite could not fathom, Kunzite held his tongue, glancing at him askance. As usual, the man betrayed nothing, a quality that Nephrite found increasingly exasperating.

Suddenly, a voice rose up from the crowd behind them. Nephrite recognized it as a youma who Kunzite had used in his London operations. One that Sailor V had not killed, but blinded with her crescent beam, rendering it useless as a warrior or anything else for that matter. He still wasn't sure why it was kept around, save for the fact that it was one of the elders, one of the few monsters who had fought in and remembered the so-called Silver Millennium. "Why should we wait for him to come back when we all know he's too afraid to do that? Why don't we find him and kill him? Why not avenge Tetis now?"

Before the horde could get behind this idea, Beryl spoke, her voice grave and quietly threatening. "No. Absolutely no one is allowed to go out and find Jadeite.
We will wait for him here."

"What if he doesn't come back?" Zoisite asked. Nephrite looked at the man out of the corner of his eye. No one else seemed to notice, but Zoisite was having a hard time remaining solemn in front of the queen. Nephrite knew that the fourth king would love to be laughing at Jadeite's fate. He was no doubt already celebrating his impending advancement in the ranks.

Nephrite very much wanted to kill Zoisite for revelling at the loss of a comrade. More so than all of the other moments where he'd wanted to kill him, and that was saying quite a lot.

"Let him bring about his own destruction," Beryl said coldly, retaking her seat upon the throne. "He has nowhere to run. Our enemies will find him if he does not seek them out himself. I don't care how he meets his end, so long as it is met."

Nephrite somehow stopped himself from shaking his head in disgust. Yes, Beryl had a tendency to kill those who proved themselves to be less than useful, but Jadeite was different. He was far more valuable to them than all of the youma put together. Doing away with him was foolish in Nephrite's opinion. This was merely the Queen blaming Jadeite for Tetis's death, as if he had been the one to choke it from her. There were hundreds of youma to take her place, but Jadeite was an irreplaceable soldier. Nephrite would not see him cast aside because the Queen's affections lay elsewhere.

"Queen Beryl," Nephrite began, his voice inappropriately condescending.

Perhaps to prevent Nephrite from joining Jadeite in the Queen's low regard, Kunzite interrupted Nephrite before anything could really begin. "We must take our leave now," the leader broke in smoothly. "If we do find Jadeite, we shall do as you bid. Good day, your majesty."

With another bow, Kunzite vanished from the court. Though the silver-haired king had not so much as sent him a glance, Nephrite knew he was meant to follow, and though he wanted to stay and argue his case in front of Queen Beryl, Nephrite knew better than to keep Kunzite waiting. So, Nephrite bowed and followed his superior's example, leaving Zoisite on his own.

He reappeared some rooms away in the Shitennou's meeting place, an area hidden from the demons. Nephrite often met Kunzite there when important matters needed to be discussed where prying eyes could not find them. He was rewarded for his assumption, spotting his superior immediately.

"Kunzite, surely you see that this is lunacy," Nephrite spat impetuously. "Tetis was an assassin. Jadeite can do far more good than she ever could."

His leader looked very tired, holding a hand up to his temple. "I am aware, Nephrite. But what would you have me do? Queen Beryl's mind has been made up."

"You've changed it before," Nephrite pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders. "What makes it different now?"

"The difference is that Beryl doesn't even care enough to kill him herself," Kunzite informed Nephrite. "She is leaving it up to the youma or Tuxedo Kamen or any other being capable of doing the deed. Before she has always wanted to wring his neck with her own hands. She's apathetic."

Nephrite raised an eyebrow. "That was apathy?"

Kunzite nodded slightly. "She's mourning Tetis's loss, as much as she can mourn. Jadeite, on the other hand, she couldn't care less about."

Nephrite still wasn't entirely sure that he understood his leader's point, crossing his arms in front of his chest and walking forward. "Does that really make it impossible to change her opinion?"

Kunzite paused, perhaps considering the best way to go about answering his query. A moment later, he said, "The problem is that she's probably already erased him in her mind. He's dead to her, and I lack the power of resurrection."

After pondering this for a moment, Nephrite thought he was beginning to understand. He was still surprised and even a little irritated that Kunzite was not even going to bother to try, but he understood the man's point of view. Jadeite was as good as gone. Besides, both men were well aware what questioning Beryl's decisions could do given her current state of mind. Neither of them was particularly eager to sacrifice himself for Jadeite's sake, and so they would keep silent.

But it still didn't sit well with Nephrite.

"I'm beginning to think that Queen Beryl had it out for Jadeite from the beginning," Nephrite voiced boldly, causing Kunzite to raise his head. "She's always had a shorter temper with him than any of us."

"That's because she expects more from Jadeite than she does from you or Zoisite," Kunzite explained, paying no attention when Nephrite bristled at the implication that he was somehow incapable. "She has lower expectations, but she always expected Jadeite to do much better than he did." The look on Kunzite's face seemed to suggest that he had expected something similar.

Nephrite regarded Kunzite with a mild amount of annoyance and perhaps a bit of envy. Not that he would ever admit it. "She doesn't treat you that way."

"That's because I meet her expectations," Kunzite responded with something of a wry grin.

Nephrite shut his eyes, his fingers tightening against his forearms. A moment later, he said, "Is that why she gave Jadeite the impossible task of killing a Sailor Senshi in one go?"

"Beryl did not give him that assignment."

Nephrite opened his eyes, surprised in a way that he had not been in a very long time. He was arguably the most intuitive of the Shitennou, so it was very hard to shock him. Kunzite was one of the few people who could do that, for not even Nephrite's eyes could read the grey general's motives. "What?" he asked, his voice a bit louder than he intended.

Kunzite straightened and looked Nephrite directly in the eyes, and the auburn-haired general could tell that he had an express purpose in imparting this information. "The order came from me. Beryl had nothing to do with it."

Nephrite felt his mouth fall open for a minute, but he closed his jaw quickly to avoid gaping. "You?" he repeated, as aghast as he had ever been. "But you said that Queen--"

"I told him that because I knew that it would make him far more desperate than if I had given it to him," Kunzite interrupted, still holding Nephrite's gaze. "He saw me as the man who was sparing his life, and that was my own fault for agreeing to do it so readily. At the time, I saw it as a necessity. I considered Jadeite to be a valuable part of our arsenal."

Nephrite stared for a moment. Kunzite had wanted to make him desperate? Kunzite had made him frantic! Nephrite suspected that part of Jadeite's ineffectualness had been due to the impossibility of his last assignment. He had been no less determined, but it did not change the level of difficulty.

"Considered?" Nephrite repeated finally, his voice tight.

Kunzite nodded again. "Jadeite failed me, Nephrite. I gave him that assignment because I knew he could handle it, and he failed. I do not support a failure."

Nephrite felt a very strange pain coming from his stomach that he could not identify. He narrowed his gaze. "And that is why you will not help him."

"Whatever the justification, the outcome is the same," Kunzite said gravely.

It was at that moment that Nephrite knew why Kunzite was telling him this. It was a warning. Kunzite was too valuable to the home base operations to spare in Tokyo just then, and there was no way that Queen Beryl would send Zoisite out ahead of him. That meant that Nephrite was going to take up Jadeite's position in the search for energy and the Ginzuishou. Kunzite was telling him that he would support Nephrite only up to a point, and then he would wash his hands of his subordinate. And when Kunzite abandoned someone, he may as well have left them tied to a pole in the middle of the ever-raging snowstorm.

"Then there really is no hope for Jadeite," Nephrite said, his voice quiet.

Kunzite nodded solemnly. "It would be wise not to forget that, Nephrite."

Nephrite understood his meaning well enough. He was not meant to interfere with or attempt to support Jadeite under any circumstance. Nephrite wanted to tell him that the sentence had been a waste of breath as he had no intention of dying for anyone's sake but his own. Instead, he returned the nod and said nothing.

And that was what Nephrite continued to say. Nothing.

-----

Jadeite reappeared blocks away from the hospital, at an alley into which he and Tetis had lured one of their numerous victims. He could not remember which one it was now, and he wouldn't have cared to spend the energy thinking about it. None of them mattered now, if they ever had at all. What did thirteen or more human deaths matter with Tetis gone?

Tetis was gone. Tetis was dead. Dead, gone. Gone, dead.

Jadeite tangled his hands in his hair, trying to rip his entire scalp from his head. He wanted to spill blood for what had been done, never mind if it was his own. He had not cut her, but her blood still stained his clothing, the black tar liquid mocking him for his incompetence. He should never have let Tetis assume control. He should never have taken her on to begin with. And he sure has hell shouldn't have slept with her.

All the same, he had done those things, and now Tetis didn't even have the luxury of a corpse.

Jadeite heard the sound of someone screaming. It was a wordless, anguished cry. The sort of sound that made one's own vocal cords ache in sympathy. It might have provoked something more if he was capable of empathy, but as it was, he wanted to curse whoever that man was and kick him until blood gushed out of his open mouth.

What did he have to scream about? What had happened to him? What right did he have to bellow as if the floor was crumbling beneath him and the rest of the world was following it to bury him with its weight? What was his guilt? What were the consequences he had to face? What had he ruined so thoroughly that he had to subject Jadeite to the torture of listening to him?

It was several long minutes before he realized that it was his own strangled voice leaping from his aching throat.

He came to an abrupt halt, his hand closing around his neck as if he aimed to choke himself. His fingers momentarily flexed and tightened, as if he had actually considered this an option. It was reflex. Muscle memory. Tetis had been right; he had killed before.

Jadeite yelled again, this time shorter as his voice couldn't take it. He spun around, curling up both of his fists and began propelling them into the wall. He punched and hit as hard as he could. He felt his knuckles connecting with the rough brick and splitting open, his own dark blood staining the stone. It hurt, and he was cognizant of the pain. It didn't stop him from moving his arms over and over again in the same motion. He didn't know when he would stop or if he ever would. He imagined Nephrite dragging him away or Zoisite taunting him from above or Kunzite calmly standing beside him until he was done. He even imagined Tetis standing beside him, blue-toned and transparent, telling him that if she had known he could feel this passionately about her, she would have died a long time ago.

He gave another cry before he fell back, slumping against the opposite wall. He sank to the ground, bleeding and panting. He stared back at where he had been, suddenly wondering who he had become.

He was supposed to be the second-in-command of the Shitennou. He was supposed to be a great soldier. Yet, he had failed at nearly every mission, botched every single assignment. He had lost his temper where once he had learned to keep a level head. He had allowed amateurs, children no less, to best him at every opportunity. He could remember a time when he had earned his position, when he had been worthy of it. He could even remember being arrogant enough to wonder why Kunzite had been selected above him. Hadn't he been just as capable? Just as ruthless? Just as strong? And now what was he?

"Now, I'm dead."

Jadeite could now say this with complete and utter certainty. If Tuxedo Kamen and his band of magic wielding concubines didn't find him soon, then agents of the Dark Kingdom would. No matter what, when either group got their hands on him, he was going to be killed, and it was not likely to be quick.

At one time, he had assumed that he could count on Kunzite coming to his defense, but he knew the man well enough to know that wasn't possible anymore. Jadeite was willing to bet that he probably knew Kunzite even better than Zoisite, though the leader's lover would have never admitted as much. He was certain that Kunzite would know when he had reached the end of his rope, and that Jadeite's time had run out the minute Tetis took her last breath. Kunzite would see no other viable recourse save throwing Jadeite to the wolves. He was loyal to the four, but no one was loyal enough to sacrifice himself. Kunzite would not convince Beryl of Jadeite's questionable worth when it would likely get him killed.

Zoisite certainly wasn't going to come to his defense either. The men had never liked each other. Jadeite had never cared for how Zoisite made his desire to advance so blatantly obvious. It meant that he was a man not to be trusted. Neither Jadeite nor Nephrite ever turned their backs to him at the same time. Zoisite was likely celebrating his imminent demise at that very moment, masking it as a toast to former brotherhood.

That left Nephrite, and while Jadeite almost dared to hope that he would try to do something, it was very unlikely that he would succeed. That was why he had been ranked below Jadeite after all. He wasn't quite as good with the execution and follow through as his superiors. All he had were his intentions, but they wouldn't do Jadeite much good now, would they?

Even if he were better at it, Jadeite knew that it didn't matter. Tetis was dead, and that was all Beryl would see from that moment on. Jadeite was shocked she hadn't already issued her decree to have his carcass brought back to the Dark Kingdom, but he knew that she had not done so yet. If that were true, he would have been dead long ago.

Regardless of her hesitation, he knew that he was doomed.

