Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah the usual I don't own sailor moon or any of the characters in this fic. You know the drill.
Nathan ducked down beneath the branches of the tree and sighed. His tall frame was hidden by the almost ground-length vines of his favourite willow. From underneath its boughs he looked out at the world through a kind of veil, hidden as he was he saw things other people didn't and that was what he enjoyed most. Leaning against a convenient depression in the bark he smiled happily. Here he could sit in peace and look at life in all its myriad of people, places and personalities; and if he sat or stood here long enough he knew he would see the whole world go by.
Crash! Nathan looked up startled as something hurtled into the branches above him, tumbling down until it hit the ground just in front of where he stood. Rooted to the spot in shock he watched as the tangle of limbs resolved itself into a brown haired girl dressed in a sailor uniform, but not like any uniform he'd ever seen.
"Oh you are so dead after that one fish-face!" the girl yelled as she leapt to her feet covered in cuts and bruises and ran out of the willows encircling vines.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" she cried and to Nathan's complete amazement he saw electricity gather at her fingertips as if drawn from the very air.
It arced between her hands growing brighter and brighter until she suddenly clapped them together and threw the resulting ball of electricity at the –Nathan did a double-take.
'What is that?'
The monster –for that was he only thing Nathan could think to call it –looked like something out of a b-grade sci-fi movie. It stood over 2 metres tall and looked vaguely humanoid in that it had two lower limbs, a torso with two limbs coming from it and a head. However its head was that of the ugliest fish Nathan had ever seen and its arms and legs were gruesome appendages with webbed fingers and toes. The monster was entirely covered in green and blue scales which it apparently could shoot at its attacker.
Nathan swore as a miss for the girl meant a volley of the things headed straight towards him. He dropped to the ground as they whistled over his head, but one nicked his arm and he found to his dismay that the things were razor sharp. The girl obviously knew that too, for as she dodged and attacked the monster sometimes scored a hit and she would gasp in pain as the razors nicked her skin. Nathan checked out his arm to find that the bleeding had already stopped and was thankful the razors hadn't cut him very deep. Edging further behind the tree for protection he continued to watch the fight.
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!"
The shouted words were accompanied by an antenna that rose from the girls golden tiara and a fiery wheel of lighting encircled her before she flung out her arms, causing the electricity to shoot from her fingertips to draw burning patterns on the monsters hide. It screamed in fury and pain, releasing a furious barrage of scales. Some scored hits but others she burned to cinders before they touched her. In a beautiful fiery dance the girl wielded the lightning as a sword, whip, dagger and shield as she fought but Nathan could see she was not finishing the monster off fast enough.
Despite her valiant efforts slowly but surely the girl tired, her slowing movements allowing the monster to score more hits. Finally, in one desperate move the girl leapt high into the air, higher than Nathan had ever seen anyone jump before. She held her arms out to the sky.
Lita new that she'd have to do something drastic, the youma was strong and it was a lot harder to fight without the help of the other scouts. Her strength was running out and the longer the battle went on the more likely it got that some innocent bystander would get caught up in it. She'd have to pull out all the stops. Taking a deep breath she leapt high into the sky.
"Oh great power of Jupiter, my Guardian Planet and protector please give me the power to defeat this abomination!" she cried. "Jupiter Thunder Dragon!" her arms came down and like a lightning bolt from the heavens the dragon came.
Speeding out of the sky it brought thunderclouds in its wake. Wind lashed the trees, the sky darkened while the heavens opened and the rain came pelting down. The blazing dragon wrapped the monster in its great coils as it raised its head to the skies. It roared once and Nathan thought he heard a great voice cry with it. A blaze of glory came down from the sky in the form of a white hot bolt of lightning. Like a ladder to the heavens it did not vanish in an instant but burned into the ground for long seconds. The fish monster was reduced to ashes in an instant but the dragon burned even that ash into nothing, then, when the monster was truly no more it disappeared leaving no trace of its passage save for the scorched area of earth where it had lain.
Once he'd gathered his scattered wits and made sure nothing else was going to jump out at him Nathan looked around for the brown-haired girl but couldn't see her. He crept out into from under the willow tree and scanned the park. He spotted her not far from the spot where he'd seen her jump, but as he slowly approached he saw she wasn't moving.
'Oh no!' he thought and raced across the grass. When he was only a few feet away crackling energy suddenly rose from the girl's body. Nathan skidded to a halt. The energy ran across her prone form in a blazing dance covering her from shoulders to feet in a flickering shield. The light blazed once and as Nathan looked on it faded away to reveal normal clothes instead of the sailor uniform. Once the last remnants of energy had dissipated Nathan quickly knelt down beside the girl and checked her pulse.
"She's alive." he sighed in relief then gently turned her over so she was resting on his knee. Her head tilted back and her hair fell away from her forehead. Nathan gasped as he saw the glowing sign on her forehead. It glowed brightly and as he looked on, the glow spread quickly over her body and then him too, filling his vision with gentle green light. When his eyes cleared the girls clothes had once again changed. Instead of the brown and cream school uniform she was now clad in a forest green ball gown. Her hair was caught up in ropes of green gems which twined throughout it and a large green crystal hung about her neck. The crystal glowed and all of a sudden hazy, half-remembered images assailed Nathan. He remembered dancing with this girl at many balls and parties; he'd smiled with her, fought with her and battled by her side against –against what?
The Negamoon a voice whispered to him, and again images flashed through his mind. Betraying his king, evil powers and evil deeds and most horrible of all he remembered killing the girl who now lay in his arms.
"Jupiter!" he whispered, "Oh my princess, what have I done to you?" he rocked her back and forth, tears running down his face.
He remained unaware that as his memories had returned to him he'd transformed into his old uniform, the one he had worn as one of the four Generals of Earth under the rule of Prince Endymion.
Some time passed before he returned to himself and looked down at his first love, Sailor Jupiter, Princess of the Planet Jupiter and Sailor Soldier of Thunder and Courage. Gently he picked her up, holding her close like so many times before he summoned his jet black wings and flew into the sky.
Several minutes later he landed outside his home; quickly he made sure no one was around and hurried inside. Laying Jupiter on his couch he fetched his medical emergency kit and saw to her numerous wounds. As he sat beside her, he pondered the events that had brought her back to him once more.
"I don't deserve her," he said softly as he gazed at his love's face, so peaceful in sleep yet he remembered seeing many emotions on it –chief of those being grief. She'd had to face him in battle as the war for the Moon Kingdom drew to a close and the grief at having to do so had been etched on her face the entire time. Sadness he also remembered as she took her last breath before smiling at him, her eyes were filled with pity but her smile was full of forgiveness. She had then died on the blasted and desolate remains of the Moon Kingdom, alone except for the man who killed her.
She'd loved him even then, even when he plunged his sword into her breast and laughed as her lifeblood spilled out. She looked at him with love and hope in her eyes; even as she lay dying she'd said that that she'd forgiven him. It was that faith and hope that had driven him over the edge. He'd wanted her to hate him for what he'd done, to loathe and shun him because he knew that was what he'd deserved yet she never faltered in her faith, never wavered in her love and that love was what had broken him.
As she breathed her last he broke free of Beryl's control and fell on his sword, believing that in death he could escape her and free himself to be with his love. However he'd underestimated Metallia's power and had woken to find himself Beryl's pawn once more. His heart was filled with darkness and he'd revelled in it. Nathan, no his real name was Nephrite, bit his lip until it bled, the pain reminding him of Jupiter and he quickly turned to her to make sure she was still resting. Her breathing was slow and even and he sighed with relief, tucking the blanket around her more securely he went back to his contemplation of the past.