Standard disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon, or its characters. All OCs are mine.

Sailor Venus skidded to a halt as Terror raised his finger towards Sailor Moon; she was caught completely off guard. Where'd he come from? Why was Usagi just standing there? She dropped her gaze to the floor at her friend's feet and saw the problem; two more of the shadow hands from the stairwell were wrapped around her ankles, holding her tight. Usagi was struggling, but she couldn't get free.

"I'm stuck!"

"Die, Serenity!" Venus imagined an evil smirk on Terror's face. If he even had a face under that stupid helmet.

Time itself seemed to slow down as Venus considered her options; a virtual list of possibilities ran through her mind; a quick Crescent Beam? No…she might get it off in time but it likely wouldn't do much damage. A Crescent Beam to the face, to blind him? Maybe it would force him to miss? No…it was too risky, she couldn't rely on 'maybes'. Any of her stronger attacks took too long to power up. What could she do? As she came to a decision - the only one that made sense - she realised she was already in motion.

Her body had worked out what to do long before her mind; this had happened once before, at D-Point. She'd pushed Usagi out of the way, becoming trapped herself. Things had been different back then, though. She hadn't really known Usagi; she'd just been saving her Princess. Now, she was saving her friend, and Venus had no second-thoughts about her decision; she just hoped it worked out a little better for her this time around.

Terror fired; a blast of violet energy lashed out from his fingertip, right at Sailor Moon. Venus idly thought it looked a little like her Crescent Beam…only purple and evil. It raced toward her friend, and Venus bit her bottom lip. She needed to be faster…taller…longer! She had a sudden idea, and fired a point blank Crescent Beam into the closest of the hands. It released its grip, and a second later Venus crashed into Sailor Moon. It was enough to knock her loose of the trap.

She felt a flash of relief. Everything was going to be alright. Usagi was safe, and she was…suddenly falling, a burning pain ripping through her left shoulder. It felt like someone had jammed a white-hot piece of metal into her flesh. Someone shrieked in pain, and she had a vague idea it was her. The floor rushed up to meet her, and she crashed into it with a dull thud. The world faded to black, as she heard Sailor Moon screaming her name.

"Venus!"

Sailor Moon was vaguely aware of Mercury and Jupiter launching attacks at the Shadow-Knight as she crawled over to Venus. She rolled her over onto her back carefully. "Come on, Minako…" she whispered, feeling a tear slide down her cheek. "Please…don't die." She saw Terror disappear out of the corner of her eye, relief setting in. At least no-one else would be hurt, for now.

Venus' eyelids fluttered open, and she groaned. "Who's dying?" Mercury crouched over her, opening her computer and beginning a scan.

Moon felt a wave of relief rush over her. "Minako, you're alive!"

She heard Justice mutter something in English behind her; she thought it was 'Thank god'.

"Apparently so…" The blonde tried to sit up, but failed miserably. "Hey…does anyone have any aspirin?"

"Just keep still," Mercury ordered. She began scanning Venus with her computer.

Venus groaned again. "Yeah…okay. Good advice." She looked up at Moon, her wince slowly turning into a look of concern. "Are you okay, Usagi?"

Sailor Moon bowed her head. "I'm fine. Thanks to you." She felt pangs of guilt in her stomach. "I'm so sorr-"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry, Usagi!" Venus interrupted angrily.

"But…it's my fault you got hurt!"

Venus rolled her eyes, her tone softening. "No, silly, it's my fault. I'm the idiot who decided to push you out of the way."

"But if I hadn't-"

"Stop it," Venus repeated. She finally managed to sit up, ignoring Mercury's hissed 'keep still'. "You feeling guilty about this isn't going to help. I saw you were in trouble and I acted; I didn't even have to think about it." Her lips curved up into a faint smile. "You're my friend, Usagi…and I love you. Focus on that, and let the rest of it go. Okay?"

Moon nodded slowly, returning a faint smile. "Okay."

"Good." Venus winced again as Mercury probed her shoulder. "God, Ami, it feels like you just shoved you whole finger into my shoulder!"

"Do you have any medical training?" Mercury asked sourly.

