With a duffle bag containing Minako's spare clothes in hand, Rei walked downhill to the nearest bus stop from the shrine. She plucked her phone out from her side pocket and speed dialed, waiting for the person at the other side of the line to pick up.
"…Hello?"
"Good morning."
"Mars!" The noise of clothe shuffling and a loud screeching "Meowwwwooooo!" startled the priestess.
"Mina! That was so uncalled for!"
"Sorry!"
"Um… Minako? Is everything alright?" Rei asked in a mixture of concern and amusement.
"Rei! Uh, yeah. Everything's…um… fine."Minako said as she sent an apologetic hand signal to the guardian cat glaring at her, but instead of blaming her for accidentally stepping on his tail, she found the cat was actually reprimanding her for her jumpiness.
Understanding that getting all nervous with her best friend isn't the best way to settle the new knowledge she gained about past life, Minako inhaled deeply to calm herself. "Sorry if I startled you. You just kind of woke me, so I was a bit surprised."
"Heh. I would say sorry, but it's already almost noon."
"Cut me some slack, would you? You are talking to someone who was still passed out yesterday." Having reverted back to their usual banter, Minako was finally able to relax her nerves.
"True. So, feeling alright?"
"Yeah, a lot better, thanks. So, why call me?"
"Just want to let you know I'm heading over your place now. Brought you some clothes to change, then we'll need to leave for the—"
"—meeting, I know. Saw Kuroi's message."
"Right. So since I don't think traffic will be a problem now, I'll see you soon."
"'Kay. Bye." Minako exhaled deeply as she clipped her phone shut, looking up when she heard the cartoon-like-popping sound of Artemis' plushy footsteps.
"Told you everything's fine as long as you act normal." The cat said as he jumped up and settled on the bed once more beside Minako's lap.
"Yeah… but it's harder than I thought it would." Minako's eyes widened suddenly, "Oh no!"
"What?"
"She said she's bringing my clothes! That means she would have to get my bra and—" the idol's face flushed bright red.
"Oh for the love—Minako! Of all the things to think about, you're thinking about underwear? Get your mind out of the gutter, that's not what I meant about acting normal. The two of you slept under the same roof often enough even before these two months, what's there to be embarrassed about?"
"I can't help it! The involvement with underwear isn't exactly pure now I got my memories back. And I can't just block out flashbacks!" Minako groaned. "I need a bath. A cold one."
Artemis sighed and shook his head helplessly as his charge headed for the hotel bathroom.
Still walking downhill towards the bus stop, Rei had just pocketed her cell phone when a sudden chill ran down her spine, a sense of danger and darkness infiltrating her senses. She immediately halted her step and heightened her senses, eyeing her surrounding in alert.
Six pillars of dark energy rose closely around her, but Rei was prepared. With flame summoned in her right fist, she punched the clown mask of the creature directly in front of her. The impact and burning flame shattered the ceramic-like mask completely, causing the dark being to dissolve. With the spot left empty, the priestess wasted no time to make a run out of the incomplete circle to separate herself from her enemies.
She didn't get far before she was halted once again, this time by three pieces of playing card striking the ground only a meter in front of her in one horizontal line.
"Sorry. No time to play hide and seek today."
Rei looked up to meet the owner of the cards. Narrowing her eyes in anger, the priestess stretched out her right arm. "Sorry, no time to entertain you as well!" She snapped with venom as the Mars Sailor Star Tambourine appeared in her hand, sending star shaped red energies to 'greet' the Venusian.
Snap.
With a snap of finger, two clown masked creatures materialized in front of Danburite and took full force of the attack instead. As the masks crumbled and the creatures dissolved to the ground, the blonde man stood as relaxed as ever, the confident smile still on his pretty face.
"I see that you have grown stronger again." Danburite snapped his fingers once more. "But it's still not enough. None of you are."
Confusion filling her mind at the words, Rei meant to retort the Venusian's cryptic talk, but the sudden iron grips on her hands drew her attention away. Turning back, she found her arms being held still by one of the clown masked brings, now forming a circle around her was another four of them. Unknowing to her until this very moment, the previous five creatures she had left behind had finally caught up while she faced Danburite. The creature holding her shifted form and its solid body turned gooey, much like the first time she fought them nearly two months ago. It black form stretched and swirled around her like a snake, restraining her upper body movement while its clown masked face looked down at her.
The priestess struggled against her bind the best she could, yet futile with the fire from her tambourine unable to reach its mask. The creature then tighten its bind around the woman, squeezing with an amount of force not enough to crush her bones, but enough to pressure her muscles to cause her hand to let go of the tambourine. With a metal clang, the tambourine hit the floor then disappeared, marking the end of Rei's attempt in resistant.
