This Chapter is dedicated strictly to Tamaki. Don't worry. Seiya and Kyouya will be back next chapter. Enjoy!

Here Without You

Chapter 3

By: Jecir

"Is he still breathing?"

"I do not know." Endymion pressed his fingers into the young prince's bleeding neck, his eyes clouding over with fear. "I cannot feel a pulse! No, Cye, hold on!"

"There they are!"

All three looked up. The soldiers had found them and were closing in.

"We're trapped!" Tanzanite said as he frantically looked about. They had been driven into a corner.

Kunzite unsheathed his sword. "Stay back," he ordered.

"Kunzite, don't!" Endymion pleaded.

We have to escape! Tanzanite thought, his mind struggling to think through the waves of panic, rage, and fear; not just his own, but that of his brothers' as well. Their bonds were strong, but at the moment, it was putting them at a disadvantage. He looked at the pale face of the next chosen. Cye, the dethroned prince of the west; they had fought so hard to get to him only to lose now? Tanzanite shook his head. No! There has to be a way!

Sweat dripped off his forehead and splashed onto the floor. Like a tear, is rolled over his reflection.

Tanzanite's eyes widened. That's it! The floor…he could see himself…maybe, if he…

"Kunzite!" he cried as he raised a small crystal into the air.

Kunzite met his eyes, pausing for a moment, and then nodded. He understood. Turning his back to the charging soldiers, he shot a beam of light into the crystal. The light bounced through the crystal, and then exploded throughout the darkness. All in the corridor were blinded.

He only had a few moments. Tanzanite pressed his hands against the tile and closed his eyes. Please…He had only attempted this one other time and was not sure if it would work, but he had to try. His magic flowed out of him in slow waves that washed over the floor. The ground beneath them rippled.

And, suddenly, they fell…

SPLASH!

"Ah!" Tamaki sat up, panting. He was wet! He looked around, trying to figure out what just happened.

Someone said something above him. He looked up into the face of a crabby Asian cop who was holding an empty cup over him and giving him a suspicious one-over. Tamaki grinned. "Hello, officer."

The police man grumbled something that Tamaki didn't catch before he began to shake his finger in his face, his voice hard as he spoke. Tamaki could not understand a word he was saying, but he was moved into action none the less. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed his book bag and quickly walked away. This seemed to be what the officer wanted, for he did not pursue. Tamaki breathed a deep sigh of relief. "That was strange."

Now, where was he?

Thousands of people packed the streets, pushing him this way and that, and paying him little mind as they went about their business. As he was jostled, Tamaki noticed two things. He was the only person with blond hair, and no one was speaking English. "Oh man!" he exclaimed. "Where did I send myself?"

He had been focusing on Endymion when he teleported. So….where was he?

The crowd stopped at a crosswalk, granting him a small reprieve. He looked around at the building towering over him and the writing scrawled about. He was somewhere in east Asia. A group of girls in school uniforms passed by on the other side of the road; their swishing blue shirts caught his eye. He knew that style! Some of the exchange students were wearing those on their first day. He was in Japan!

Excitement built in his system only to be stamped down by fear. He was in Japan? He didn't know Japanese! He didn't have any Yen! What was he supposed to do now?

The light turned green, and he was swept back into the stream. He needed to find a place to think. He pushed his way through the crowd just as the sky rumbled. The rain fell in heavy sheets as Tamaki scrambled underneath a red overhang. He slumped against the glass window of the store and sighed heavily. Why didn't he think things through? All he had wanted was to find Endymion again. That was his energy that had released his memories. It must mean that his liege was alive. His heart ached with longing. He clutched his chest, biting back the wave of sadness that threatened to consume him. Hold on, he told his heart. Just a bit longer. We're closer now. I can feel it.

The door opened with a Ding. A couple walked out, arm in arm. The girl was hugging her beau, a bright smile on her face. Tamaki suspected it had something to do with the canvas tucked under the boy's arm.