"Shit!" he cursed, kicking an empty box in the dark, dripping alley he had secluded himself in.

He ran a bloody hand down his face, ignoring the pain. There had to be a reason why he was still alive. Beryl may have been a temperamental harpy, but she could be surprisingly cunning in her fits. True, she wasn't the most forward thinking, but when it came to acts of revenge, it was different. She could be foaming at the mouth and appear barking mad, only to later reveal it had all been a ruse to bring about the downfall of another. She used her trademark fury to her advantage.

To what purpose could she be using it now? Was there something more she wanted from him, even while he was a fugitive? Was this some sort of silent order that he wasn't quite grasping?

Jadeite closed his eyes, forcing himself to relax and breathe for a moment. Her motives couldn't be too hard to deduce. All he had to do was examine the facts before. For one thing, he wasn't dead or in the process of dying. Not literally anyway. For another, he knew that no one had been dispatched from the Dark Kingdom. He would have been able to sense a youma near had they come for him. Then again, Beryl was far more likely to send one of the Shitennou to fetch him, and Jadeite could feel them as easily as his arm. They were not near, nor were they even in Tokyo to pick up where he had left off. Jadeite was all alone, perhaps abandoned to his fate…

And perhaps given one last secret chance.

If he could just kill his enemies, those directly responsible for Tetis's death, then he wouldn't be in this position, would he? No, then it would all be made right.
Tetis would be avenged and the obstacles impeding their success would be done away with. They would be able to collect energy and search for the legendary Ginzuishou without interruption. They would join Sailor V in her grave, and the remnants of the Silver Millennium would all be dead and buried as it should be.

Jadeite knew what he had to do.

-----

It was nearing dark when the four allies finally managed to make their way back to Hikawa Jinja, which Rei had put forth as a meeting place simply because of the inevitability of someone else pointing it out. They had tried to leave of their own volition, but that same orderly who had warned Mamoru of the danger had attempted to bustle him back in for readmission. While Mamoru was having a bit of a hard time, he was now able to stand on his own two feet without toppling over, and he found this to be sufficient cause for him to go home.

Ami had surreptitiously covered Luna's mouth during the entire transaction.

It had taken them awhile to get Mamoru out of the hospital. After all, given the extent of the injuries he had been dealing with the day before, the idea of him being healthy enough to leave was preposterous; however, eventually the doctors seemed to decide that he was well enough to go on his own. His head was still a bit of a concern, but he would be fine as long as he didn't bang it again. Not to mention, they needed his bed to fill with someone in far worse shape than him after the latest incident. So, they had sent him away cautiously, warning him against too much strenuous activity.

Mamoru had found it very hard not to laugh in their faces.

They were gathered in the living room of Rei's home upon the discovery that her grandfather would be busy doing his own meditation until late into the evening. Mamoru was stretched out on the couch, still suffering a bit from the last few battles he'd participated in. Luna was curled up on his chest, purring loudly enough to make him wonder if she thought that it had some healing properties. Ami and Rei took the floor, sitting on opposite ends of the low table, mirroring the positions they had found themselves in earlier that day. It was a moment before any of them said anything at all.

Actually, it was more accurate to say that it was a small piece of eternity before any of them spoke at all. No one knew quite what to say after their failure. There was nothing more to be said about it of course, and a silent agreement had seemed to pass between them that there was no need to discuss a subject that would never be resolved. This forced silence left them feeling as if there was nothing more to be said about anything, when in fact there were volumes to be spoken about so much more. Except that no one knew where to begin or how to even begin speaking.

Finally, Rei sighed fitfully, drumming her fingernails against the low table. Normally, she didn't mind silences, but this was the sort that she refused to tolerate. "I still don't understand the enemy's motives. What do they want?"

"Energy," Ami rattled off, looking none too chipper, but at the same time relieved. Finally, something else to focus on, and a new problem to solve. "But we don't know what they could possibly be using it for."

"Rei, what was Jadeite doing when you ran into him?" Mamoru asked, glancing over at the two girls.

"Gathering energy, just like Ami said," Rei answered, sounding a bit vexed with his question.

"But Tetis wasn't," Luna surmised, looking contemplative now that the subject had been brought up. "That's odd, isn't it? All the other youma were solely interested in taking energy. Murder might be a consequence, but it wasn't their aim."

"Draining their energy could kill them," Rei pointed out.

"But it hadn't," Mamoru muttered, frowning. "All of the papers said that their deaths appeared similar to the earlier victims of what they're calling exhaustion.
It's just this time they'd been sucked dry."

"Until they got to the hospital," Rei continued. "Then she just started killing people out right."

Ami took a sip of the water Rei had graciously provided to settle her nerves. "Tetis called herself an assassin. She seemed rather focused on it as a matter of fact. Just as focused as the other youma have been on collecting energy up until this point."

"Jadeite also said something about the whole thing being Tetis's idea," Rei added. "He seemed… very adamant that he not be associated with it."

"And he went around collecting energy," Mamoru mused, furrowing his eyebrows. "So clearly he thought that doing that was more important than participating in what Tetis was doing."

Rei shook her head. "I'm telling you, he wanted nothing to do with that."

Luna shifted her weight a bit on Mamoru's chest, not noticing how he winced in pain when she did so. "What made them suddenly change tactics like that and send out Tetis in the first place? If she was an assassin, then her function in the Kingdom was to kill. They wouldn't dispatch her unless they wanted her to kill, something they've never expressed an interest in before."

Ami blinked, looking up. Her gaze went a bit distant, making the room go hazy. A moment later, it clicked. "They changed their tactics when they changed their objective. They, or Tetis at least, didn't just want energy anymore. She wanted something else."

"And she didn't bother to tell Jadeite about it," Rei added. "He left a trail of people behind him. That's how I was able to figure out where he was in the first place."

"The question is, what was their new objective?" Mamoru queried, fearing he had a fairly good idea.

"Kill us, of course," Ami voiced in the same way she answered meaningless trivia questions in history class. Then she reached forward and took another, longer drink of water.

Mamoru turned to stare at Ami, his fears confirmed. He mulled over this very real possibility for a moment before speaking again. "We're in the way," Mamoru murmured. "They wanted to fix that."

"But what are we in the way of?" Luna questioned again. "What could they possibly be gathering human energy for?"

Mamoru pondered this a moment and then shrugged. "Maybe they need energy to make something work. A weapon perhaps."

Rei wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Human fuel? That's revolting."

"So is murdering innocent people," he reminded her, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're not exactly dealing with people burdened with overdeveloped senses of morality. They're evil, and there's no getting around that."

Luna flicked her tail back and forth, her whiskers twitching. "It does make you wonder. What could they need that much energy for?"

"Nothing good," Mamoru reiterated.

"And nothing small," Ami added wearily. "I... I've been doing some research lately. Trying to shed some light on what's been happening. Tokyo is apparently not the first city they attacked."

The other three in the room sat up when they heard this, silently prompting the girl to continue.

Ami didn't frown, but she didn't look particularly thrilled to be imparting this Information. "It wasn't highly publicized for obvious reasons, but I was able to access some information not generally released to the public with the mini-computer." Ami cleared her throat, perhaps embarrassed at admitting to less than legal transactions or maybe just preparing herself for what was likely to be an unpleasant explanation.

"It seems that from November of 1991 up until a few months ago, there were frequent 'strange occurrences' in London. It was just the same as it is here. People reported incidents of seeing monsters stalking the London streets, and shortly thereafter, people began turning up at the hospital, victims of apparent exhaustion. Eventually, the demons began to get a bit more obvious in their attacks. At the time, no one was acting against them."

"At the time?" Rei repeated. "You mean someone did try to stop them?"

Ami nodded. "And they obviously succeeded." She paused, twiddling her fingers for a moment before she spoke again. "This is the part where I haven't quite managed to distinguish between urban legend and historical fact. After the attacks on the city began to get more and more frequent, people started filing more reports about seeing something else entirely. They said that a monster would be about to attack them, when a girl appeared and fought them off."

"A girl?" Luna asked, her ears picking up. "Another Senshi?"

Ami swallowed. "Well... You see, people said she called herself... Sailor V."

Mamoru raised an eyebrow, scoffing a bit. "The cartoon character? Do you think maybe they'd taken a few blows to the head?"

"It's actually possible," Ami pressed, clenching her hands together. "You see, Sailor V wasn't even created until after her creator had vacationed in London. Many speculate that she heard about the legend of the phantom warrior, or that perhaps she was rescued by Sailor V herself." Ami looked up, and upon seeing the looks she was being given, she pressed on without pausing again. "Whatever the case, and whether you believe that bit or not, I can tell you that her alleged presence seemed to slow down the progress of these attacks considerably. Fewer people were being hospitalized, but more were phoning Scotland Yard and even Interpol about the masked heroine who had saved their life."

"It could have just been a reverse form of mass hysteria," Rei dismissed.

"And it could be a true sighting," Luna countered, her ear twitching until Mamoru reached over and scratched it for her. "We are looking for two other Senshi. It's possible that she's one of them."

"Well, she isn't doing us much good now, is she?" Rei asked, sounding mildly resentful of the idea that there was another Sailor Senshi avoiding the duty she had been dragged into.

"You said earlier that she had succeeded," Luna interrupted thoughtfully. "How did she get them out of London?"

Ami sighed, rubbing her temple and remembering the hours and hours of frustrated, fruitless research that had left her with nothing but speculation, conjecture, and possibly the insane ramblings of an obsessed fanboy. "That's where everything gets very unclear. You see, the Sailor V sightings and these attacks seemed to stop at around the same time, but no one is entirely sure how that came about or even if the two events have any connection at all. In fact, from what I can tell, the attacks stopped when Sailor V disappeared, not the other way around."

Mamoru sat up a little, intrigued. "She disappeared? You mean... she just vanished into thin air?"

Ami shrugged. "There's some speculation that she was killed and somehow took the enemy down with her. Obviously we know that isn't the case since we're dealing with the leftovers."

"Is it the leftovers?" Rei asked, her voice shaking a bit. "Or is it the main assault?"

"I don't think we've suffered the whole of their capabilities yet," Mamoru suggested grimly. He reached up and started petting Luna again, gleaning some sense of comfort from her. "If what Ami says is true, then they basically have an endless supply of youma at their disposal. They could probably raise an entire army against us if they wanted. In fact, I'm rather surprised they haven't. I don't think the human race would stand a chance if they launched a direct, frontal assault."

Rei grasped at the necklace she was wearing, pulling the charm back and forth across the chain. "Then why haven't they? It's obvious that we wouldn't be of much use in that sort of battle, and our armies aren't prepared to deal with them. Especially if there are more youma like Tetis around."

"I suppose that's what they need the energy for," Ami said nervously, sounding a bit ill herself.

Rei and Mamoru paled to match Ami's current pallor, exchanging worried glances with one another. That was not the sort of thing anyone wanted to hear.

Luna swallowed and said, "Do you have any idea of how close they are to achieving their goal?"

Ami took another gulp of water before she spoke. "In the seven months that the Dark Kingdom was active in London, nearly three thousand of its residents were subjected to some sort of attack. I should note that those are just the statistics that Interpol actually released, though they masked it as the delusions of people suffering from acute exhaustion. I won't get into the probabilities of how accurate those numbers are."

Mamoru, who had taken a class in statistics the year before, felt his mouth go dry. "What about here?"

"Nothing official has been released, and I haven't been able to get my hands on much that isn't so official," Ami admitted. "But I do know that people are starting to admit to there being several, smaller scale attacks that occurred prior to the Osa-P incident. They date all the way back to mid-April."

"April!" Rei gasped, her eyes widening. "But that means that--"

"It means that they'd already begun shifting their base of operations," Mamoru marveled. "They infiltrated slowly, and no one bothered to take notice. They may have been chased out of London, but that didn't matter. They never intended to stay in London."

Luna shook her head. "But then why did they go there in the first place?"

"There must be something else they want," Ami said. "Something even more important than the energy."

Rei straightened, glancing out the window to the city outside. The moon was just beginning to rise, chasing the sun below the horizon and beginning to cast a ghostly light over the metropolitan city. "And it must be here."

-----

Mamoru had not slept well that night. As a matter of fact, he had been entirely incapable of sleeping until four in the morning, only to wake up three hours later.
When Luna asked him what was wrong, he said that it was the pain. They both knew he wasn't being entirely truthful, but she held her tongue for once and left him to his thoughts.