Gritting her teeth in frustration, Rei watched as the clown masked of the surrounding four creatures faded, their bodies turned liquid and merged with one another, forming a black semi-sphere barrier, stretching from the ground to above her, slowly swallowing her within.
"What are you doing to me? What are you planning?" Rei yelled at the silent Venusian in frustration and desperation, struggling even harder to no effect.
"Sorry Mars. Like I said, there's no time to play today." Danburite merely stated, not answering her questions. "And on a side note, the current you aren't even adequate to be qualified as my entertainment." He sneered, the gleam in his cerulean eyes and smile on his faces showing smugness and belittlement. And the priestess could only glare in return as the barrier closed in at her, the stench of dark energy tickling her skin.
"Have a safe trip." The sight of the Venusian waving his hand with a too bright and obviously fake smile was the last sight she saw before the barrier completely fused together. "DANBURITE!" She howled in hatred and wrath as pure darkness filled her vision, and she felt herself falling backwards, eventually vertically downward.
After what seemed like minutes falling or floating in air—she could not really tell, she felt her back finally hit solid ground, causing her a soft pained grunt at the impact. Blinking open her eyelids, which she had squinted close during the fall, she allowed her eyes to regain focus and adjust to the level of light of her surrounding, finally taking in the dimmed sight of trees—lots and lots of trees—blocking the view of the sky and its sunlight. She instantly sat up and flexed her limbs to check for injuries—which she found none, realizing she was no longer bound. Looking around and stretching out her senses, she found no sign of her enemy or other immediate danger. It was only after such confirmation that she allowed herself to relax slightly by exhaling a deep breath and turn to observe her surrounding in detail.
Another sickening feeling swirled in her stomach as she took in the sight. She was literally in the middle of nowhere in a dark forest of seemingly dead trees. Sound of rustling started as she stood up, and she looked down to see the countless dry leaves under her lying on equally dry mud.
The priestess could not tell where she was, the only thing she could tell was she was not in Tokyo.
Cursing under her breath, Rei hissed, "Where the hell am I?"
A lone creature rose from the ground, its clown mask blinked with purple glow in resonance to its master's magic. In one last glow of purple, the clown mask lifted and flew off its black gooey body, letting it dissolve into the ground. The masked transformed into one small globe of pure energy, landing onto the open palm of its owner.
"Looks like all key characters have arrived." The woman released a round of girlish giggle. "Let the show begin."
Behind her, knelt a blonde warrior with his head lowered into a bow.
"What do you mean you can't come? You said you'd help me and Motoki fix up the store!"
"Like I said, I got something urgent to do!" Kuroi resisted the urge to shout into his cellphone. He had just left home and was on his way to Ki no Flower Shop when he sensed a sudden surge of energy flow moving in Tokyo.
"Urgent? Is it the enemy?" Makoto's voice turned from annoyance to worry.
"No, its not. Relax. I'll see you guys later at the meeting."
"Kuroi!—" The man clipped his cellphone close, efficiently cutting off the florist's protest, as he continued walking speedily towards where he believe was the area of the source of problem.
"Kunzite."
Kuroi halted at the call and turned to find the white warrior appearing before him. "Zoisite!"
In a white flash, Zoisite detransformed to Shiroi.
"I thought you were visiting your friends." The taller man asked the approaching pianist.
"I was, but I felt the sudden grow of magic field. So I came to investigate."
Kuroi nodded in understanding. "Do you know where the source of the magic is? I could only estimate its location. " He referred to the empty crossroad they now stand between the rows of skyscrapers.
"No. The magic disappeared as quickly as it appeared. It was too brief for me to track as well." The pianist shook his head. "Did you hear from Nephrite and Jadeite?"
"No. They probably couldn't sense it, given Akai's with Ami and the hotel's further away from here. Not sure where Kiiroi went though."
"Should we notify them?"
Kuroi shook his head. "We still don't know if the magic field is a threat or just an aftereffect of the attack yesterday. We'll look into it before alerting them."
Shiroi nodded at the leader's decision, and with a shared glance, they split up in opposite directions in search for the source of problem that caused their discomfort.
Rei wandered almost blindly in the forest, not knowing her whereabouts and her direction.
While she was relieved to remain sensing no immediate danger, the eerie atmosphere of the forest was really starting to creep her out. She couldn't tell if it was reality or just her mind's doing, but she felt that the longer she stayed within those purple leaved tree, the colder and more tired she got, as if the lifeless environment was draining her energy as well.
She had tried calling people in her contact list with her Teletia S., most importantly to all Senshis and Shitennou, but none went through. She was completely on her own in this situation.