"Um…no?"

"Then please, shut up and let me examine you."

"Nice bedside manner there, doc," she pouted. She glanced up at Justice as he crouched down beside her, instantly smiling. "Hey, cutie. How're you doing?"

"I'm just peachy. You seem pretty lively yourself, considering you've got a pretty good sized hole in your shoulder."

"Can't let a little thing like this get me down," she replied cheerfully.

"Yeah, well…this is the second time in a week I've seen you bleed. Maybe you could try slowing down a little?"

She smiled sweetly. "Aww. Worried about me, are you?"

Sailor Moon just sighed. Venus was bleeding all over the floor and she was still the cheeriest one in the room. There was no slowing her down. She turned to face Mamoru, collapsing into his hug.

"Are you okay, Usako?"

"I'm fine. Really." Because of Minako, she added to herself.

"We need to be more careful. It looks like Terror's laid traps all over the place."

"Bastard," Jupiter muttered.

Mercury waved a hand in the air. "Does anyone have anything I could use as a bandage?"

Without a second thought, Justice tore several long strips of cloth from his cape and handed them over. "Try these."

"They should work nicely." She wrapped the makeshift bandages around Venus's shoulder and ribs, and sat back to take a look. "Okay. All done. Now...do you want to the good or bad news first?"

Venus thought about it. "Give me the bad news first."

"You've lost quite a bit of blood."

"That doesn't sound so bad. I can always make more, right?"

Mercury just pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sure. The good news is somehow, miraculously, the blast managed to miss anything even remotely vital. It scratched the bottom of your collarbone on the way through, but there's no sign of fractures or other damage. You're very lucky."

"Yay! So I can get up?"

"I see no reason why not…just take it slowly."

Jupiter leaned forward. "Here, Venus, I'll give you a hand."

The blonde stood with Jupiter's help and looked down, frowning. Moon knew what she was thinking right away; the black strips of cloth clashed horribly with her orange and white uniform.

"Well," Venus remarked sourly, "I'm not going to win any awards for my fashion sense…but it beats bleeding out. Thanks, Ami."

The blue-haired Senshi smiled. "Don't mention it." She glanced to Sailor Moon. "Now…you've got an important decision to make."

"I know," Moon sighed. "I've already made it." This wasn't going to go well. "Mako…I want you to escort Minako out of here. It's not safe for her in her present condition."

"What?" Venus protested. "No way! I'm coming with you guys!"

"I agree," Jupiter added. "We don't have time for this. Rei needs us!"

"Venus…" Justice began.

"Usagi, Corey…please. Don't make me sit this one out. Not while you're all fighting to save Rei."

Sailor Moon sighed in frustration. There was just no telling Minako. If she wanted to do something, she was going to do it, regardless of the consequences. It was really one of her more endearing qualities. Usually. "Okay, fine," she relented, "but you stay close to Jupiter. She'll keep an eye on you. Right, Mako?"

Jupiter nodded. "Of course."

"Alright. That settles it, then. I guess we've got no choice but to get back in there and continue up," Moon said, gesturing towards the stairwell.

Mercury leaned in to take one last look at Venus' shoulder. "Minako…do you think a sling might help with the pain at all?"

The blonde shifted uncomfortably. "It is pretty sore. It couldn't hurt, at any rate."

All eyes turned to Justice.

"Oh, come on!" he complained, pointing at Mamoru. "He's got a cape too!"

"Damn them!" Terror growled, pacing back and forth as he muttered to himself. Rei had determined that the mysterious Shadow-Knight was quick to change moods. She needed to keep him off-balance and distracted. That meant making him angry.

"What's the matter? Your trap didn't work out the way you'd hoped?" she taunted. Anger was good. He'd already made it clear that she was important, so he couldn't hurt her. The angrier he got, the more likely he'd be to make a mistake. And that helped her friends.

His head snapped around. "On the contrary…your friend Sailor Venus is probably dead already."

Rei's heart skipped a beat. "You're lying." Minako couldn't be dead. She just…couldn't be.