The revelations from the impromptu meeting were not welcome. He did not want to think of how the enemy, the Dark Kingdom (whoever they were), had done so much damage to an unprotected city. Additionally, he did not want to think about how its sole protector had been a girl rumoured to have been even younger than Ami and Rei if Ami's research had any basis in fact. And he certainly did not want to think of the possibility that she had died, especially if she had been an ally. He almost hoped that she hadn't existed at all, but then what did that mean for London?

Even that wasn't comparable to the havoc that Tetis had wrought upon the hospital and several other perfectly innocent bystanders. He should have been ready for it. They had been killing the youma, so it made sense that the youma would begin to strike back accordingly. He should have figured on it, should have counted on it, should have come up with a plan to stop it – something!

Of course, the rational part of his mind told him that he was being ridiculous. As Luna had stressed, he didn't have that kind of power. Mamoru didn't have that much power at all.

Yet another part of him, the part he had a tendency to ignore in all other cases but this, told him that he should have been able to do something. No amount of silencing or stifling could make him forget about it.

In spite of his insomnia, he didn't pull himself out of bed until noon. Even then, it was a slow, slightly painful process. Mamoru flexed his stiff muscles and popped a few joints, massaging the shoulder he had injured the day before in his haste to be of aid. He was a little sore, but otherwise, miraculously fine.

Ready in case something else happened.

Luna felt the bed shift beneath her, her eyes popping open at the first sign of movement. By the time she was done stretching, he was done inspecting, so she felt free to speak. "I take it you're feeling better?"

Mamoru didn't answer immediately because he wasn't, not really. But she wasn't talking about what he would have been talking about, so he really had no choice but to answer an affirmative. "Well enough."

She nodded in approval and hopped off the bed. She began to pad into the kitchen, but paused when she saw that he wasn't following her. Luna gave a little sigh and turned back, stopping once she was at his feet. "Mamoru..." she began cautiously. "I'd never be arrogant enough to say that I know how you feel."

"Thank you," he muttered sincerely. He'd always hated it when people said that. He probably would have been more than a little miffed to hear it from a cat.

Luna bowed her head for a moment. "Mamoru, I saw a lot of death in the last days of the Silver Millennium. I still don't remember that much, and I certainly don't remember it clearly. I do know that the fall was painstakingly slow. We would not back down, and they would not relinquish. The last days of the Moon Kingdom were filled with horror and gore and unspeakable amounts and kinds of death.

"And I couldn't do anything but watch." She closed her eyes, recalling more with each passing moment. "I was a guardian, not a warrior. Though I knew something of the arts of war, I did not know enough to be of aid to the Senshi or the Queen. I helplessly watched hundreds, thousands of people die without cause and without ceremony."

Mamoru swallowed, suddenly realizing how much worse it had been back then when the enemy had been at full strength. He could almost hear the screams and sounds of crumbling foundations in his ears. For a moment, he thought he did, and then convinced himself that he was imagining things.

"It doesn't make sense, Mamoru," Luna intoned. "It doesn't, and it's never going to. You can wish it away as much as you want, and you can blame yourself as much as you want. It doesn't change anything." She looked up, her liquid eyes flashing. "Action is the only thing that changes things, and unlike me, you're capable of that."

Mamoru stared at her for an immeasurable amount of time. Then the corners of his mouth turned slightly upward, not really smiling, but it was a much needed change. He bent down and patted the cat fondly on the head. After a moment he said, "I'm taking a shower and then heading over to see Motoki."

He didn't say it, but he thought of how much better everything would be after he spoke with Motoki. The blond had that talent.

"He's important to you, isn't he?" Luna asked, not necessarily chiding, but with some odd tone in her voice that made him wonder if she disapproved.

Mamoru narrowed his eyes, looking over his shoulder and questioning, "Is that a bad thing?"

Luna shook her head. "Not at all. But..." she trailed off, unsure of what more to say. "Sometimes those who are close to us are the ones who suffer."

Mamoru regarded her for a moment before nodding in understanding. He did not answer her, but instead turned and walked into the bathroom. Before he opened the door, her voice interrupted him again. "When you go, don't forget to take the communicator."

Mamoru paused, glancing back to the endtable in the hall where he had the new device next to his keys. After they had arrived at the conclusion that there was indeed something in Tokyo that the enemy was after, Luna had taken the opportunity to suggest that the group remain in constant contact. She had given them each a device that passed as a calculator under some amount of scrutiny. Of course, someone was bound to wonder why Mamoru had a pink calculator, which was why he never planned on having it out in public if he could help it.

"Right," he answered, shutting the door behind him.

Minutes later, he was standing under a stream of scalding hot water, his forehead pressed against the tile. The pipes were squealing from the heat and force of the water, but he put it out of his mind. He just breathed and repeated the same words like a broken record.

"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this."

He hoped that saying it enough would make it true.

-----

Usagi had been in something of a funk ever since Mizuno Ami had, for whatever reason, stopped talking to her. Her friends had tried to convince her that Ami wasn't worth her time, but Usagi had never had anyone go to such lengths to avoid her before. She didn't see the girl genius at lunch, in the hallways, or even in the toilets. The only evidence of her existence was her continuous ranking at the top of their class. Otherwise, Usagi might have wondered if the girl had dropped off the face of the Earth.

However, Usagi's mood was considerably brighter that day. In fact, Usagi could not recall a more perfect day. There was a spring in her step, and she had a very upbeat song stuck in her head. She had even been able to stay awake during the classes she all but brought a pillow for in advance.

And it was all for the sake of her dear little brother, Shingo.

The shorter boy groaned comically, whirling around to glare at his older sister. He curled up a fist as if restraining himself from hitting her with the full extent of his rage. "Do you have to keep singing that annoying song over and over again!"

Usagi looked down at him, surprised at his attitude. "Shingo, I will have you know that this song is absolutely beautiful. It's about true love and soulmates and--"

Shingo rolled his eyes. "Usagi-baka. That song isn't about love at all! You don't even know all the words."

Usagi huffed indignantly. "I do so know all the words! Those are just my favorite lines!"

Shingo didn't seem at all convinced. "Yeah, right."

Taking on the role of the older sister, and therefore the more powerful of the two siblings, Usagi leaned forward, prodding Shingo in the chest with her nail. "Look here, Shingo. Mom already explained to you that I am in charge today. That means that you have to do exactly what I say, or I'll take you home and you won't get to see Mika at all today."

Shingo's eyes widened in shock. It seemed he had either forgotten about this part of the bargain, or he had never expected Usagi to implement it in the first place. He had begged his mother to let him go over to his friend Mika's house that afternoon, finding that she was suddenly less receptive to the idea. Ikuko had at last agreed when Usagi was made a chaperone for the event and instructed to take the children anywhere they wanted to go as long as Shingo behaved himself.

After a moment, his glare melted into a pout as he kicked the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe. "I don't see why you have to come anyway. Everyone knows that I'm the good kid."

"Do you WANT to go home?"

Shingo sighed, exasperated. "Fine. You're the good kid, but that still doesn't change the fact that I never needed a chaperone to go over to Mika's before. Why do I have to have one now?"

Usagi wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question, so she wound up stammering for a few minutes. Shingo soon became tired of this and turned his back on her dismissively, shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts and muttering to himself.

The truth was, Ikuko had told Usagi exactly why Shingo needed a chaperone the night before when the subject first came up. After all, at the time it hadn't necessarily been Usagi's idea of a good time either.

"But Mom!" Usagi had whined, sticking out her lower lip in what she felt was an utterly irresistible facial expression. "I don't want to hang out with the brat all afternoon! I have important things to do!"

Ikuko had looked nonplussed. "Oh. Such as?"

Usagi had looked up at the ceiling and began counting them off on her fingers. "Well, I need to see if Mrs. Osaka decided to have a jewelry sale again, I have to go to the arcade, I have to get some ice cream, and I'll probably have detention again for-- I mean--"

"You will most certainly not have detention again," Ikuko had snapped, waving her spatula in Usagi's face. "You will take your brother to Mika's, and you won't leave his side no matter how much he begs you."

Usagi had stamped her foot a little before she could stop herself. "But why! He's not old enough to do anything that bad."

Ikuko had frowned, her features softening into a worried expression. She folded her arms across her chest and looked down, her voice becoming softer. "It's not about Shingo doing something wrong..."

"But then what..." Usagi's voice had trailed off as she remembered those two monster attacks she'd been caught up in. She hadn't told her family about them of course, but subsequent attacks had been picked up by the media. Now the front page headlines were almost always about sightings of either the demons or one of the city's defenders - Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Mercury, or the new soldier called Sailor Mars. At first, people had treated it as sensationalism.

That weekend's deadly incidents at the hospital had changed everything. No one could deny the truth any more. Usagi had heard that two of her classmates had moved away already, and another was planning to leave the following week. Everyone was terrified of this new threat to their way of life. Everyone was terrified of the unknown. People looked around as they walked down the street, waiting for one of their fellow citizens to transform into some monster not even hell could dream up. Usagi didn't greet her neighbors as she got home from school anymore. Even Crown Arcade was emptier now that the boys who went in to play their fighting video games were discovering it in their reality. No one felt safe.

"Oh."

Ikuko had nodded, knowing then that her daughter understood. She looked up, laying her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "You have to stay with him, Usagi. You have to keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble. I'm... I'm terrified for both of you now. All these monsters, people being killed... I can't let your brother go out alone.

"But I won't let him stop living at all."

That was why Usagi had agreed to go, even convincing herself that she would enjoy it. As annoying as he was, Usagi didn't know what she'd do without Shingo.

"Hey, Usagi."

She turned at the sound of her name, her face lighting up when she saw who it was. Usagi hadn't even realized that they were near the Crown Arcade, but there was Motoki, his hands in his apron pockets and a wide grin on his face. Usagi sighed contentedly, feeling her heart melt just a little bit at the sight of him. She waved cheerfully, bounding over to him in spite of Shingo's reaction.

"Oh, great. Now I'm never going to get to Mika's," he muttered, pulling the bill of his cap down over his head and sulking.

"Motoki!" Usagi squealed, ignoring her brother as usual. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Motoki said, smiling cheerfully. "Aren't you coming in today? I was all set to fix you your usual triple chocolate fudge sundae with whipped cream, cookie dough, marshmallows, cherries, and rainbow sprinkles."

Usagi's heart fluttered at the knowledge that he knew her order to perfection. "I can't today, Motoki. You see, my brother has a date with his girlfriend, and--"

Shingo turned bright red. "SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"--my mother wants to make sure they're not up to any hanky-panky. So, I graciously volunteered to accompany them."

Shingo growled, pulling at his cap so hard that Usagi was certain he was going to rip it in two. "USAGI-BAKA! You didn't volunteer! Mom made you!"

Usagi glowered at her younger brother. "Shingo, you should show some respect for your big sister."

"Well, maybe if my sister weren't such a big fat COW--"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!"

"Geez, the whole family has a set of lungs on them, don't they?"

Usagi recognized that cool, superior voice instantly and was filled with righteous indignation. She swirled around, pigtails flying around and hitting Shingo in the mouth. Motoki had to keep him from choking on the blonde locks.

"You!" she accused.

Mamoru smirked a little. "Haven't we had this conversation already?"

Usagi pointed at him now, and Mamoru could swear that her pigtails stuck straight out behind her when she did so. "You are the most irritating person on the face of the planet! You pop up behind me, insult me, and you steal my friends!"

Mamoru was about to make some snide comment or other, when the last bit of her speech caught him off guard. He blinked several times and said, "Steal your friend? When did I ever steal a--"

"I'm talking about Ami!" Usagi shouted, her voice wavering a little. "Ever since she left school with you, she's been avoiding me. What did you do, Mamoru? Did you tell her something about me that made her hate me?"

"What?" Mamoru asked, completely taken aback. "Odango, don't be ridiculous. Of course I didn't--"

"Stop calling me that!" Usagi shouted, her hands curling up at her sides so that her nails dug into her soft palms. "I've told you not to, but you do it anyway! Why? Why do you have to be so mean to me all the time? What did I ever do to you except hit you on the head with my test paper?"

Well, she had also made him late to class, drop all his papers, and lose his essay on the Bronte sisters, but he decided that now was not the best time to mention all of that. Mamoru sighed, holding up his hands in an attempt to calm her. "Look, Oda... I didn't say anything to Ami about you. I knew her from earlier. I don't know why she's avoiding you, but--"

"You're lying!" Usagi yelled again, attracting more and more attention from various spectators. She was starting to cry, which really only made her that much more sympathetic and made Mamoru feel that much worse about himself. "You hate me, don't you? That's why you told her those things about me. Isn't it?"