Raising her right arm, she wanted to wipe the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve, only to drop her arm again remembering that doing so would only smear dirt all over her face, since her shirt was covered by strips of it. She swore her cloths were clean even during her brief encounter with Danburite, and the mud on the ground under feet were all so dry that it could be brushed off with a simple wave of hand. And yet, the mud on her shirt was slightly wet, making it even dirtier when she tried to wipe them off. This was the same for the duffle bag hanging at the crook of her left elbow—the bag that contained Minako's clothe and was miraculously still in her hand during the fight and teleportation. The exterior of it was also full of mud and dirt that was different to those on the ground.
Those discoveries only added to the number of mystery she needed to solve along with figuring out her current location. It brought her no comfort at all, and she sighed.
Without warning, whirls of wind started, passing between the crowd of trees, shaking hundreds of tree leaves off the branches. Covering her eyes with a hand, but not totally blocking her sight, something caught the corner of Rei's eyes.
Eyes widened in shock and disbelieve, Rei ran towards the subject of her focus. Remaining floating slowly downwards in the wind, was a piece of black rose petal. Catching and letting the petal rest on her outstretched palm, Rei drew in a deep breathe recognizing the faint yet unmistakable aura coming from it.
"Why is Rei taking so long?" Minako frowned deeply as she paced around the hotel room..
"Minako, stop it! You're making me dizzy. It's probably traffic." The white plushy soothed from his spot on the coffee table.
"But she said she'll be here soon! And with so many people collapsed, I doubt traffic jam even exist in Tokyo now." The idol groused as she sat down on the sofa.
"Well, the time for the bus to get here isn't even a problem worth discussing if there's actually no bus for Mars to take. Like you said, with people collapsed, maybe even the amount of buses has decreased as well."
"It still shouldn't take a whole hour! The time it takes for Rei to get here shouldn't even exceed twenty minutes! What if she's in trouble?" Minako asked worriedly.
"Mars can take care of herself, she proved adequate for that so long in the battles. And if anything had happened, Luna and I would've sensed it, as well as the Shitennou."
Just then, the doorbell rang, and Minako bolted straight for the door.
"Rei! What took you so—" She yanked the door open hurriedly "long…"
Standing outside the door was not the priestess, but Ami with Akai just a step behind her, both startled by the unexpected greeting.
Walking hurriedly while doing her best to remain cautious, Rei passed by trees after trees, following the weak trace of aura identical to the one she sensed coming from the rose petal. She didn't need confirmation, for as she continued to walk, she continued to find the same rose petals on the ground, on tree bushes, or floating in the air somewhere, forming a path for her.
She was clearly aware of the high possibility that she was heading right into a trap, but she had no other option besides continue to wander amongst the endless count of trees. Her new option of heading into danger was at least leading her somewhere more useful, no matter for the better or worse.
She also needed to seek answers and confirmation, unwilling to believe what the existence of those rose petals suggested to her is true. "That's impossible" She kept telling herself, as if in a denial.
"But then again, she had tricked death once, maybe she did it again?" An annoying little voice named conscious spoke in her mind.
"Usagi wouldn't have allowed such evil soul remain when she restored the world."
"Not if she could help it. But could she? She's not god. And your senses don't lie to you, same with the existence of auras. It's something that can only be hidden, not faked."
Her conscious obviously won the little debate in her head against what she wanted to believe, and she was forced to think of the worse and what the revelation would mean for them. All of them; Senshi and Shitennou.
The scenery around her started to blur and shift all of a sudden, the colour of the trees leaves turning from their purple colour to the normal green. More light was also let in around the area, but while this may be true, the layer of fog only thickens, causing the light let into the woods turned grey.
A sense of familiarity stroked her as she took in the details of her new surroundings, now standing in a more spacious ground between the trees. She approached a particular tree, with signs of burnt marks on the surface.
She closed her eyes remembering the moments. This was where she first became Sailor Mars.
Rustle.
The sudden motion from the tree leaves startled the priestess and a projectile hit the spot on the tree trunk just inches away from her throat before she could even turn her head. Totally caught off guard and fully aware she could've died just now, Rei leapt away hastily in shaky breath before taking a good look at the weapon.
Sunk into the wood was half the body of a crystal blue dagger, its appearance too familiar that froze Rei in fear. She turned to where the dagger came from, and found someone approaching her.
"Jadeite…"
Just several meters away from her, was the youngest member of the Shitennou.
Finally having found a clue after searching in the area for so long, Shiroi hurried towards the direction where he sensed a more vivid trace of energy flow, believe it would lead him to what he and Kuroi wishes to know.
He was only about another block away from his destination when the abrupt rise of dark energy forced him to stop, and a large swarm of clown masked creatures rose from the ground blocking his way.
"Tsk. Move!" Shiroi hissed in annoyance as he transformed into his Shitennou form. With his curved blade summoned in his gloved hand, he raised it up and sent a faint stream of bluish white energy into the sky.