"I'm afraid not," the Shadow-Knight answered, chuckling coldly. "I had Sailor Moon trapped, but Sailor Venus threw herself into the path of my blast at the last second. She was quite busy bleeding to death when I last saw her." He let out a long, content sigh. "It was almost…beautiful." The black aura surrounding him seemed to reach out towards her as he spoke.

Rei wanted to scream in frustration. Was the sick bastard actually feeding on her anger? She had to get a hold of herself; she couldn't afford to do anything that helped him. Perhaps she could get him talking instead? That was an idea. Time for a change in tactics.

"I have a question for you."

Terror cocked his head to the side, apparently surprised. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you're so eager to kill us all," she said, forcing her voice to remain neutral. "You seem to know a lot about us, but we've never even met you before." She injected an air of frustration into her voice; she had to sell it, after all. "Even if we had, we probably wouldn't remember…we have barely any memories of our past lives anyway."

He scoffed. "You don't remember me because we haven't met. Not in this lifetime, anyway." It seemed he'd taken the bait. "You really have no knowledge of your past?"

"Not much, no. So tell me. Why do you and your lord hate us?"

"I can't tell you why he hates you…because I don't know. Lord Revenant is hardly forthcoming with his motivations. But as for myself…you represent the aristocracy. The nobility of the Moon Kingdom. That's why I despise you; you're the last of those I vowed to destroy."

Her eyes widened. "You know of the Moon Kingdom?"

"Indeed. I lived there," he replied.

Rei swallowed. "Why do you hate it so much?"

He laughed bitterly. "There it is. That same arrogance you had in the past. I'll have you know the Moon Kingdom was far more than a couple of hundred nobles holding fancy dress parties. It had its share of poor, commoners, farmers and blacksmiths…but you Senshi, up in your ivory tower…you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"I told you…our memories of that time are-"

"For those on the outside, the Moon Kingdom was a utopia; beautiful old monuments and palaces, fountains, fancy balls every week…prosperity as far as the eye could see." His right hand slowly clenched into a fist. "But it was all a lie. It had fallen victim to the same fate that eventually befalls every great civilisation, in time – it grew too large…too fat and arrogant. Bureaucracy reigned supreme. Queen Serenity was nothing more than the nobility's puppet, and they kept a tight grip on her strings; she always danced to their tune." A bitter tone crept into his voice. "You Senshi were oblivious to the many problems facing the kingdom, or even worse; willfully ignorant."

Rei was disturbed by his comments. Luna and Artemis had never mentioned any of this before…but he had no reason to lie to her.

"Serenity…" he spat. "She ignored many injustices occurring in her kingdom. My own sister was one of them. She was raped and murdered by the son of a duke…and the bastard wasn't even arrested. There was 'a mistake' in the investigative process and the eye-witness testimony was 'lost'. I begged Serenity to get involved, to ensure that justice was done…but she did nothing. In the end, I tracked him down with the help of…" He trailed off. "Well, it's not important. My sister's killer died that night…and so did a little part of me. I began to loathe the Moon Kingdom…and its hypocrisy." His gaze turned to the sky, and the dim reflection of the moon in the morning sky. "I made the decision then and there…I would bring an end to the corruption of the Moon Kingdom, once and for all."

He turned back to face her. "I wasn't able to kill Queen Serenity – I couldn't bring her to justice for all those who suffered due to her failures. Fortunately, however, I've found her daughter…and she can repay her mother's debt with her own blood."

Rei stared back at him, chilled by his words. It was clear that he believed his own story, at the very least. That made him dangerous. Worse still…she was beginning to believe him as well. The shrine maiden had heard something in his voice she hadn't expected to; pain.

Another thought occurred to her; one she was curious about. "Is that why you hate Justice? Were the Guardian Knights nobles as well?"

"No!" He was suddenly angry again. "The Guardian Knights were of low-birth…they knew of the Kingdom's failings all too well. They were honourable warriors, trying to better the system for everyone. Unfortunately…it was an impossible task." He clenched a fist tightly. "Justice's betrayal strung me badly…seeing the Pretender reminded me how much I hate him!"

"Pretender...you keep calling him that. Why?"

"Because he isn't the real Justice."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I killed the real Justice, a thousand years ago!" Terror snapped.