"I don't--"

Mamoru didn't get a chance to finish as Shingo stepped in front of his sister, folding his arms across his chest resolutely. "What have you got against Usagi, mister?"

This had long since passed the point of ridiculous. Mamoru turned to Motoki for help, but he seemed to be occupying himself by looking very intently at a cloud directly overhead. Mamoru decided to be sure to remember this the next time Motoki wanted help when he and Reika had one of their spats.

He turned back to Shingo, rather wary that the boy would decide to kick him in the shins as children his age were wont to do. He sighed and said, "All right. For the last time, I do not have anything against your sister."

"Then why are you so mean to her all the time?" Shingo asked, speaking as if Mamoru was encroaching on his sacred duty of being an annoying little brother.

"Did you ever think that maybe she's taking it too personally?" Mamoru countered.

"Did you ever think that maybe you're the one who should behave differently if she is?" Shingo retorted.

Mamoru was about to respond when it hit him again. The same migraine that he'd had during his first two battles. He clutched his head and backed up to lean against the doorjamb. He felt his veins pulsating around his forehead as pain exploded in front of his eyes. He felt everything swirling around him, slipping out from underneath him.

Something was coming.

Shingo nodded, satisfied that he'd won the fight. Then he grabbed Usagi's wrist and started to pull her off towards Mika's house, saying, "Come on. There's no point in hanging around here."

But Usagi hung back. "Mamoru?" she questioned, sounding concerned. "Are you all right?"

This drew Motoki back to the conversation. He was at Mamoru's side instantly, a hand positioned on his friend's shoulder. "Mamoru?" He narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at Mamoru's face, drawing back when he saw the shade of his skin. "Maybe you ought to go lie down. You really don't look well."

"I..." Mamoru forced out, finding it was very difficult to talk when his head felt like it was collapsing in on itself. "I think I'll just... go inside for a minute"
He handed Motoki the keys to his car, feeling that the man would need them to get himself and the Tsukinos out of harm's way should the battle take place at that spot. "Hold on to these for a minute."

"Sure..." Motoki murmured, his voice trailing off as Mamoru stumbled back into the arcade. The fair boy looked after his friend for a moment, shaking his head. "Something's been wrong with him for awhile now."

Usagi looked up at him, raising her eyebrows sweetly. "Oh? What do you think it is?"

Motoki sighed, hanging his head a little. "I haven't the slightest idea."

-----

Mamoru barely made it to the bathroom in time.

He stood coughing over the sink, leaning heavily on his palms as the world came back to him. He turned on the tap as soon as he could move his hands properly, washing the evidence of his sickness down the drain and swallowing as much water as he could hold in his palm. His head was pounding so much that he thought his brain might fall out of his ears in protest. A moment later, he looked up in the mirror at the haggard, pale face staring back at him. Well, as much as he could see anyway. The migraine was so intense that he was having significant trouble seeing straight. Everything looked lighter and fuzzier around the edges and he couldn't focus on anything without getting dizzy again.

He knew precisely what this meant. It had felt just like before the jewelry shop and plant store attacks. It was an intense pain that made him unable to see, and yet it sharpened his focus on his mission. Someone was in danger. Someone needed his help. And he couldn't ignore that for any reasons that he could drum up.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the communicator, pushing the buttons he hoped he was supposed to push. Luna hadn't exactly explained how the things worked when she handed them out, as was her way. He was rewarded when he heard Ami's and Rei's voices come over the line a few seconds later.

"What is it Mamoru?" Ami's voice came over hushed and nervous. She must still have been at juku.

"Another attack?" Rei asked, brusque and irritated. Hearing about his illness being the only basis for his call was probably not going to make her very happy.

Still, he wasn't relieved when he heard the screaming start.

"I'm at the Crown Arcade. I don't know what's happening, but it's nothing good. Get down here. Now."

Mamoru ended the transmission and looked back into his reflection, watching with growing rage and apprehension as a mask materialized over his eyes.

-----

Mere seconds after Mamoru had gone inside, the trio heard the shrill screech of tires sound out from behind them. They spun in time to see a car drive directly into a streetlamp, the hood popping open and steam emitting from underneath it. They could just make out the driver of the car slumped over his steering wheel as if he had been thrown forward by the force of the crash. People immediately began to run over to see if the driver was all right. Usagi was about to go when Motoki grabbed her arm.

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes widening at the way his face was beginning to tighten.

"The driver was like that before the car hit."

Usagi blinked, not comprehending his meaning. Then a woman screamed from next to the car as a hand shot out from the driver's backseat. It was abruptly cut off when the gloved hand closed around her neck, lifting her up and throwing her into the side of a building. The bricks cracked where she struck them. She slipped down to the pavement, leaving a streak of blood in her wake.

Usagi screamed, and Motoki instantly grabbed both her and Shingo and pulled them down behind Mamoru's car. It was big enough to give them sufficient cover from whatever was happening, but low enough so that they could still see what was going on. Motoki put a hand over Usagi's mouth, silencing her. He pulled it away after a moment, finding it wet with tears.

Seconds later, all of the spectators who had been crowding around the vehicle began to run away as fast as their legs would carry them. Most of them had the good sense to dive behind cars, buildings, or some form of cover, expecting the worst and fearing they would not be able to get away from whatever horror resided inside the car. However, a select few perhaps did not automatically assume that some demon had come to take them. Or if they did, maybe all they wanted to do was get away as fast as they could.

A faintly blue tinged light shot out of the car before the murderer emerged. Those few who had not immediately dived for cover were struck down instantly. None of them even had a chance to scream. They fell, and everyone who could still see this horror take place naturally assumed the worst.

Usagi was whimpering quietly, holding on to Shingo's shoulders as tightly as her hands would allow. He didn't seem to be responding at all. He hadn't even twitched since Motoki had dragged them behind the car.

Now Usagi wished that she had gotten detention. She wished that she would have gotten sick or found some other excuse to stay home because then Shingo wouldn't have been able to go over to Mika's house. And she wished that she had never seen that Chiba Mamoru! If he hadn't made her stop, they would already be there by now and out of harm's way.

Her anger melted away like a freak snow on a summer's day when the man from inside the car emerged. She couldn't say that she had ever seen him before, but she knew well enough to be terrified of him. With shaggy blond hair and a crazed, desperate look in his eyes, Usagi instantly felt a stab of fear inside her heart. Her body began to ache with terror. She couldn't even tremble or gasp. All she could do was stare and start to choke on her breath.

Motoki's hand fell on her arm. "It's all right," he whispered. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you or your brother."

At that moment, Motoki looked up to get a better view of the man over the hood of the car. Then Usagi looked at his curved nose, strong jaw, and set brow. Her heart lifted again, and she dared to hope. Could Motoki be Tuxedo Kamen, the masked hero who had saved her life twice now? Would he don his cape and top hat and fly to the rescue, vanquishing this enemy just like he had the others?

"Now hear this, citizens of Juuban," the man called out cruelly. "I am Jadeite, the second of the Shitennou from the Dark Kingdom, enemy of those so-called heroes you know as Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars. They have foiled me too many times now, so I will take drastic action.

"I will kill each and every citizen in this immediate area and beyond until my enemies arrive to face me for a fight to the death."

Usagi grabbed Motoki's arm, holding him to her. If he was Tuxedo Kamen, she wasn't going to let him go and possibly get hurt by this madman. Surely he was joking. Surely he wasn't really a murderer.

Jadeite glanced around, rubbing his hands together with sickening glee. "Now then, do I have any volunteers? Any suicidal teenagers out there? Anyone with a death wish?" He laughed, and it made Usagi's ears hurt. "Come now. I promise it's for a good cause. It only hurts for a minute..."

A man in a tan suit had decided to try and sneak away while Jadeite was distracted with his tirade. Unfortunately, he had severely underestimated Jadeite's instincts. The general instantly sensed the movement, fliging out his left hand. He struck this man in the back. For only one second out of thousands, he uttered the most terrible scream Usagi had ever heard in her life. She covered one of Shingo's ears on instinct, wincing and burying her head in Motoki's shoulder.

Jadeite grinned. "As you can see, it only hurts for a minute."

Usagi closed her mouth around a sob, clutching Motoki's arm with both hands. Were all those poor people really dead? And for what? What had they ever done to this man?

Why had she taken Shingo this way? Why had he insisted on going to Mika's that day? Why did she have to die now that she'd been saved twice?

"I don't want to..." Usagi whimpered miserably.

Motoki patted her head instinctively, still looking out at Jadeite. He was waiting for his opportunity to run with Usagi and Shingo in tow. However, he was not about to allow himself or his friends to end up like those who had already died. So he swallowed very hard and didn't allow himself to show that he was close to tears himself. "Try to be quiet, Usagi."

Usagi wasn't sure how she had kept from screaming this far. She felt one ready to rise and erupt from her throat, but she was holding it back. It was getting harder and harder to do, so she tightened her grip on Motoki's arm. It was hurting him, but he didn't say a word.

Jadeite sighed testily. "Do I have to go looking for you?" He shook his head, throwing up his hands in a gesture of exasperation. "All right then. I didn't want to cause more property damage than I had to, but if you insist." He turned around to a car a little ways up the street. There were two girls sitting there from the private Catholic school in the area. They were weeping openly and holding onto each other. Usagi could see that one of them was holding onto a rosary.

"No..." she whispered terribly. "No, please..."

Jadeite flung his hand out but raised it up this time. The car they were hiding behind was lifted off the ground. The girls looked up in awe and horror, emitting a shriek that could have shattered glass as Jadeite lowered his arm in judgment. The car came speeding back down, but one of the girls threw her weight forward, carrying the pair of them out of harm's way. Then they scrambled to their feet and began to run for their lives, crying out for someone to help them.

Jadeite was about to hit them again, when something even more terrible happened. Usagi hadn't been holding on to Shingo for some time now. She hadn't even been paying attention to what he had been doing. She hadn't seen the childish fear, the adrenaline pumping, and the instinct kicking in. She didn't notice when he shifted so that he was on the balls of his feet, inching over towards the other end of the car. In fact, she didn't notice much of anything until he gave a grunt, pushing himself off the car and running for his life.

"SHINGO!" Usagi cried before she could stop herself.

Of course, this attracted Jadeite's attention. He forgot about the schoolgirls and instead set his sights on this younger boy.

Motoki noticed the Dark King's attention turn. He sprang to his feet, barked at Usagi to stay down, and took off after Shingo. It was all Usagi could do not to scream for him as well, but she didn't want to mess things up anymore than she already had. So she knelt there and wept, desperately wanting to look away, but unable to so much as breathe.

Shingo was fast, but Motoki was able to catch up with him in a few long strides. He grabbed the boy and instantly shoved Shingo behind his own body just as Jadeite was arriving in front of them. Motoki glared at Jadeite bravely, still holding on to Shingo's arms to keep him from running again. He held up his chin and offered a challenge.

"Forget about the kid. Let him go."

"And take you instead?" Jadeite questioned. "How stupid your sense of honor is. And how stupid you are to ask me that to begin with. I already told you, everyone in Juuban will die if they have to. It seems you're next!"

Jadeite drew his hand back, prepared to strike. Judging by the heft he was putting into it, it would be enough to kill Motoki and Shingo in one fell swoop.

"NO!" Usagi screamed in agony, her tears catching on the wind and flying off her lashes like falling stars.

Motoki shut his eyes, bracing himself to take the whole of the blast. He would not break his promise.

Suddenly, an arrow shot through the air. Or at least it sounded like an arrow. Jadeite cried out in pain as it struck his hand, stopping the assault for the time being. Usagi could just barely make out the shape of what had hit him embedded in the pavement through her teary eyes.

A perfect red rose.

Two more larger shots of color came falling from the sky. One blue and one red.

Sailor Mercury placed herself in front of Motoki and Shingo, planting her feet and bending her arms in a battle stance. She glared at Jadeite reproachfully, her normally sweet voice lowered in disgust and rage. "How dare you harm all these innocent people just to attract our attention! Every life is important and has value! I won't forgive you for treating human beings like such trash!"

Then Sailor Mars landed in front of Mercury, holding out her left arm to block the three of them from Jadeite. Her heels clicked against the pavement, resembling the crackling fire in her eyes. She curled her lip and nearly growled, "If you wanted to face us, you should have called us out like a man instead of attacking children like a coward! You have shown your true colors, Jadeite, and rest assured, we will not forget them today!"

Finally, a great black thing floated down from the sky. It was Tuxedo Kamen, his midnight dark cape billowing in the wind. He stood in front of all of them, hiding them from view. He covered them like an eclipse, brandishing his cane in front of him. He looked furious yet strangely composed. "Jadeite, if it is a fight to the death you want, then that is what you shall get. But rest assured that three of us shall walk off this battlefield today. Maybe we won't go unscathed and maybe we'll need to drag or carry ourselves away from it, but none of us three shall die here."