So, he was at an art store. Interesting.

He looked inside. There were a few pictures hanging in the window; one of a flock of birds flying past the sun; one of a group of children playing in the snow; and another of a horse fighting a pack of dogs (and winning, from the looks of it). They were all quite good.

He was about to turn back when he caught a glimpse of a painting hanging further in the gallery. What the…

Tamaki went inside, forgetting that he was a foreigner in this land and that he was dripping water as he walked. He needed to get a better look at that painting. Three strides brought him to the canvas; there, he starred breathlessly at her.

A woman stood hooded and cloaked in a rough brown cape that billowed violently in abusive desert winds. An arctic blue tunic covered her exposed body; Grecian sandals covered her feet. Her face was shadowed, but he thought he saw a piece of blue hair peaking out of the hood. In her slender hand was a small crystal dangling at the end of a chain. The wind did not…could not…move the magical gem. A blazing red sun was at her back, a barren wasteland at her feet, yet from the ground, she summoned water.

"It is strange, do you think," he whispered as he moved his pawn. "That the Senshi of Mercury would be gifted with ice and water as her guardian when her home world is a desolate land."

She showed no expression as she concentrated on the board. "I do not," she said. The fire crackled; burning low in the fireplace and casting weak light into the library. The bronze light deepened the shadows around her face. Her hand hesitated over her Rook. Tanzanite's lips quirked into a grin. She moved her Knight instead. "The Mercurian royalty are the only ones who can find water where there is none. That is what marks us as the leaders."

"Magic," Tanzanite whispered as he captured her Rook. "The mark of authority in all worlds is magic."

She looked as if she were about to disagree but seemed to think otherwise. The game continued on into the night, neither one truly caring.

Tamaki reached up to the painting of a chest board back dropped by a magnificent fireplace. Two hands played; one rough and tan; the other pale and slender as it grasped the pawn. "Athena," he whispered reverently.

Tamaki did not think he could feel so much longing as he did now as he thought both of his liege and his love. He did not think he could move, it hurt so bad.

"Konbanwa."

Tamaki jumped back from the painting, a guilty flush covering his cheeks. "Sorry!" he blurted out. "I didn't mean to touch it, I…oh man, you probably don't understand me. Um…" He wracked his brain in search of the limited Japanese he had heard on campus.

The petite brunette laughed merrily at his stuttering. "It is all right. I speak English. May I help you, sir?"

Tamaki gaped. She spoke…shaking his head, he regained his composure. "No, I…I was just trying to get out of the rain."

She smiled. "I understand. I am Yumeni Yumeno, and this is my gallery."

"Tamaki Yukino or Yukino Tamaki, I guess," he said as he extended his hand.

"It is a pleasure, Yukino-san," she said as she shook his hand.

"Likewise. You are a fantastic artist," he said as he looked back at the chess painting, a faraway look entering his eyes.

"Thank you. These two are part of a series I am planning on premiering tomorrow." She noticed the look in his eye and smiled a secretive smile. "Would you like to see the rest?"

"Yes."

Before he knew it, he was ushered into a back room and handed a towel and a hot cup of tea. "Dry off. Change. And then come into the next room. I'll show you the rest in there."

Tamaki blinked as he watched her disappear through a door, leaving him alone. As he towel dried his hair, he wondered at the situation he had found himself. Was it really a good idea to trust a complete stranger? What if she was planning on doing something weird to him? Like tie him down and paint him naked. Or paint on him while he's naked. He narrowed his eyes. If she tried anything, he would have to kill her. No one disrespected a Terrain General and escaped punishment. He changed clothes, left the tea untouched, and very cautiously entered the next room, a crystal shard hidden in his sleeve just in case.

Yumeno was sitting before a canvas, brush in hand, humming to herself as she added a stroke here or there. The dark colors accented the angles of the face she was perfecting. From there she didn't look dangerous. Tamaki did not drop his guard; he had learned long ago that danger took on many forms. Moving swiftly and silently to the center of the room, he eyed the painting.