Rei, shocked by the vitriol in his voice, stammered out a confession. "He's real…just like the rest of us."

"What?"

Rei worried she'd said too much, but he'd been honest with her so far. What harm would it do to tell him? "He was reborn here on Earth just like we were, though we don't understand why. We were told that he betrayed the Queen Serenity and the Moon Kingdom, so his presence here is a shock to us too."

His reaction surprised her. "Poor Justice…treated like a traitor by those he fights to protect." He turned to face her, his eyes flashing red beneath his helmet. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Sailor Mars."

"What secret?"

Terror leaned in close. "Justice remained loyal. He even turned on his fellow Guardian Knights, and stood at Serenity's side until the end." He laughed. "You've been treating him like a traitor all this time, when he's really Princess Serenity's most loyal protector!"

But Luna and Artemis said… "How do you know all of this?" Rei whispered. "Who are you, really?"

He chuckled. "I suppose there's no harm in you knowing my name now, in the end." He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "Call me Faith…"

Justice cautiously led the group up the stairwell. Six floors so far, and no more attacks. He instantly regretted the thought; that was exactly how you got yourself into trouble. Usagi was behind him, flanked by Jupiter and Mercury. Tuxedo Kamen and Venus brought up the rear, her shoulder bound up in the makeshift sling Mercury had made from his cape. It wasn't broken, but the blast had gone right through the soft tissue beneath her collar bone, making for a painful injury. So far, it seemed that keeping it upright and immobile was helping with the pain. For that, he was glad. Seeing her lying on the floor, bleeding badly...that had really scared him.

"Everyone okay?" he called, reaching another landing. So begins floor seven, he thought sourly.

"So far, so good," Sailor Moon replied.

He turned his attention back to the stairs, peering up at the next flight.

"I don't see anything ahead…this all seems a little too…easy." He stopped. There were no footsteps behind him anymore. He whirled about to find himself alone. "Hello?" Where had everyone gone? Justice dashed back to the flight below; there was nobody there, either. A chill ran down his spine. Somehow, he'd been separated from the others and he hadn't even noticed.

"Hello?!"

"Corey?" Venus called.

"Justice!" Jupiter added.

"Anything, Mercury?"

"Nothing…" The blue-haired Senshi shook her head slowly. "There was a faint energy reading a moment ago, but it disappeared almost immediately."

"How could this happen?" Sailor Moon pouted, turning to face the others. She started to sit. "One second he's there, the next he-" She fell through the stairs, disappearing from view.

"Usako!" Mamoru rushed forward, reaching after her. His hands hit the stairs and stopped. They were solid.

"Is anyone else getting really nervous?" Venus murmured.

Jupiter glanced sidelong at her. "At this point, I think it'd be strange if you weren't."

Usagi blinked. She was...at the shrine? When had she gotten here? She looked up at the sky; it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping. How she got here didn't really matter, did it?

"Usagi!"

She turned to see her friends sitting on the steps of the main hall, and smiled. It was so good to see everyone. She hurried over and sat with them. As she glanced at Rei, she felt a strange sensation of…loss? That was odd.

"Did you bring it?" the raven-haired girl asked.

"I'm sorry…" Usagi frowned. "I don't…"

"The Silver Crystal," Rei reminded her, smiling.

"Oh…yes, of course." How silly of her. Today was the day she was handing it over to them. After all, she was just a clumsy, useless cry-baby…it would be safer with the other Senshi. She frowned again. How odd. Doubt had crept into her mind as soon as she'd finished that last thought. How had she gotten here? How long had she been here for? She'd been somewhere else a moment ago. She was sure of it.

"Usagi?" Minako asked. "Are we doing this, or what?"

"I don't…" Why was her mind so foggy? If she could only remember… "I suppose I have no choice."

"Great!" Ami chimed in. "You're doing the right thing, Usagi. This will be best for everyone."

"Definitely," Mako agreed. "Now that you're no longer going to be Sailor Moon, we won't have to worry about protecting you during fights. Nobody else will get hurt trying to save you."