Jadeite laughed, and Usagi covered her ears again. She couldn't stand that sound.

"Please! Empty threats from a scared little boy. I will be victorious today. I will carry your bodies back to the Dark Kingdom's stronghold where I will be rewarded and heralded as a hero! I will regain my place as an honorable Shitennou! You shall be my deliverance, and Tetis shall be avenged!"

Jadeite rushed forward, yelling like a barbarian, blue eyes wild and hungry for blood. Tuxedo Kamen came forth as well, brandishing his cane like a sword. It turned out that this was good foresight as Jadeite conjured what looked like a green stone sword out of midair. The duel had begun.

Mars looked over her shoulder and shouted, "Get everyone out of the area and check the ones he struck down. I'll help him until you get back."

Mercury nodded in understanding and turned to Motoki and Shingo, who seemed to have been too terrified to move. The Soldier of Ice began to hurry them away, not trusting Jadeite enough to give him an innocent target to vent his frustrations on. She pushed Motoki's shoulder and said, "Get him and Usagi out of here as fast as you can. Whatever you do, don't look back and don't wait for anyone else."

Mercury regretted using Usagi's name, but the young man didn't seem to have taken any notice of it in his panicked state. He began to move when his pale face went paler. "But my friend, he's--"

"Taken care of," she interrupted, pushing him more urgently. She had others to tend to. She couldn't spend all of her time with Motoki. "Don't worry about him. Just take these two and go. Now!"

Thankfully, Motoki didn't need any further prompting. He grabbed Shingo's wrist with one hand, reaching into his pocket for the keys Mamoru had asked him to hold. Mamoru had guessed that the trio might need to make a speedy getaway if trouble came about. Mercury stood there long enough to see Motoki pull a shaking, sobbing Usagi into Mamoru's car. She allowed herself a small sigh of relief before she went to check on the victims of Jadeite's assault, praying that he had a penchant for exaggerating.

Meanwhile, Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Kamen were having a harder time facing the one member of the Shitennou than they would have expected. After hearing that he was the second-ranked, they were not particularly looking forward to facing the first any time soon. He had clearly been trained for situations in which he was outnumbered, and he had no doubt done well.

Jadeite threw all of his weight behind his sword, twisting it so that he was no longer coming at Tuxedo Kamen from above but from below. The tip of the blade nicked his chest, causing the masked hero to throw himself back in order to avoid further, more serious damage.

Mars was quick to take his place, taking out her blessed ofunda. Her concentration was precise, narrowed, and quick, giving Jadeite no time to attack her before her violet eyes flew open. She thrust her hand out with a cry. "Aku Ryo... Tai Sen!"

Jadeite growled, lifting his heavy sword as if it were little more than a withered stick. He swung it through the air, slicing the wind and the strips of paper with ease. He heard Mars gasp and saw her stagger in shock as any hope of immediate defeat evaporated before her. Jadeite smirked, holding his sword in his right hand, leaping forward to finish her off.

A gloved fist halted his advance, catching him in the jaw. Jadeite snarled, narrowing his eyes and turning to see another of Tuxedo Kamen's hands come to do the same. The blond reached up with his free hand, blocking it and twisting it down painfully. Then his sword came up to run the man through.

He saw a flash of red come at him from out of his peripheral vision. He quickly switched tactics, kicking Tuxedo Kamen in the ribs and sending him flying in another direction. Then he brought his sword around, presumably to cut Sailor Mars off at the knee. Unfortunately, she anticipated this, uttering little more than a gasp as she kicked her other leg up, using his shoulder for leverage to propel into a back flip that only gave her narrow escape. He saw several silky black strands of hair get caught on the wind.

Before he had much of a chance to continue his advance, Mars brought up her hands and shouted, "FIRE SOUL!" Heat and flame came shooting from her fingertips, giving him only seconds to teleport out of the way. He reappeared behind her before she'd even stopped attacking, a little shaken. He came up behind her silently, prepared to finish her off dishonorably and not caring about that one iota.

"SHABON SPRAY!" The concentrated jet of water Mercury had used against Tetis the day before hit Jadeite square in the side. He shouted as he was thrown across the street, careening into a street lamp. Apparently, the girl's skill with it had improved in twenty-four hours. His shoulder took most of the impact, but it didn't change the fact that his head had struck it rather hard as well. He stood still for a moment, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

Tuxedo Kamen was about to take advantage of Jadeite's temporarily vulnerable position when Mercury's voice interrupted him. "They're alive."

Mars turned to stare at her. "What?"

"The ones he hit," Mercury said breathlessly. "They're alive. He didn't kill them."

Tuxedo Kamen twisted to look back at Jadeite, who was shaking his head to regain his center of balance. Tuxedo Kamen knew that Jadeite had more than enough power to kill those people, and he should have had no reservations about doing it. They didn't appear to have had their energy drained, but were merely knocked out. He may have objected to Tetis's actions the day before, but that was because she was ignoring the opportunity for energy collection. Now Jadeite was doing the same thing, so he had no reason to spare them. Yet he had. Why?

In the end, Tuxedo Kamen decided not to question things and launched himself forward, drawing his fist back to punch Jadeite again while his guard was down. Unfortunately, Jadeite's vision stopped swimming just in time to see the masked man speeding for him. The dark king gritted his teeth and swung his left arm around in time to catch Tuxedo Kamen's fist. Jadeite flipped the man over on to his back, smiling at the grunt of pain as Tuxedo Kamen's spine hit the pavement. Jadeite lifted the sword above his head, poised to bring it down and stab him through the heart. Luckily, Tuxedo Kamen recovered quickly, rolling out of the way just as the sword would have impaled him. He began to scramble to his feet, but not before Jadeite hit him with another blast, laying him out again.

Jadeite began to advance, seething, "I will take the most pleasure out of your death, Tuxedo Kamen. You've made a fool of me one too many times. I'll have no more of that!"

"Tuxedo Kamen!" Mercury shouted, beginning to move forward before Mars caught her arm. The red Senshi shook her head at her ally, allowing a silent agreement to pass between them. The pair turned forward, eyes narrowed in determination. They moved away from each other and began to enter in to their attack poses.

"SHABON..."

"FIRE..."

Jadeite looked over his shoulder and sneered at the two, no longer willing to participate in an unfair fight. He brought up his sword, his face contorting strangely as he swung it around with a cry. The two Senshi could do little more than stare as a blue-white ball of light larger than any they had previously seen came surging out of the blade, heading straight for them. It knocked them both back before either one of them could finish their attack.

Tuxedo Kamen could do little more than watch from his vantage point on the ground. "Mars!" he shouted, listening to the pair's screams which were abruptly cut off as they hit the ground, rolling and skidding across the street. They didn't stop until they hit the wall, both clearly unconscious. "Mercury!"

Jadeite breathed a sigh of relief, smiling to himself at his accomplishment. He laughed a bit, saying, "So nice to have them out of the way... After all, they're not really the ones I'm concerned with." His head snapped over to Tuxedo Kamen, his eyes almost glowing with hatred and rage. "You're my prey. It's just you and me, boy,"Jadeite snarled like a wild animal, surging forward, his blade and his heart longing for the taste of Tuxedo Kamen's blood.

In spite of the pain in his chest and back, Tuxedo Kamen pushed himself up, throwing himself backwards to avoid the initial slice. He took two more fortunate steps back before bringing his cane around and knocking the next blow out of the way. Jadeite came back at him with unrelenting fury, causing Tuxedo Kamen to rely very heavily on his reflexes, which were thankfully not lacking. Jadeite came at him again and again, each time with a bit more ferocity and force. The general was determined to spill his opponent's blood.

With a final cry, Jadeite leapt for Tuxedo Kamen, putting his full weight behind the blade. Tuxedo Kamen planted his feet, holding his cane steady to absorb the full impact of the blow. He was pushed back several meters, straining against Jadeite's strength. Tuxedo Kamen looked up into Jadeite's eyes, surprised by the amount of personal hatred that lay in them. This wasn't just an opportunity to gain favor back at his home. This was a personal vendetta.

"You killed Tetis," Jadeite hissed through his teeth.

"I had to," Tuxedo Kamen strained. "She was killing innocent people."

Jadeite scoffed. "Innocent. How did you know they were innocent?"

"How did you know they weren't?" Tuxedo Kamen countered bitterly.

Jadeite narrowed his eyes and pushed against him even more. Tuxedo Kamen leaned back a little to accommodate for the added weight. Jadeite saw him begin to crumble and pushed harder.

"I'm going to make you pay," Jadeite told him. "For my disgrace and for Tetis's death."

Tuxedo Kamen raised an eyebrow, repeating the question that Ami had asked the day before to someone who could answer it. "Was she important to you?"

For whatever reason, the question seemed to infuriate Jadeite. He made the mistake of pulling back when Tuxedo Kamen would have clearly crumbled in a few more minutes. He brought his sword back far, giving his opponent time to straighten up. Then he hacked in the direction of Tuxedo Kamen's neck with a cry, only to be blocked by Tuxedo Kamen's cane once again.

A moment later, Jadeite responded. "She wasn't supposed to get involved."

"She didn't seem to mind," Tuxedo Kamen hissed, remembering bitterly.

"She was an assassin," Jadeite countered. "And a damn good one."

"But was she important?" Tuxedo Kamen asked again.

Jadeite actually seemed to consider this, perhaps wondering about it himself. "She was trying to save me. It makes her important enough."

Then, Jadeite did something unexpected, and because of that, very clever. He leapt up, twisting his body so that he was horizontal in the air. It took Tuxedo Kamen off guard for just long enough to ensure that he stayed put as both of Jadeite's feet impacted with his chest. Tuxedo Kamen flew back, watching as Jadeite disappeared from in front of him. Moments later, he felt the heel of a boot come crashing into the back of his neck, sending him careening back down to the asphalt.

Tuxedo Kamen lay flat on the ground, wounded and waiting for the sword to be driven through his shoulder blades. When it didn't happen, he slowly turned his head to look back up at Jadeite. The man was standing over him, sword hanging down in as unthreatening a manner as a sword could maintain. He seemed to be pondering something, and a moment later, the man had made a decision.

"You killed Tetis," Jadeite observed again. "And I can take her vengeance for her... and ensure that she has her own."

Tuxedo Kamen had no idea what he meant by that, but he realized it wouldn't be a mystery for long. Jadeite's fist closed around his collar, dragging him to his feet. Before he was fully upright, the two warriors had vanished in a flash of dark, teleporting to parts unknown.

-----

Sailor Mercury woke up face down on the pavement. Her entire body ached, but the greater amount of pain was radiating from the left side of her body, particularly her kneecap, her elbow, and her cheek. As she pushed herself up, she began to realize that that was likely because that's where she'd hit the ground when she'd skidded after Jadeite hit her and Mars. Her arm had taken the majority of the damage. The length of her appendage was scratched up, an open wound peppered with dirt and bits of gravel. She flinched just looking at it, touching it gingerly. It was yet another thing she wasn't looking forward to explaining to her mother.

Mercury looked up to see Sailor Mars slumped against the wall, her chin resting on her chest painfully. Mercury moved over to her companion as quickly as she could, checking her pulse and everything else that she knew to check in these situations. As far as she could tell, Mars would be all right. She was covered in the same amount of scrapes and bruises that Mercury had, and her ankle was still taped from the battle the day before. Mercury had no idea how the girl had managed to move as nimbly as she had except for the idea that she had an extremely high tolerance for pain.

Mercury shook her for a moment, attempting to rouse her ally. After several moments of attempting that, Mercury peeked around and took a closer look at the back of her head. She had missed it the first time due to Mars's dark hair, but she did have what seemed to be a somewhat significant head wound. It was no worse than any Tuxedo Kamen had received, but it was enough to ensure that she would be unconscious for some time.

The blue soldier sighed, looking around the area. It was now virtually empty. Most of Jadeite's earlier victims had apparently awoken during the fight and fled, and no one had come to take their place. But more worrisome was the fact that neither Tuxedo Kamen nor Jadeite were anywhere to be seen.

Mercury was certain that neither man would leave them alone if the other had been defeated. Tuxedo Kamen would have been at their side, tending to them or at least attempting to awaken them. And if Jadeite had been left to his devices, he would not have given them the chance to wake up. That could only mean that the two had moved to a different location.

She briefly marveled at how clearly she was thinking after having been unconscious, but then she didn't have much choice at the moment, now did she?

