"Venus Crystal Power! Make Up!"

Minako was engulfed transformation energy, deep inside a sphere of yellow light brighter then the sun. Kunzite could see her twirling silhouette change from Minako Aino to Sailor Venus in a flurry of light, stars, and ribbons. She was so radiant she still danced in the ghostly after images on the back of his eyelids.

The sweet girl who had maimed him with a rock and pretended to enjoy bitter tea was Sailor Venus? When his memories had suddenly returned he had foolishly assumed, despite several telling cues, that Minako was simply a regular girl and then he had assumed that she was a helpless princess. He of all people should understand that no princess he had ever met was helpless.

But now he knew who she was.

And she knew what he was.

He was grateful to have the opportunity to know Sailor Venus a little in this life before their pasts caught up with them. The history that divided Keenan Bishop from Minako Aino was far too vast for him to cross in any lifetime. He sighed to himself. Nothing would be the same between them.

Appearing fully transformed in a flash of bright light Sailor Venus clicked an orange high heeled shoe impatiently as she waited for her opponent to stand up on wobbly feet. She spoke in a clear voice restored and almost completely healed by her transformation. "Lysander- A love spell can commit someone to your heart unfairly but it does not excuse your terrible behavior today. On behalf of Venus-"

"You're one of them?" Lysander spit blood onto the ground.

Don't worry," she cooed in a dangerously sweet voice. "The agent of love and beauty has a special place for you in her heart!"

Growling Lysander lunged for the crystal at Kunzites feet as Sailor Venus summoned a golden beam of light "Crescent Beam!" the light struck him in the chest and sent him tumbling over the edge and down below where he landed heavily.

"Everything is fine up here!" Venus called to the senshi down below. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Moon turned their heads in the direction of her voice and looked relieved to see her. They did not have long to look before they were forced to continue their own stand off with the other man, Demetrius.

"Where did all of the evil women go?" Venus called out worriedly as she scanned the lower level of the club.

"You will find out soon enough!" Demetrius barked running and leaping to face her on the balcony as a stunned Lysander sat up from his prone position on the floor in front of the senshi. Demetrius did not seem the least bit interested in the well being of his colleague.

Demetrius landed nimbly on the balcony rail balancing himself with the ease of a cat walking along a fence. He stared down at Venus lazily. "So this is the power my lady, Helena, sensed in you. What a waste. Our queen will have no interest in you now. She does, however, still request Lord Kunzites presence."

Kunzite remained unmoving still trapped by the crystal at his feet.

Venus's did not allow her eyes to waver to Kunzite knowing that her opponent was looking for a moment to strike. "I am afraid Lord Kunzite will have to decline your invitation." She said.

"Venus," he cooed. "You were underestimated as formidable foe by Lysander. I will not make the same mistake." He held his hands up to show he meant no harm. "I simply wish to present this man to our queen on behalf of my lady. Helena has secured him on our behalf so it is only right-"

"No." Venus interrupted.

"Lady Venus if you will only listen to-"

"NO! Venus Love Me Chain!" she summoned her chain and snapped it smartly in her hands. "You will have to go through me."

He made a sudden leap for the black crystal but was stopped by Venus's chain wrapping tightly around his arms pinning them to his side. She yanked him with the same brutal strength that others had used to throw her around several times that evening.

"What was that about not underestimating me?" Her voice was chilling and the chain unbreakable. She yanked him closer. " Now, you are going to stay here with me. Away from Kunzite" she growled. "And you are going to explain why you and your little possie of morons have been tossing me around like a racquetball."

"Venus?" Sailor Moon called from below.

"I'm fine! Stay down there with Lysander. Don't let him out of your sight!" Venus was pretty sure none of the other Sailor Senshi understood that Kunzite had nothing to do with this mysterious new enemy. Until Venus could give Kunzite her full attention and protection she wanted to keep the rest of the senshi as far back as possible. She spared a momentary glance down below to see the senshi slowly circling Lysander. When she looked back at Demetrius she realized he was staring at the control crystal.