His guard dropped as surprise sank in.

It was him! Or, it looked like him. Passing through a mirror…or falling through from the looks of it. His eyes were closed and his hands were raised as he pushed face first through the rippling glass. Half his body was clothed in normal clothes; the other half—the half that had already passed through the mirror—was clothed in a white uniform he knew all to well. As he starred, he could almost feel the soft silk of his dress uniform touching his goose-bumped arms.

"What do you think?" she asked.

He could not speak.

Yumeno stood, drawing his eyes to hers before she pointed to another picture.

It was of a young boy with blond hair falling unkempt over his shoulders sitting in a tree, looking bored with the world around him. There was a school in the background, and a train of riders in the foreground. At the head of the train was a boy with black hair and blue eyes.

Next to that was a picture of a blind warrior raising a gilded staff into the sky. Over his head hovered twelve warriors all overlaid by the constellations of the zodiac.

There was another picture of a dark-haired miko raising her eyes in prayer. Behind her stood a fair-haired angle with fire for wings that wrapped protectively around her as his narrowed blue eyes dared any to approach that which was his. The angel wore a medallion of frozen fire etched with the blazing symbol of Terra.

All around him were paintings that called out to the deepest reaches of his heart, reminding him of the past, showing his present, and even images of what could be the future.

He saw a Crystal Palace towering into the sky, over looking a utopian city.

Another of him leaning half-way out a dorm room mirror, offering a full-set chessboard to the blushing, blue-haired student who looked at him through tear-filled eyes. He recognized her. "Ami Mizuno?" he whispered, confused.

His eyes were drawn to the largest picture, centered in the room, taking up the entire wall. It was a mural. In the center, standing proud and strong, was his master. "Endymion!" he exclaimed aloud, forgetting that he was not alone. He stepped closer to the painting, mesmerized.

At his master's right was Kunzite, just as he should always be; his hand rested protectively on his sword. Nephrite stood on the left, his grey eyes turned to the sky as he clutched his staff. Jadeite flanked Kunzite, fire in his hand; and he finished the group, his crystal sai clutched in his hand.

Yet, emerging from the older men, like phantoms from the past, where five young boys running, playing, laughing, happy. Endymion, dressed in black breeches and a gold tunic, was turned back, looking at Kunzite, who was dressed in the garbs of the Prince of the Central Kingdom. Tamaki snickered. No matter how long it had been, the white cloth wrapped around his waist looked like a skirt. The gold pendent—an eagle, the royal sign of the Central Kingdom—did not help, nor did the golden bands encasing his upper arms.

Nephrite followed in ratty robes that could have been grand once long ago. Jadeite reached after them, his bare feet and legs stained with dirt as he ran. He wore a pair of ripped shorts and nothing else. Tamaki was not surprised that his apparition was dressed in the school uniform he had worn the day Endymion found him.

All around the center image were captured moments in their lives. He saw himself swearing loyalty to Endymion. Kunzite kneeling in desert sands, his hair covering his face as the symbol of the Central lands burned on his forehead; Nephrite clasping Endymion's hand, now a fully realized Shittenou; Jadeite lunging for the young Prince even as the symbol of the South struggled to ignite.

They were older, sitting in a study, Nephrite reading from a thick tome as Endymion slept in a chair; Kunzite starred out the window; Jadeite formed birds with fire; and he threw a paper airplane at Endymion.

They were younger, all sprawled out on Endymion's bed, talking well past bed time.

Endymion walking with Princess Serenity in the gardens.

Kunzite teasing a blushing Venus, who had her hands over her bow.

Nephrite holding Jupiter as he pointed out the stars to her.

Jadeite cornering Mars in the Rose Maze.

And he and Mercury bent over a chess board.

Tamaki drank it all in. The memories were all so powerful. Oh how he missed them.

"How?" he whispered.