She knew that she had to locate Tuxedo Kamen as quickly as possible. While their offensive powers were significantly lessened with the loss of Sailor Mars, now that Mercury had figured out how to strengthen her attacks, she was a bigger asset in this fight. Tuxedo Kamen definitely couldn't handle Jadeite on his own. None of them could.

How to find Tuxedo Kamen was currently the problem. It wasn't as though he could send up a flare, and while she had her computer, she very much doubted that it would be able to find one man in a city of thousands just because she asked it to.

Mercury remained on this subject for a few moments before realizing that actually, it could. It might not be able to seek him out, but it could find something that he was carrying. Or specifically, his communicator.

She quickly pulled both objects out, activating her computer's scanner to get a read on the communicator. Then she hastily typed in a few commands, hoping that the machine would be able to understand what she was looking for. A little over a minute later, a radar map of the Juuban area and beyond had popped up. It had exactly three dots on it. The first two, blue and red, were clearly hers and Mars's. It took her a few more moments before she was able to pick up on the third, and when she found it, she couldn't help but be puzzled.

"Hinode Pier?" she asked no one in particular. "But why..."

Mercury quickly decided that it didn't matter. She looked over to Mars, shaking her a bit more to see if there was any hope of her waking up any time soon. When the girl gave absolutely no reaction, Mercury decided that the best and only thing she could do was to hide the girl in an alley and hope that no one came across her. Civilians would likely stay away from the area, and Jadeite had suggested that he was no longer expressly in league with the Dark Kingdom, so it was unlikely that they would send reinforcements. Her only real concern was the soldiers who had appeared at the end of the fight yesterday. Nevertheless, she found that she had little to no choice in the matter. It was hardly Mercury's idea of a good plan, but she needed to get to Tuxedo Kamen before anything horrible happened, and she couldn't very well drag an unconscious soldier with her. It was bad enough she was moving her into the alley with her wound.

A few moments later, Mercury had Mars as safely hidden as possible. She sighed, once again trying to wake the other girl up before leaving her. When there was still no response, Mercury shook her head and whispered, "Sorry about this, Rei."

She took off running half a second later. Mercury never saw another figure emerge at the top of one of the buildings and take a watchful, silent vigil over the fallen soldier.

-----

Tuxedo Kamen felt very ill when he was thrown down moments after being picked up on an entirely different surface. He quickly recognized his surroundings as being the Hinode pier. Normally, there would have been scads of tourists and workers milling about the area. Now it was eerily empty, closed for business. It didn't surprise him in the least. A tourist had died the day before along with over twenty Japanese citizens. Of course they were all hiding or trying to get back to their homes.

He pushed himself out of the way as Jadeite began to move forward. Tuxedo Kamen's palm scraped against aging wood, a large splinter working its way into the skin. He winced, but it was hardly at the forefront of his mind when Jadeite continued towards him, swinging his sword about recklessly.

"I'll return you to the water," Jadeite seethed. "See if you can escape her reach then, Tuxedo Kamen!"

Tuxedo Kamen once again managed to roll out of the way before he was unceremoniously decapitated, but he was forced to keep on that way as Jadeite continued his advance. The sword kept swinging forward, singing through the air as a siren would call for the blood of sailors in the old legends. And as Tuxedo Kamen recalled, the blade had already had a taste of it, as the minor cut just above his heart could testify to. It came closer and closer to its goal each time, as Tuxedo Kamen had an increasingly harder time moving out of the way. He jumped back, dodged right, danced to the left, and leapt above the sharpened jade, all the while holding eye contact with his would-be killer.

Tuxedo Kamen was certain now more than ever that this was not about Jadeite reentering the Dark Kingdom. Jadeite seemed to regard that as more of a fortunate consequence of the deaths of his enemies, but it wasn't his primary goal. It was Tetis that was driving his rage. She was calling for blood from beyond the grave, and her voice was driving Jadeite insane. Just like a siren song. Jadeite would stop at nothing to give her peace.

In fact, he didn't stop until the end of the dock did. Tuxedo Kamen tripped and fell to his knees to avoid the sword. Jadeite yelled and kicked out at his opponent, prepared to dump him into the waters as he had promised. Tuxedo Kamen reached out and grabbed on to the wood surface, pushing the splinter into his palm, but stopping himself from tumbling into the bay. Before Jadeite could continue in that vein, Tuxedo Kamen was able to reach out and swing himself to the other end of the pier.

"You could make this much easier on yourself," Jadeite advised him without kindness. "You're no match for me. You know this."

"What would you suggest?" Tuxedo Kamen asked acidly, gritting his teeth. "Allowing you to kill me to end both of our sufferings?"

Jadeite nodded. "That was the general idea."

"How merciful," Tuxedo Kamen spat.

"I owe you no mercy," Jadeite snarled, brandishing his green-hued blade. "You gave none to Tetis. I see no reason to give you any more consideration."

Tuxedo Kamen shook his head. "She brought her fate on herself. She knew the consequences of getting involved with you."

"She wasn't supposed to die!" Jadeite yelled. "She was better than that!"

"If she was better, she wouldn't have died!" Tuxedo Kamen yelled.

Jadeite narrowed his eyes, swinging his sword and slicing the air with it. "Are you suggesting that you are somehow more capable than she was? You were supposed to be no match for her. She was created with a taste for blood and trained to perform no other function than eradicate our enemies. She was literally born to kill!"

Tuxedo Kamen scoffed, suddenly struck by this odd brand of naïveté. "And what do you think we were born for?"

Jadeite let out another cry and snapped forward, the tip of his blade coming dangerously close to Tuxedo Kamen's neck, in a move Jadeite no doubt saw as poetically just. Tuxedo Kamen danced back, continuing with their discussion of sorts.

"Letting you kill me won't change anything," Tuxedo Kamen said, mimicking Luna's words. "Tetis will still be dead. You'll still be disgraced. And people will still be in danger. I don't much care about her life or your reputation, but I'll be damned if anymore people are going to die because I decided it was too hard to keep fighting you."

Jadeite regarded him for a moment, amused. "Your speeches are improving."

Tuxedo Kamen wasn't entirely sure how to respond to a compliment given by a man who was trying to cut his limbs off.

"But they don't change anything either," Jadeite spat, going on the offensive once more.

Tuxedo Kamen swung around one of the support beams as Jadeite's sword sliced the air where he had stood. Tuxedo Kamen quickly reached out and grabbed the overhanging on the pier, pulling himself up on to the roof. He stilled for a moment, but did not allow himself to linger too long, confident that Jadeite would follow. He crouched as he heard Jadeite start to move from below him, leaping up into the air, watching as Jadeite swung up just as his feet departed from the wood. Before Jadeite could follow, Tuxedo Kamen threw several steel-tipped roses down, the metal glinting in spite of the coming dark. Jadeite growled in annoyance, vanishing before any of them could hit him. The roses continued downward, landing in a perfect ring around the spot where Jadeite had been.

Tuxedo Kamen looked around, expecting his opponent to reappear a few feet away. He pulled out another rose to do the job as he reached the zenith in his ascent. It was at that moment that an impossible weight came down on the back of his head. White exploded in front of his eyes as he shouted in pain, twisting midair in an all too feeble attempt to elude his attacker. It was little surprise to him or to his assailant when he plummeted back down to the awning above the pier. His body hit the wood with a sickening crack, his arms and legs twisted in a manner that he never would have been able to stand had he been conscious.

Jadeite remained aloft for a moment, looking down at the fallen soldier. Tuxedo Kamen had been defeated at long last. Perhaps the man was not dead yet, but he was incapacitated. The more ultimate ending would follow soon enough. Jadeite had triumphed over one of his enemies, and with the first gone, the other two would not be difficult to vanquish. Their precious leader had fallen victim to his superior strength. What more defense did they have to offer? Jadeite was as good as victorious. He was almost surprised that he was not already being welcomed back into the Dark Kingdom, but on the other hand, he knew that Queen Beryl would not be swayed until Tetis had been paid back threefold, as he had been sent to do to begin with.

He had won, and he should have been rejoicing. Instead, he found himself frozen, staring down at the crushed rose spilling out from beneath the other man's palm. His hand had fallen right next to his temple, and the effect of the red patch and Jadeite's vantage point was that the flower seemed far more like blood pouring from a wound.

It was at that moment that Jadeite was reminded of something.

It seemed to be a memory or something he had seen in a dream. It was all very unclear and disjointed. One image had nothing to do with another, and yet he would have sworn that they were all somehow connected in a way that he could not voice. This was a memory. This was a very important memory.

In his mind, Jadeite could see another man floating in the air, his hand cut and hanging slack at his side. His eyes were closed forever, though he was certain that he had seen them open and crackling with life on more than one occasion. It was an image that filled him with both joy and sorrow, neither outweighing the other.

He could smell blood and ash all around him, and he saw fire raging just out of the corner of his eye and he was filled with an unspeakable fear. It was far more intense than he had ever felt for the element, and it only increased when he turned to look upon it, watching as it surged for him like a living thing, threatening to swallow him whole and render him nothing more than a pile of blackened bone.

He felt a cry rising in his throat, both for the flames and for the dead man. It was meant to be a name, but it was one that he did not know.

The day darkened to night and the sky filled with smoke and dust and the screams of the innocent and of the damned. And there were innocents. They were there, but they were dwindling as death came for more and more. He was filled with some sense of triumph for an accomplishment he could not remember, while another part of him cried out at injustice.

His eyes locked on that dead man again and his lips opened to say the word, the name.

But the moment mercifully passed, leaving Jadeite shaken and confused. He did not know what he had seen or what significance it had. He had seen some hints at a location, but he could not recall ever having seen pillars falling on a white field. Jadeite did not know if this had been some vision from his past life or the result of some forgotten fever dream, but he knew that he didn't like it. The vision had left him with some feeling of uncertainty, as if maybe there was something else that he should have been doing. Something other than avenging Tetis's death by striking down the very man who had killed her to begin with.

Of course, that was ridiculous.

Jadeite shook his head rapidly, clearing his mind of any more thoughts remotely resembling that. Paying Tuxedo Kamen back for Tetis had been his sole reason for existing in the past few hours. And that vengeance would grant him a pass back into the Dark Kingdom in order to continue their great work. Without the three troublesome obstacles, Jadeite would be able to finish the task he had been assigned. Then they could invade and take back what was rightfully theirs – the planet Earth.

Blaming his delusions on his fallen opponent, Jadeite let himself fall back to the roof of the pier with a clatter. He picked up Tuxedo Kamen by the collar of his shirt, crushing his roses underneath his feet as he dragged him the length of the wooden overhang. When he got to the edge, Jadeite threw the body into the water easily, as if he were little more than a sack of clothes. He watched the black cloaked man sail in the air, briefly floating on the wind in a way that made Jadeite shiver.

Tuxedo Kamen hit the water hard and sank quickly, as if he had dived down straight into it. Jadeite knew eventually the man would float back up, but based on how he had landed, it would be face down. He would not wake up in time to save himself from drowning. After that, Jadeite didn't care what happened to him.

"All yours, Tetis," Jadeite whispered, vanishing as his words and dead rose petals were carried forward on a sudden gust of wind.

-----

Jadeite reappeared where he had left the two Senshi. The street was now deserted. By now, all of his previous victims had gotten to their feet and fled as quickly as they could after the damage he had done them. He could see the Tokyo Police on either side a few blocks away, setting up barricades to hold what little public was out on the streets. Things were fairly frenetic on each side, so they did not seem to notice the strange man appear from nothingness, stalking the streets he had bloodied such a short time ago.

Neither of his enemies was in sight, but Jadeite sensed that his return had not been in vain. He could feel at least one of their presences, and he had a vague idea he knew where one of them was stashed.

He made his way over to the alley adjacent to the place where he had left the two Senshi. There, as he had anticipated, he found the form of Sailor Mars slumped over and propped up against the wall. She was very clearly alive, but she had taken a significant enough beating to warrant a period of unconsciousness. It was just as well, as Jadeite had been in no particular hurry to dodge any more of her attacks.

He winced a bit at the memory of that living fire, but put it out of mind.

Sailor Mercury was nowhere to be found, but that was of little consequence at the moment. He had sealed Tuxedo Kamen's fate, and he had one Senshi within his clutches. The third would be neither hard to find nor hard to kill. He imagined that she had gone off to find her comrade. He assumed that she could somehow locate him, and would go off to wait for her once he had rid the world of one more short-skirted nuisance.