"Hey!" she yanked him closer to her. "Eyes on me." She shook her hair out of her face. "Tell me who this Titania person is."

"She is a Queen! Know your place." He corrected her.

"Fine." Venus ground out through clenched teeth. "Who is she?'

"She is the Queen of the fey and the rightful Queen of Terra. She has returned from exile."

Venus heard a soft sound, and realized belatedly it was Kunzite growling.

"Exile by who?" Venus asked.

"The false Terran Kings who passed the crown down to their sons when they had no daughters."

"Why should that matter?" Venus asked.

"Think very had Lady Venus." His voice when he used her title was deeply condescending. "Do you know of any ruling family in the universe that is patriarchal?"

Venus could not. It seemed all of the true ruling powers had been female.

"The throne should have been hers. But the Terrans chose to let their power ebb then let it leave the family line." Lysander spoke with urgency.

"The Terrans could not even fend off the Fey Queen themselves. When they could not hold their own battle the men of Earth turned their eyes to the moon for help."

"They asked Queen Serenity for help from Queen Titania?" Venus asked.

"Not the Queen you once knew-perhaps her grandmother's mother." He sneered.

"To think the men of earth would refuse the Fey Queen as a ruler only to have their great grandson embrace a snake like Beryl as an adviser." His laughter was bitter and sardonic.

Venus was surprised to find Demetrius so chatty. Eager to see what else she could find out she pressed on. "And who are all of you?" The bad guys usually showed up one at a time over weeks of fighting. Having everyone show up at once and start bickering amongst themselves was very confusing despite how different they all looked.

"In her banishment the Fey Queen found us. We were from a small life in a small world. I had thought, before my Queen found me, that defeating Lysander and taking Hermia for myself was all that mattered."

"Which one is Hermia?" Venus asked.

"Who cares? She no longer matters. She is not nearly as powerful or beautiful as Helena." Demetrius said.

"Helena…" Venus repeated. "She's the one who attacked me today. Why?"

"Because we know the best way to find the Prince of Earth is to find the Lunar Wench who has taken him under her thrall." He answered.

Venus yanked the chain again growling a warning. "Don't you speak about either of them that way."

Demetrius merely laughed. "Enjoy your power while you have it. My Queen will outshine all of you."

"So you will help her start a war?" Venus asked.

"You are just as she said you would be." He laughed. "Except she never imagined you would try to live on this planet."

Venus' grip tightened on the chain. "This is our home."

"No, this isn't your planet. You aren't welcome here. Go back to Venus little princess and take the rest of your courtly friends with you."

Venus face betrayed her surprise. No one had called her a princess in this lifetime.

"Tell the Moon Princess to leave her prince to answer for his failures. If he was a stronger leader he would not have lost the Shittenou and Earth would not have fallen. He does not deserve them." Demitrius' turned suddenly. "My Queen is summoning me."

She grabbed his shoulder forcing him to look her in the eye. "You aren't going anywhere until you explain to me-"

"If she is to have this planet then she will have his crystal and his court. Leave this planet to its' own people. Your interference will not be tolerated. "

The small green crystal around his neck sizzled with the same black electricity Helena had used earlier. Venus gave a startled yelp and jumped back as Demetrius' entire body began to emit dark painful energy. Venus just barely managed to throw herself in front of Kunzite before Demitrius' silhouette exploded in a wave of energy. When the energy dissipated she saw that her chain lay in a tangle on the floor and Demetrius nowhere to be found.

She looked up at Kunzite who stared at her with stern disapproval. He didn't seem to appreciate her blocking him from the blast. "I'm fine" she told him as if he had been speaking out loud and scolding her. She was about to ask him if he was ok when she heard Moon, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter yell out in surprise.