Yumeno walked to stand next to him, her eyes on the canvas. "Dreams," she answered. "All of these scenes came to me in my dreams, and I could not rest until I finished them." Turning back to the painting she was finishing, she continued, "This one is the last in a set. See?" She pointed to four others handing on the opposite wall.

The first was of a young man with black hair sitting in an apartment, his hand clutching a golden crystal, his face contorted in pain. Over him was the ghostly image of four faceless silhouettes.

Next was a play off of yin and yang. In the white was a police officer with white hair holding a black and white sword, his head bowed, his face showing a weight like no other burdening him. In the black was his mirror image clothed in a grey uniform with a sinister look in his grey eyes. In his hand was an Egyptian style dagger that dripped with blood.

The third was of a young man standing on a balcony looking up into the sky with blank grey eyes. Within the stars were images of a battle long past.

The last one caused the breath to stop in his chest. Jadeite, dressed in a grey uniform much like the darker man in the second painting, hung frozen, trapped in a crystal coffin, his face forever etched in fear. At his feat was a phoenix dying, run through by a black, crystal sword.

Tamaki ran his hand over the picture, his mind swimming with memories.

"Lord Jadeite is missing."

The report echoed through his mind over and over again. He pushed his magic further, engraining his psyche deeper, searching, searching, searching desperately for something…anything! He looked through every mirror, every river, every stone with a smooth enough surface to gain even a semblance of a reflection. Nothing.

He slammed his hands against the consul, cursing repeatedly. There had to be something! No one could disappear completely. Where was he?

Steeling his eyes and ignoring the exhaustion ravaging his nerves, Tanzanite linked his mind to the CDT system and tried again.

"What happened to him?" he asked. Perhaps this artist with the dreams that told all could give him a hint of what he himself could never figure out.

"He's been imprisoned for failing his queen," she said. "At least that's what I think every time I see this. I don't know why she didn't kill him. She killed the others."

"Others?"

Yumeno looked down, one hand touching a spot on her chest as she said softly, "The other one died, I know that. Sailor Moon killed her. Why else would she send someone else?"

Tamaki wondered if she was talking to him anymore.

Yumeno looked up at him, her gaze suddenly intense. "You look like her, but I know you aren't her." She looked back at the first canvas. "I don't really know why you came here or why these pictures mean so much or why I felt I had to show you, but I do know one thing. Before you find whatever you're looking for, you need to find out what happened to him." She pointed to Jadeite. "If you don't…" She hesitated, as if unsure of what she was saying. "If you don't, I think these paintings will simply remain paintings."

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"You need to find out what happened…"

Tamaki sat at a corner booth, working furiously as he thought over what she meant. Something happened while he was separate from his liege, something important, something that, from the sound of it, had to do with his sister. But what?

He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure it out as he pressed the two resonating crystals together. They melded into one another, fitting in accordance to his will.

What happened after he died? Were the Senshi able to stop Beryl? His instincts told him no, but then why were they here, now? Why were they still alive? Jadeite was trapped somewhere. And his sister had been alive for at least a little while.

He connected two crystal wires and placed a crystal cover over them.

This had something to do with Sailor Moon, he was sure of it. He had heard of Sailor Moon. News travelled fast over the fandom world. He remembered when Sailor V mysteriously died. And then, low and behold, Sailor Venus—who, when shown beside a picture of Sailor V, looked nearly identical to the masked crime fighter—appeared in Japan along side Sailor Moon. He had not paid much attention to it after that, and, eventually, it slipped his mind. It was nothing but a childhood fancy anyway. Now, however, it was the key to everything.

With a click, the device was finished. Tamaki grinned cockily. Still got it.

He hooked the device—which looked like a Bluetooth headset to the untrained, unmagical eye—to his ear and tapped it twice, activating it. "Let's see what this baby can do."

He flagged down his waiter. The tall, dirty-blond young man bowed respectfully. "Yes sir?"