Jadeite put away his sword, feeling that he would not need it to do away with this one in her state. He looked down at the unconscious soldier, wondering at how she hadn't awoken from the uncomfortable position she'd been left in. He must have knocked her about more than he had previously assumed to warrant that.

He crouched down, resting his palm against her forehead. Her tiara felt cool against his fingers as he pushed her head up, her dark bangs falling over his gloved hands. Had anyone asked him why he was wasting time by taking a good look at her face before he did away with her, he would not have been able to answer them. Perhaps he just needed a rest. It had been a very long day.

She, like her companion, Mercury, and their phantom ally, Sailor V, was indeed quite beautiful. Her skin was the true definition of refined porcelain, resembling a doll, with just a hint of flush in her cheeks to suggest life. Her features were deceptively delicate, though Jadeite was more than aware of just how vicious she could be. She had fought him and survived the day before without aid. It took quite a warrior to manage that. The youma had cause to fear her for her fire. In fact, it was interesting to see how calm she seemed when he was quite used to seeing her raging and vengeful. Her jaw was slack, pale lips slightly parted as her last breaths rushed in and out of her lungs with a pace that almost suggested that she was aware that her time was running out. With her long black hair and cool expression in sleep, she reminded him a bit of Tetis.

With that thought, he felt himself freeze again, just as he had done mere moments before. There was another girl of similar alabaster skin with her eyes closed and lips parted, but she hadn't been asleep. No, she'd been anything but asleep. She'd been awake and alive and so had he. He felt as though he were on fire, though it was much more pleasant than he had ever imagined.

It was frightening, the kind of fear he enjoyed, the kind of fear he would chase after and possibly die for if he were drunk enough on it. He heard a giggle, a sigh, a gasp, and a promise.

Then he heard a cry because he had been the one to make that promise, and he had been the one to break it.

Jadeite shook his head, now wondering at himself. Twice now he had caught himself reminiscing on such strangeness, and he still had no idea what any of it meant. Not to mention, a part of him was certain that he didn't want to know, and he stuck to that instinct.

Still, he could not help but be curious. What were these visions flooding his brain all of a sudden? Why had his two fallen enemies triggered them? And why did they leave him with so many feelings of doubt?

Even so, he clung to the instinct that told him it was better to be ignorant. What did those two matter now? Their death would be his rebirth, and there was no sense in putting it off.

He blinked away any last remaining dregs of his reminiscing, focusing instead on Mars's face. Pale as that other girl's, eyes and mouth closed tightly. He sighed and thought that perhaps this was the sort of thing that happened when people didn't get enough sleep.

He moved his hand down to close around her throat, watching as her head fell forward like that of a rag doll. His fingers closed around her neck, poised and ready to strangle the life out of her. But just before he tightened his grip enough to block her air, something happened.

"Fire..."

He heard her whisper, and it was then that he realized that her mouth had been closed, rigid as ever, when he'd just seen it open seconds before. He tried to move away, but her hand came up suddenly closing around his arm and holding him. He was shocked by her strength.

She looked up, violet eyes blazing in rage. In a fit of madness, he thought maybe he saw them turn red.

"SOUL!"

He screamed like an animal as he found himself on fire again, though this time it was not nearly so pleasant. He staggered out of the alley, and heard police whistles blow and onlookers gasp and scream in horror. He was a towering, flailing inferno, screaming louder than all of them as his flesh dried and curled away from his bones. After a moment, he vanished in a swirl of flame, leaving Mars alone in the alley, shaking and breathing.

The third party, the one who had watched over Mars, followed him, knowing where he would go.

-----

Sailor Mercury arrived at the Hinode Pier five minutes too late.

Granted she could not have possibly gone any faster. As it was, she had been impeded by her injuries, but being a Senshi had several advantages, including superior speed. In spite of the pain she was in, she got to the pier much faster than she ever could have hoped for, but it still wasn't fast enough.

She ran to the edge of the pier, worried when she saw several signs of a struggle – tiny drops of blood and dead roses strewn about. When she didn't see him on the land, Mercury looked out at the water of Tokyo Bay, her heart clenching in fear at the possibility. It took her a moment before she saw him, a blacker stain in the black water.

"Mamoru!" she cried recklessly, diving in without even bothering to remove her boots. She swam forward with urgency, kicking her feet hard to keep moving swiftly. It did not take an especially long time to reach him as he was not that far from the edge of the pier, but she knew that every moment mattered in this situation. Mercury clumsily managed to sling his arm over her shoulders, turning in the water and swimming back towards the shore. She did her best to keep his head above water, pointedly ignoring the fact that his lips had a blue tinge.

It took some maneuvering, but she managed to pull them both back up onto the pier. She was a drenched, shivering mess, and she was not at all calmed to see how still he was. The air might have been warm, but it didn't change the fact that chill shot down to her veins. She could only think of a few reasons for Tuxedo Kamen's lack of reaction, and each of them was worse than the next.

Without wasting time, she rolled him on to his back, inspecting his condition as quickly as she possibly could. His mask had been swept away by the water, making him seem much more vulnerable than he would have if it had stayed on. She could see that he had taken a beating, though not as severe as others he had been subjected to. It wasn't bad enough to land him in this state of unconsciousness. Not nearly bad enough. Mercury swallowed and laid two fingers to the side of his neck, leaning forward to his face.

She didn't feel any breath. And after searching for several dreadfully long moments, she realized there wasn't a pulse either.

Mercury didn't curse or cry. She merely tipped his head back, pried his lips open, and pushed his tongue down to the bottom of his mouth. He was in danger again, and she was the only one around to do something about it. She wasn't going to let her fear for him or for anything else stand in her way. So she tried to ignore how badly her hands were shaking as she pressed them down on his chest, pushing in rhythmically fifteen times, counting under her breath. Then she dipped her head, laying her mouth over his and breathing into his lungs as hard as she could. She paused afterwards to see if anything had changed.

No breath. No pulse.

Mercury whimpered quietly, but silenced herself, focusing on the task at hand. She was losing him, and she couldn't let that happen. She roughly pushed the heel of her hand back into his chest, counting mindlessly. One, two, three, four, five, and so on. Then she breathed into him again, gripping his arms and hoping that he could feel her desperation physically, if not intuitively.

No breath. No pulse.

She cried a little now, her eyes burning with hot tears. She pushed and breathed and checked. She pushed and breathed and checked again. Each time it was the same. No breath. No pulse.

Mercury felt herself getting light-headed and distant, feeling like she assumed victims of trauma felt at the time of the event. It didn't feel like this was actually happening to her, even as the salt water was beginning to push past her eyelids. Mamoru wasn't dying. Mamoru wasn't hurt at all. She was watching two other people play out this scene. She was watching someone else experience loss. She wasn't losing anything.

But that wasn't true. With every passing second, Mamoru was slipping farther and farther away. She was gripped by that same terror she had felt in the waiting room. She didn't know what was happening, even as she sat at his side. But she was seeing him weak for the second time, and it was frightening enough to make her want to shriek and hide her face from the world in his cold chest. He couldn't be dying. They couldn't be losing. She couldn't be losing him, the only person she was beginning to become bold enough to think of as a friend.

Now Mercury pounded on his chest before resuming the CPR. She turned to stare at his frighteningly pale face, her voice trembling as she tried very hard to stop crying. Tears would do nothing but cloud her vision. "Come on, Mamoru. You can do this. Pull through. Pull through. Please, just pull through."

She leaned down and breathed into his lungs again. She could see his chest expand out of her peripheral vision. When she checked to see if he was breathing on his own, there was nothing. Just like before.

She hit him again, strangling a sob. "Wake up, Mamoru. Wake up!" Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. She leaned down, holding his head back again. Just before she breathed again, she whispered, "You're not leaving, yet. I won't let you."

She breathed. In and out. In.

She didn't exhale for him. He did.

Mercury pulled away in shock and relief as Tuxedo Kamen rolled over. He awoke suddenly, coughing and sputtering and forcing all of the water out of his lungs.

As the fit passed, he remained still for a moment, filling his empty lungs with air. He hadn't been breathing for almost too long for him to be saved without damage, and he knew it. He had been physically dead, and it was only thanks to Sailor Mercury that he wasn't.

He turned back to thank her, probably with a joke to lighten the mood. But Mercury would have none of it, throwing herself at him unabashedly in a way that would probably mortify her later. But right now all that she could notice was that she was crying and he was holding her and she was saying, "You're alive," over and over again.

Tuxedo Kamen cradled her gratefully, breathing deeply to assure himself that he really was still doing it. He nodded after awhile and said, "I am."

They discovered that it was very hard to stop hugging after a near death experience.

-----

Jadeite reappeared on the roof of the hospital Tetis had died in. It was as far as his remaining magic would carry him in his state. It was hardly far enough to be considered a safe distance from the battle and from his opponents, but that hardly mattered. He had disappeared as the flames licked and scorched his body. They would no doubt think that they had killed him right then and there. They were probably celebrating their triumph at that very moment. He wondered if maybe he would hear their joyous cries from his position and very much hoped that he would not have to suffer that as well.

He stumbled out of the teleportation, falling to his knees. Jadeite looked down at his blackened, shriveled hands and wondered how much he resembled a human. Every patch of his skin still felt as if it were on fire if he could feel it at all. He saw that some of it was peeling, falling off to reveal blood underneath. He moaned in pain and disgust, showing weakness in a manner that his fellow Shitennou would have called pathetic and never forgiven him for.

He decided that in spite of their opinions, he was entitled to his weakness. Dying was a very painful process after all.

His physical pain only seemed to increase with the thoughts of his fellow soldiers. They were without him now, not that they would mourn his passing much. There was no telling what punishments they would suffer if they had the heart to do so, but he very much doubted they did. Kunzite may have fought for him and Nephrite may have strived to make him see the errors of his ways, but the group had never been what Jadeite would call friendly. Soldiers could not be friendly. They could coexist, but no more than that.

Besides, Jadeite knew that he had been dead to the Dark Kingdom since he had lost Tetis. In fact, Jadeite was certain that the only reason Queen Beryl had not sent mercenaries after him immediately was because she knew him all too well, just as she knew all of her higher ranking warriors. She had been assured of his pride and desperation to survive. He would not go out a failure. That was not an option for the second of the Dark Kings. She had been counting on this, knowing he would do something desperate to try and regain her favor and, more importantly, his honor. He would either succeed and kill their enemies, or fail and kill himself. Either way, the problem would solve itself.

As Jadeite knelt on the cold, hard rooftop, his knees digging into the gravel, he contemplated his failure - his utterly despicable failure as a soldier. He was supposed to stand tall, be proud, be strong. He was not supposed to suffer the agony of defeat. He was supposed to hold his head high in victory. Now all he could do was let it hang in agony, praying that his time would run out quickly.

"Well, isn't this an interesting sight?" a cold, female voice called out from behind him. "The great Jadeite on his knees at last. You know, I was beginning to think that I'd only ever see this in my dreams." She laughed, her voice sounding like quiet bells on a silent winter day. He would have cared to hear it in just about any other circumstance. "I am so glad I was wrong."

Jadeite wanted to turn around and see his tormentor, maybe tell her that she was a bit late if she wanted to make him feel horrible. He tried and found he couldn't. He decided to wait and hope she would circle around. Or hope that she would leave of her own accord. He didn't want the company. "Who are you? Some friend of Tetis come to kill me while I can't fight back? Do you long for Beryl's praises so much?"

She laughed again. "You only wish I were some youma come to reap a reward."

When she didn't continue, Jadeite asked, "Have you come to kill me anyway?"

"No," she told him after a moment. "I won't take away Mars's victory. Let her have it. I've had others."

Jadeite narrowed his eyes. So, this was some ally of the Senshi's come to watch their enemy die? It certainly didn't sound like Sailor Mercury or the Maulish cat. Had another soldier awakened without their realizing it?

"Why are you here then?" he wondered aloud, making sure that it was clear that he was in no mood for this.

"To be certain of her victory," she said. He heard heels clacking on the roof. She was moving, circling around him. A silhouette came into view, but the shadows clung to her form in a manner that struck him as unnatural. When he was able to make out the outline of the Sailor Senshi fuku, he realized it was because the darkness had never suited those warriors. They would never cloak them as they had him. They would never accept her presence. She would force herself on them.

Jadeite laughed and soon wished he hadn't. He took a deep, wavering breath and said, "Look at me, little girl. I'm shocked you were able to recognize me in my state. I won't last much longer. You're wasting your time."

She seemed to shrug. "Even if it is a waste, I'll remain here until you don't."

He nearly growled. "You're so worried about my will to live?"