Venus sprinted to the railing prepared to leap only to find the senshi circled around a burnt spot on the floor where Lysander had lay injured. Sailor Moon looked up and shouted with relief "Venus! You're alright!" Eternal Sailor Moon leapt up to the balcony. She stumbled a bit on some debris but managed to steady herself as she hugged Venus tightly. She stepped back to look at her friend. "Lysander just sizzled and disappeared! He almost zapped Mercury before he went! Is that what happened up here? Are you hurt?"

Venus smiled it was good to see Sailor Moon safe. "Something like that but I'm fine."

The rest of the team leapt to the balcony to join Venus and Moon tensed and ready to fight. Sailor Moon did not seem to share their worry.

"Sailor Moon! Look out!" Mars hissed as she placed herself protectively between Moon and Kunzite. Her eyes blazed as she spoke to him. "What are you doing back here?"

Kunzite stared back silently at Mars as Jupiter joined her. The two women were tensed and ready for battle. His face didn't change much, probably because it was still trapped by the prism but Venus recognized the expression as resignation.

"Wait! He is under a spell that won't let him move." Venus yelled. "He wasn't with those people. He was trying to save me!"

Jupiter shared a quick look with Mars before she turned back to glare at Kunzite. She didn't take her eyes off of him as she spoke to Venus. "We saw him holding a sword aimed at you. Also, you do remember that he tried to kill us in middle school, right?" Jupiter asked

"Well, yeah but-"

Mars joined in. "-And that he succeeded in killing you in the Silver Millennium." her voice was especially angry. Kunzite closed his eyes for a long moment.

"Wait," Venus said." "How can you be sure Kunzite was the shitennou that killed me?"

"I remember." Mars said tightly.

Venus looked at Mars in confusion. "Since when do you remember those details? It has been a haze for all of us-"

"I just do!" Mars shot back hotly.

"Alright," Venus replied mildly confused. She couldn't understand what was making Mars so defensive. "We'll talk about that later. Either way, I get it. You're mad. Believe me- I am too. But we need to stop and assess the situation-"

"Assess what exactly?" Mars thundered.

"What is happening right now, not what happened four years ago, or a thousand years ago!" Venus snapped.

Mars stepped back as if slapped. Venus just said something very similar to the vision Rei had earlier that morning.

Venus relaxed when she saw the change in Mars. Venus spoke gently. "We need to put the past aside for a moment and see what we can learn about what is happening now."

Mars paled and nodded her head weakly. Venus and Jupiter found her sudden submission odd. They shared a brief moment of eye contact before nodding to eachother which signaled that they would be asking Mars what was bothering her later.

Mercury was still staring at Kunzite through her visor. "Something is wrong with him."

"Yeah, that's understatement!" Jupiter muttered.

"He's frozen." Venus told Mercury, her tone sharply talking over Jupiter. "They did something… I don't know what but the woman with the dark green hair, Helena, cast a spell so that she could control his body. For some reason she seems to have the most power all of these people who answer too Titania." She turned to see Jupiter closing in on Kunzite.

"Jupiter, STOP!" Venus shouted placing herself between them and Kunzite.

"Venus!" Jupiter cried. "What are you doing? Don't turn your back to him!"

"He obviously still can't move so just wait a minute!" Venus said. Jupiter didn't move. "I'm serious, Jupiter, give him some room."

Jupiter and Venus stared each other down for a long time neither willing to back down.

"Girls, please." Sailor Moon placed a gentle hand on Venus and Jupiter's shoulders. "Let's hear what Venus has to say."

Both girls relaxed hesitantly.

Venus was starting to get exasperated until she looked around at all of the senshi and realized how worried they had been. "Before you guys got here I was in a lot of trouble. When we were thrown through the wall my purse got buried and I couldn't get to my transformation pen. I don't know why but Kunzite fought really hard to protect me when he thought I was the moon princess, and just as hard when he thought I was just some girl mistaken for a Moon Princess. I wasn't alone."

"So Kunzite didn't attack you in any way?" Sailor Moon clarified.

"Not once." Venus confirmed.

"But why was he here?" Jupiter asked.