"Yes…" Usagi whispered. Nobody else would be hurt because of her. She glanced at Minako. The blonde looked fine. The perfect picture of health. But wait…hadn't she been wounded a few minutes ago? Wounded…saving her life? But saving her from what? There were no enemies here.

"Usagi!"

She whirled about to see Luna standing behind her. "Oh, Luna? I was just…"

"Don't give them the Silver Crystal!" the cat shouted. "Think about it carefully, and you'll see that none of this is real!"

Usagi frowned. What an odd thing to say. Her friends weren't real? "Luna, I'm doing this so nobody else gets hurt protecting me. Don't you see? I have no choice!"

"Exactly," Rei agreed, smiling coldly. "You're just not cut out to be a Sailor Senshi."

"But what about all the people you've saved as Sailor Moon?" Luna objected. "Even the Senshi…they wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for you!"

"We wouldn't have died in the first place, if it weren't for you," Ami reminded her.

Usagi was torn. If she could only remember what she'd been doing! She turned away from all of them, staring at the Tokyo skyline.

"Usagi," Luna urged. "Remember what Minako told you! That's true friendship, not this farce!"

The blonde frowned again. What had Minako told her? Slowly, the words came to her. They were faint, like they were being shouted across a great distance.

I saw you were in trouble, and I acted. I didn't even have to think about it. You're my friend, Usagi…and I love you. Focus on that, and let the rest of it go. Okay?

Her gaze lingered on the distant Tokyo Skytree. There was something about that building…it was familiar. Had she just been there?

"Oops, too late!" Rei announced casually. "Looks like Minako just died."

Usagi spun around, eyes widening in horror. Blood was pouring from Minako's left shoulder. She looked down at it in confusion, before staring at Usagi with hurt eyes. "Usagi…I thought we were friends?" She collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Bravo, Usagi," Mako said sarcastically, standing and starting a slow clap, her fellow Senshi joining in. "You've gotten another one of us killed. That seems to be what you're best at."

"No…" Usagi whispered, backing away. This wasn't real. Minako wasn't dead, and her friends would never act like this towards her. The words Minako had spoken in her mind were the truth, even if she couldn't remember when or where she'd heard them. "My friends would never ask me to give up the Silver Crystal! They love me, and they'd never turn on me like this!"

"She's not going for it," Rei sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Oh, well," Ami shrugged. "Looks like we'll just have to kill her!"

"Great," Mako agreed, cracking her knuckles. "I've been looking forward to tearing her pretty little face off ever since she got here!"

"You're not my friends!" Usagi screamed. "Get away from me!"

The faces of her 'friends' began to melt away, revealing black, featureless voids. Her eyes widened in fear. Constructs! She remembered! The Skytree…they were trying to rescue Rei! She'd fallen down somehow, and woken up here. She reached up to brush the brooch on her chest and realised she was Sailor Moon once more.

"Sailor Moon!" Luna cried. "Use your Tiare!"

Oh, yes. She had that back now. Confidence took over, and she raised her weapon before her.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

Reality shattered around her, and she fell into darkness…

"Sailor Moon!"

She was shaken awake, and found herself lying face down on the sixteenth floor landing.

"Usako! Where have you been?"

"It was another trap," she whispered. It was hard to remember, fading like a nightmare. "You were all there…"

"We were?" Mercury asked, immediately opening her computer to check her friend's vitals.

"Yeah…you tried to take the Silver Crystal from me…"

"We would never do that," Jupiter said reassuringly. "You know that."

"I know that, but it was still creepy." As Mamoru helped her up, she glanced at Mercury, trying to suppress a shiver as she heard the words of her friend's doppelganger again. Looks like we'll just have to kill her. That had been…unpleasant. As she looked around at her friends, she noticed another absence.

"Uh, guys? I knew Corey was missing…but where's Minako?"

AN: Hahaha, yes, Minako's fine! As if I would ever actually kill her! The poor girl's taken a beating though, I must admit. She needs a break. Speaking of breaks, it's time for another chapter break! This was getting very long again.

Where's Minako disappeared to? Can they find Corey? Will they finally reach poor Rei? Stick around, the answers will be revealed (probably) next chapter!