"I'm worried about your comrades' will to see you live," she clarified. "I don't want one of them coming and mending you to fight another day. Your time, Jadeite, is over. I won't let you fight any more. I'll fend them off if they come, and... well, then I will have to kill you, so I was being a bit premature."

Jadeite would have liked to laugh at that as well, but he had learned his lesson. He merely looked up at where he thought he saw her eyes briefly glitter, glaring so intensely he thought he might look straight through her. "You think they care for me anymore? I have failed them too many times. They've washed their hands of me."

She sounded amused. "Have they?"

"There are other warriors to take my place," Jadeite told her, his voice tightening.

She didn't say anything for awhile, as if waiting for him to say more. He wondered if perhaps she was waiting for some kind of threat that would normally follow such a statement. Did she expect him to say, "And they'll do what I couldn't. You'll regret ever tangling with the Dark Kingdom!" or something else equally ridiculous to threaten as he waited at death's door? If she was waiting for him to say that, they were going to be sitting in silence for quite some time.

Finally, she nodded. "Yes, I suppose there are."

Jadeite sighed, clutching at his sides painfully. He groaned and ground out, "Don't you see that no one is going to come? I don't have the strength to go anywhere. No one would help me if they found me. Hell, I'm sure some of my supposed allies would love to see me die just as much as you do. Why can't you just leave me in peace?"

He imagined she was probably raising an eyebrow at him. "You want me to leave you to die alone?"

"Yes!" he shouted, rocking himself a little. Hell had been reaching out to grab him from the moment that Mars's flames touched his skin, and it was not relenting now. It was coming closer now, and he was beginning to panic. He could feel it, cold hands on his neck, reaching into him and dragging him down. It was scaring him, and he didn't want anyone to see him scared. He was still a warrior even if he was a failure. "Yes, I want you to go!"

"And make the same mistake your superior did?"

Jadeite stopped abruptly, briefly confused. Then his eyes widened in realization. This girl could only be one person. He should have known her sooner. But they had been so sure. They had been positive that she hadn't survived. True, there had been no body, but no one could have survived that explosion. No one. Not even the rogue warrior, the fabled princess.

"Sailor V?" he asked. His voice shook involuntarily. As much as Mars was feared among the youma, the Shitennou were wary of this phantom champion. They had no memory of her, and that made her dangerous. She was also a formidable opponent, as ruthless as any of their allies. She hadn't always been so worrisome, but then she had proven herself to be a rather large problem.

So Kunzite had gotten rid of her.

At least that's what they thought.

After Jadeite identified her, it seemed she no longer wanted to hide from him. She stepped forward so that he could see her. She was just as Kunzite had described her, dressed in red and blue. Her lemon silk hair fell almost to her knees. That alone was enough to make her seem startlingly more than human. She was as young as her fellow soldiers, but she carried herself as if she were much older. She looked down at him through a blood red mask just like the one they had found in the wreckage. It had been the only sign that she'd ever been in there.

"You survived?" he marveled. "But... But that's--"

"Impossible?" Sailor V taunted, folding her arms across her chest. "Not quite. It was highly improbable, but I managed it, so clearly it wasn't impossible."

He just stared at her, watching as she crouched down in front of him. This vantage point was able to give him a good look at her eyes. They were blue, fittingly enough. But they were a light, frosty blue. She wasn't just making her voice sound hardened. She was hardened.

"Kunzite nearly killed me, Jadeite. I give him credit for that. But you didn't check to make sure I was dead. Why? Wasn't it important that you get me out of the way? Wasn't I making things too difficult for you to operate in London? Why did you leave me there to drag myself into an alley and get to safety?"

Jadeite swallowed. "We went to London to get energy, but it was never our primary target. We went there hoping to get energy and remain under the radar. Clearly we failed. We had already abandoned London when he tried to get rid of you. Your death garnered too much attention."

"If London was never your primary target, what was? Tokyo?" she asked, glaring at him. Apparently this had also been on her agenda, questioning him when he was too weak to resist the interrogation. He nodded. He may not have enjoyed her company, but as long as she wasn't going to go away, he figured he may as well prolong his life as much as possible. What did it matter to him if she figured all this out now? He was too weak to be loyal now. "Why? What's so important here?"

Jadeite looked at her, surprised. She didn't know what they were after? Granted they didn't dare speak of it often. It was the one thing the Dark Kingdom held sacred. Only Queen Beryl ever spoke of it, getting a far off look in her eyes when she did. Sometimes, the Shitennou would discuss it in hushed tones, longing to be the one to have it in their possession. It was what they were searching for. It was why they were even considering their enemies a threat, fearing that they were looking for it to. But they clearly weren't. They were just trying to save those who fell victim to their search.

He couldn't help but think that their nobility was foolish.

"You really don't know," he marveled, coughing slightly. His voice was growing faint even now. He heard a buzz begin to sound in his ears, growing louder and louder with every strained heartbeat. It wouldn't be much longer. "The Ginzuishou is here."

She blinked. "Ginzuishou? What's that?"

Jadeite stared at her again. "I suppose this means you aren't the Moon Princess. You'd know if you were."

Sailor V frowned, reaching forward and grabbing what was left of his jacket. She pulled him forward, shaking him painfully. "Forget that. What's the Ginzuishou?"

Jadeite cried out and she stopped, releasing him, perhaps surprised by her own actions. He fell to the ground, curling inward. He panted, gasping for breath,
looking up at her with bloodshot eyes. He felt his heart slowing down. His vision was getting hazy. Sailor V was fading into darkness again along with the rest of the world. He only had a few more moments on this Earth. That was why he told her.

"The Ginzuishou is everything."

And then Hell closed its fist around him and pulled.

Sailor V looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Then she noticed the way his eyes didn't focus and the way his chest had stilled. She cursed and reached forward, shaking him again. "No, not now! You were telling me! Tell me what it is! What are you looking for!"

But it was all in vain. Even as she laid her hands on his withering arms, she felt them begin to crumble beneath her gloved fingertips. She stepped back, watching as his body started to fade away, turning to dust just like all the others. Then she spun around and stomped in frustration. "I was so close! I almost had it! I shouldn't have waited so long! I should have--"

She was interrupted by the sound of something falling to the ground.

Sailor V whipped around, shifting into battle stance without a second thought. She was surprised to find no one standing behind her. She looked to her left, then her right, and finally down to where she thought a pile of dust would lay until the wind picked up. But there was no dust.

Instead, a light grey-green stone lay on the ground. It was smooth and round, as if someone had polished it just moments before. Sailor V crouched down and took a longer look at it. Then she realized what it was.

"Jade," she breathed, realizing what this meant. Instead of turning to dust, the Shitennou shriveled up and turned into this stone. She didn't know if this was a mark of their power or a testament to their name, but she didn't like it.

Sailor V straightened, staring down at the rock for a moment. Then she pointed her finger at it, not bothering to shout the incantation before the gold beam shot from her fingertip. It hit the stone dead in its center, making it splinter and shatter. At that moment, the wind stirred, carrying what was left of the Shitennou off to unknown regions, never to be seen again.

Sailor V stared at the blackened spot for a moment and then smiled. She sighed in contentment and chirped, "Another one bites the dust!"

With that, she saw no reason to remain there. She turned on her heel and flounced to the edge of the roof, a spring in her step. Even if she didn't have all the information, at least now she knew why they had come to Tokyo after marginal success in London. And she knew what they were looking for even if she didn't know what it was. Perhaps Artemis would know if she told him.

No matter what, she could chalk up another victory for their side. That was the most important thing.

-----

They had all felt when it happened, but Nephrite had been alone.

It had been rather unlike he had thought it would be like as much as he had been secretly hoping this wouldn't happen. He'd been expecting some kind of intense pain on the same level Jadeite must have been feeling at the time. He had expected it to feel as if some limb was being torn off. That was what he had always assumed it would be like.

But it wasn't at all painful. In fact, it was just a feeling of resolution. He suddenly knew that Jadeite was dead and that was that.

Nephrite cast his eyes downward, his brow furrowed as he considered his loss. Not only had Jadeite been a warrior of legendary renown, but he had been the closest thing to a confidante he had in their ranks. Nephrite had needed no word from Kunzite to sit with Jadeite when things had been at their worst because he and Nephrite had gotten drunk on multiple occasions when things weren't at the worst. It had been why Nephrite had tried to stop him early on from letting things get out of his control. It had been why he had almost spoken up to Queen Beryl about the matter. And it might account for the curious feeling that had been resting in his stomach ever since his talk with Kunzite.

But none of that mattered because Jadeite was dead.

Nephrite reached for the glass of brandy he had obtained some time ago and let sit. He downed it in one gulp, annoyed that it had watered down over time, but happy for the alcohol to calm his nerves. Though he couldn't quite understand why they needed to be calm. Jadeite had been a comrade, and the pair had spoken on occasion. But it wasn't as if…

Wasn't as if what? Nephrite found that he couldn't complete that thought.

Nephrite shook his head roughly, deciding that the time for thought had long since ended. Jadeite was dead, and there was no altering that. All that he could do was move on and heed Kunzite's warning. He would be taking up where Jadeite had left off, and he would not end up in his position. He would not die a hunted man. In fact, he would not die at all.

General Nephrite had just become too important to die.

With this in mind, he teleported to Jadeite's room. It looked as if the man was still living there. There was an empty glass on the table, his bed was unmade and clothes were strewn about the floor. Nephrite wasn't certain what would be done with the space, but he did not entertain the notion that it would be maintained as a shrine to a great man.

Nephrite went over to the dresser that had been forged from stone. The drawers opened easily enough, but it took him a moment to find just what he was looking for.

As the second-in-command of the Shitennou, Jadeite was afforded certain privileges he often took advantage of. However, one thing he had never done was wear the epaulettes denoting his rank. Nephrite had asked him why once.

"They look like fried eggs on my shoulders," Jadeite had informed him in disgust. "Those damn things look absolutely ridiculous; they're a waste of good metal. Besides, I know that I'm better than you. I don't see why my clothes have to rub it in. You have such a fragile ego."

Then Jadeite had thought for a moment and said, "Tell you what. If you like them so damn much, you're welcome to them when I'm dead. In fact, I want you to wear them. I'll need something to laugh about in the afterlife."

Of all the pointless conversations they had ever had, Nephrite remembered that one as if it had just happened. It was one of those little things that stuck out in his head for reasons he couldn't understand. The mind did work in such unpredictable ways.

Nephrite silently strode over to the mirror, fastening the epaulettes on his shoulders. He was second-in-command now, and he was afforded certain privileges he probably wouldn't have time to take advantage of. But he would wear these even though they really did look like fried eggs on his shoulders.

He smiled somewhat smugly in Jadeite's mirror. For the first time, Nephrite could hardly wait to see Zoisite..

A moment later, he felt the summons.

He teleported to the throne room instantly, head bowed upon arrival. The hushed voices of the youma were silent at the sight of him. The gesture carried a reverence they hadn't felt before. Of course, things were different from before.

Kunzite and Zoisite were already there, but Nephrite didn't look at either of them. He did hear the latter give a very tiny squeak, and that filled him with an immense amount of satisfaction.

"You summoned me, Queen Beryl?" Nephrite asked.

She nodded, giving him leave to rise. "Yes, Nephrite. As I'm sure you are aware of, Jadeite has perished at the hands of Tuxedo Kamen and the Sailor Soldiers."

Nephrite paused a moment before answering, as if hearing this information aloud changed anything. But it didn't, so Nephrite responded, "Yes, your majesty."

"Are you then ready to take up our banner and fight for the Kingdom?"

Nephrite nodded, his eyes narrowed. "Jadeite was a fool," he began, his fist suddenly clenched at his chest. "I informed him that his tactics were too risky for his mission, but he did not listen. He was willful and would not listen to reason. It is why he has died, and I will not repeat any of his mistakes.

"I will gladly gather energy for our Empress, Queen Beryl. And I will search for the Ginzuishou, a matter that Jadeite seemed to neglect as of late. I am aware that finding the stone is imperative as it will make us unstoppable in the final battle.

"I think perhaps it is less important to get rid of our enemies at this time. They only need to be avoided until we can lay our hands on it. Then their presence will hardly be an issue."

Nephrite said this as a safeguard in case Queen Beryl suddenly decided that she wanted to make them a priority. He couldn't help but think that if Jadeite hadn't been torn in too many directions, he would still be alive. Nephrite was in no hurry to join him.

Beryl considered this for a moment. "Very well, Nephrite. You may begin your task for the sake of our nation and the good of our kind."

Nephrite bowed again. "Your will be done, Queen Beryl."

Back to Summary Page