"Because I was talking to him. We bumped into each other when I was patrolling" Venus bit her lip and looked over her shoulder and Kunzite who was watching her closely. His face seemed to say tell them the truth. She nodded in understanding offering him a small grateful smile before turning back to the group. "Turns out Kunzite is Keenan Bishop."

There was a collective gasp. And then all the girls spoke at once.

"Keenan is Kunzite?" Moon asked/ "The double mirror guy?" Jupiter exclaimed./"Didn't you hit him in the face with a rock?" Mars said./"Goodness, you weren't kidding when you said he was tall." Mercury added.

"Yeah, I guess." Venus answered them all at once. They all fell silent.

"What are the chances?" Jupiter asked.

"If our experiences have taught us anything it is that there are no coincidences." Mars answered.

"So, When Helena attacked Kunzite tried to stop her?" Mercury asked.

"Yes. He did." Venus confirmed. It had been a very strange to be protected by a dashing guy instead of the other way around.

"Are you sure you are alright Venus?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Absolutely! How about you girls? Everyone ok?

"We are all fine" Mercury nodded as she continued her scans on Kunzite.

"Good, I'm glad" Venus said casually as she scooted a bit closer to Kunzite in an effort to diffuse the suspicious and accusatory stare emanating from most of the group. "Girls, really, he is under some kind of ugly spell and he can't move. Helena was trying to collect him for 'Queen' Titania and had control of his body she tried to use him to kill me and he kept fighting her no matter how much she hurt him…."

She turned back to look at Kunzite who had been staring at the rest of the group but returned his gaze to her. They had been enemies for so long… but Keenan seemed like a very kind man and Kunzite had proven to be very courageous. She found in her heart she didn't want to see either hurt.

Satisfied that no one would attack him Venus turned to face Kunzite and put a cautious hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"What did she use to freeze him? " Mars asked.

Venus smiled at Rei relieved that she would give him a chance. "It's probably this thingy down here…" Venus looked down at the prism next to Kunzites feet. She pointed at it with her shoe being extra careful not to touch it. "They were all waving it around like a video game controller."

"That seems to be the source." Mecury confirmed as she pushed a couple more buttons on her mini computer.

"Kunzite?" She asked while peering closely at his face. He didn't move. "Can you move at all?" He blinked his eyes in quick succession. The movement on his frozen face felt like a shout in a quiet library.

"Blink twice if you can understand me."

He blinked twice.

Relieved she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. " Are you alright? Blink twice for yes and one for no."

He blinked once.

Venus felt her heart sink.

"Do you guys see that? He fought that woman even though he didn't have his powers. Now he is suffering for it!"

"So, What is the best way to stop it?" Moon asked Mars.

Mars didn't give an answer. Instead she stared ahead at something no one else could see. The power she held as Shinto priestess coupled with her otherworldly powers as the Senshi of Mars made Rei Hino a force to be recognized and respected. Her ebony hair flowed freely around her in a breeze that that touched no one else as she worked.

Venus tried to watch Mars and Kunzite at the same time but found she couldn't take her eyes off of him. "Try to be gentle. He took a lot of hits for my sake." Venus said.

"Akuryō Taisan" Mars spoke called out as she summoned a paper talisman. She threw the talisman expertly at the crystal where it stuck with a smart snap. The prism began to form tiny cracks. Mars brought her red heeled show down onto the crystal swiftly causing it explode into a fine powder.

Kunzite's entire body sagged in his freedom and he would have fell face first onto the floor had Venus not pushed past mars and hastily caught him under one of his arms. She yelped as he was very heavy and it took a lot of effort to keep him on his feet.

"Are you alright?" Venus asked him.

Kunzite did not answer and instead focused all of his attention on Sailor Moon. He was trying to stand properly but lacked the strength to do it and continued to lean on Venus heavily. "Princess, I am pleased to see you safe and well….you have a wonderful guard" he managed with dignity.

"They are wonderful I am grateful to have them with me." Sailor Moon nodded agreement.