Tamaki could barely contain his glee. It worked! Clearing his throat, he said, "I'd like a chocolate shake, double cheese burger, and extra fries."

He spoke in English, but the waiter—hadn't he said his name was Motoki?— heard Japanese.

"Coming right up, sir," Motoki said with a smile.

"Thanks." Tamaki turned to his laptop, which sat open on the table, processing the thousands of search results for "Sailor Moon." He typed in an algorithm that would help to siphon out the fan sites and other junk sites from the search.

Site after site appeared and disappeared from his screen. Tamaki tapped the table impatiently. This was going to take forever. There were millions of Japanese websites alone that claimed to have the low-down on all things Sailor Moon, and 95 of that was pornography. "Perverts," he grumbled. Those were the first sites he blocked from the search. That still left hundreds of thousands of purely fan based myth and theories. Ten minutes of searching, and he was only certain of one thing: Sailor Moon was a popular pop icon of Japan. That did not help.

He typed in a few more algorithms, tweaking the search as he saw fit and narrowing the parameters. Motoki returned with his shake. Tamaki thanked him, took a big sip, and slammed it down as an ice cream headache took effect.

He never saw the girl with long blond pigtails walk past the window.

"Sheesh," he groaned as he pressed the ball of his hand into his right eye.

A site appeared on his screen. The algorithm ran its search and froze. A red box appeared, demanding a password.

"What the?" Tamaki muttered. He typed in a command. Nothing happened. He did it again. "Damn it, I thought I siphoned out all private pages." He was not in the mood to hack a site that could prove to be nothing more than junk. He tried to escape the page again, but it stubbornly demanded a password.

"Fine." He idly typed in a few potential passwords, all resulting in an angry BUZZ and a fresh red box waiting for a password. Tamaki rolled his eyes. What an annoying site. He starred at the screen, hoping for some inspiration as to what the elusive password could be, when something at the bottom corner of the box caught his eye.

It was the Royal Seal of Terra.

"We are going to build something," Tanzanite said as he put the finishing touches on the plans.

"What is it?" Nephrite asked from behind him.

"Take a look," the young Shittenou said. He felt his brother's powers wash through his mind. The intrusion, though allowed, still felt strange. A moment later, the magic withdrew. "I do not think I will ever get used to that."

Nephrite was not listening. He was looking up, seeing the plans in his mind's eye. "A computer?" he inquired.

"A computer like none other," Tanzanite said. "It will be a mix of Western technology and my crystals. Only you and I will have access to it."

"No, simply you," Nephrite said. "It will be better if only one person has access to this. By building it out of your crystals, it will resonate solely with your magic. If done right, you shall have access to all information across Terra. A fitting weapon, do you not think, for an aspiring spy?"

"Intelligence operative," Tanzanite corrected.

"And what shall we call this project?" Nephrite asked.

Tanzanite sat back for a moment. He was never good with name. "How about the Computerized Defense of Terra, or…"

"C.D.T.?" he whispered. There was only one way to know. He focused his magic to a fine point on his right index finger and tapped the seal.

The box disappeared, the screen went blank, and a wave of magic washed over him. From the headset came a computerized voice. "Hello Master. It has been a while."

"C.D.T.!" Tamaki exclaimed, drawing several looks his way. He bent over the computer and lowered his voice. "You're still active?"

C.D.T. laughed over the line. "I am the creation of Lord Nephrite and yourself. The world's destruction could not possibly dismantle me."

"I guess," Tamaki replied with a chuckle. "Wait! What? The world's destruction?"

C.D.T. gave the computerized equivalent to a sigh and said, "A lot happened after you died, sir."

"Tell me," Tamaki ordered.

For the next few hours, the Computerized Defense of Terra system reviewed the history of earth, beginning with the fall of the Silver Millennium and finishing with the most recent battles of the Sailor Senshi. Through it all, Tamaki listened, his heart growing heavy with each passing word as he released how long he had truly been away from his liege.