"I am, however, sorry to report that Sailor Venus has not been entirely honest with you." He struggled again to straighten himself properly until Sailor Moon stepped forward and put a gentle hand on his shoulder giving him permission to stay at ease.

"I haven't been entirely honest!" Venus echoed working to keep her balance as she held herself and Kunzite steady.

He tried, unsuccessfully to detangle himself from her. "Sailor Venus is quite injured-"

"I'm fine!" Venus scoffed. " Look, my voice is already back. See?"

Kunzite continued as if she had not interrupted him. "If you look past all the hair she is using to hide her neck, you will see significant bruising from when she was strangled and then also from being tossed about in civilian form."

" I said I was fine-" Venus sputtered.

"Let go of me, Venus. I am aggravating your injuries" He struggled again to stand on his own unsuccessfully until Sailor Moon was forced to step in.

"You have done very well today Kunzite." She smiled. "Thank you for your help." Honored he tried even harder to stand on his own. "Please, Kunzite. Do me a favor." He starred at her attentively waiting for her request.

"Anything, your highness."

Moon gave a polite smile unused to such formal reception. "Stay at ease. I won't have you collapsing after such a terrible battle on my behalf." He looked ready to argue but he listened politely as she continued.

"You are right, Venus is hurt and we will see to her." Moon promised and at this Venus rolled her eyes. " But," Moon allowed, "we also understand that it is important to her to help you after all you did on her behalf today."

"Yes Kunzite," Venus agreed. "Thank you."

He bowed his head slightly to hide his embarrassment and shifted his body weight a little in an effort to help Venus support him.

"I still think this whole situation is weird." Jupiter mumbled to Mercury who nodded and continued to scan Kunzite for dark energy just in case. Mars stayed silent and thoughtful.

"Sailor Venus," he turned his head to look at her.

Minako tried to relax her face despite the tension of holding his weight. "I owe you an apology." Venus almost dropped him.

"You owe me an apology about what exactly."

"Everything." Then his eyes rolled back in his head and fluttered shut as his body went limp.

"Help! Help! Help! Now! Now! NOW!" Venus begged as she struggled to support Kunzite's limp body until Jupiter could grab the other arm and swing it over her shoulder taking the extra burden of his weight.

"What happened? Who is this Titania chick anyway?" Jupiter hissed. Trying to hold Kunzite steady as Mercury examined him.

"Demetrius and I had a little chat," Venus explained. "It seems Titania thinks she is the entitled to the crown of Earth and wants to take it up with Endymion. He also made a cryptic comment about taking his shitennou." Venus said.

"His Shitennou?" Jupiter echoed. "Has she been out of town for a while? No one has called them that since the Silver Millennium."

"She just came back from a long banishment. She and her motley crew of fighters want us to keep out of 'Earth's affairs'". Venus answered.

"Venus," Mercury interrupted frowning at the man beginning to doze has he leaned on her. "Kunzite could have a concussion. You need to keep him awake." Mercury told her firmly.

Kunzite's eyes opened and looked at Venus blurrily.

"How are you doing?" she asked him with slow and over enunciated words. He nodded an affirmative until his head lolled a bit. "No, no, NO! Kunzite!"

She patted his face gently. When he didn't respond she tried his other name. "Keenan!" his eyes opened in automatic response as she kept speaking. "Hi there," She smiled kindly. "I need you to stay awake for a little bit. We can't carry you…. You are very tall, remember?" He nodded dully. His exhaustion had caught up with him and Venus had to work very hard to keep his attention.

"All the dark energy is gone. He is clearly exhausted. We have to take him somewhere" Mercury said firmly as she snapped her computer shut.

Mars looked at Venus who was following the conversation as best she could while keeping an eye on Kunzite. "He was determined to protect you at all costs?"

"He didn't want to be controlled and he definitely did not want to see anyone hurting me." Venus confirmed.

"It sounds like Kunzite did some very brave things today. Let's see that he gets help and rest." Sailor Moon said. "We need to stay close to him until Mamoru gets here. Then we all have a lot to talk about. "