Alone on the sofa while his girlfriend and the Lunarian advisor sooth and keep the the irritated idol busy at the bed, Akai flipped channels after channel on the hotel television with its remote control, finding nothing interesting to watch. He attention was soon drawn away when he felt the personal energy signal that was unmistakably Zoisite's reaching his senses. He turned towards the room's large window that was coincidentally and conveniently facing the same direction where he felt his comrade locates, and as expected, saw the very thin line of bluish white energy being shot up to the sky.
He concentrated his senses and found no dark energy or any sort of threat near him, but they Shitennou were trained to be able to recognize each other's energy signature no matter how weak it was as a mean for emergency communication. Zoisite's signal was no joke.
He turned around and eyed the still chatting girls and cat, and decided against transforming immediately before their eyes, not wanting to alert them and drag them into possible danger. He took out his cell phone and called for his leader.
Running towards the location Zoisite shot the stream of energy to the sky, Kuroi groaned when his cell phone rang from his pants pocket, wanting to transform already.
"Kuroi! What's going on?" Akai's voice came through the moment the man answered the call.
"Akai. Good that you're calling me. Listen and follow my orders. Be on standby and stay with Ami and the others. Do not transform unless you found me sending up an energy signal as well, I do not want to alert the girls just yet."
"What's happening?"
"Not too sure." Kuroi admitted. Zoisite's signal came as surprising to him as it did Akai, sensing no new danger or threat nearby even though he was searching in the same area as the pianist. "But no time to talk, I'll fill you in later. But it shouldn't be something serious that Zoisite and I can't handle. Just spread Kiiroi the word to give him a heads up."
"Got it."
The moment Akai cut of the conversation, Kuroi closed his phone as well and transformed into his Shitennou form. With one flick of his cape, he teleported himself to where Zoisite is, immediately finding the sight of his comrade combating against an army of dark creatures.
"Zoisite, are you alright?" Kunzite wasted no time to unsheathe his sword and charge at the beings.
"Those creatures pose no threat to me." Zoisite said easily as he destroyed another two creatures with one blow of his blade.
"Eh?" Kunzite's dark eyes widened as his sword destroyed its first minions in this battle. His hand felt little impact when its strike the creature, almost as if it is merely cutting air.
"Found out the problem?" Zoisite asked knowingly.
"Tsk. Those things are here just to stall us. No wonder I sensed no dark energy even when I was so close to you." Kunzite spat as he easily pierce through another two creature's clown mask with his sword. All of the creatures before them were weaker than the usual ones they had faced, their defense weaker, attack slower and lighter, and body easier to hit. It was only the quantity of the beings grouping together that looked terrifying, since more and more kept appearing right in front of them.
"So I assume you found out something, or else those idiots won't rise to halt us in our search." The leader stated as he leapt back and stretched out his weaponed arm.
"Yes. We should be near the source of the magic field. But all is just talk unless we get pass them." Zoisite replied as he also leapt back and mimicked his leader.
"Then let us kill them in no time to proceed." Kunzite and Shiroi shared a look as they both charged energy into their weapon. Together, they released two strong beams of energy that pierced through two straight rows of clown masked creature.
Eyes never leaving the Shitennou's form, Rei skipped to her right watching Jadeite flung his other dagger at her, dodging the attack just in the nick of time and the dagger joined its twin on the tree truck.
"Jadeite! What's the meaning of this?"
"Can't even figure out the obvious?" All it took was one step, and Jadeite was right in front of the priestess in a split second, his right fist raised and pulled back. "You Senshi really are slow, aren't you?" He sneered.
No time at all to dodge, Rei raised the duffle bag of clothes in front of her as a makeshift shield, but the force alone was enough to send her feet sliding backwards, costing her much of her strength to not fall on her back.
Rei barely had time to regain her composure when she heard Jadeite groused "Troublesome bag!" And the next thing she knew, a ball of energy strike the bag that she still held in front of her and it burnt to ashes in greenish flame.
"Dammit, Jadeite! Why are you doing this?" Rei demanded.
"This is payback for having me act like a fool all those time. My true master has returned. I no longer have to play house with you powerless humans."
"True master? What are you talking about?"
"I'm of course talking about Queen Beryl-sama."
Rei stiffened at the Shitennou's claim, her mind immediately jumped to the thought of those rose petals she saw. She tightened her fist as she said. "Beryl's dead."
"Who are you calling dead, you insolent girl?"
The priestess breathed out shakily as she watched a blurry figure showed up behind the Shitennou out of thin air. Stepping out of ripples of light, was a woman with long curly flaming red hair, bangs held back by a gold and black diadem. Her slender body was covered by a sleeveless dark purple long dress with a flow of purple fabric on top of it, reaching downward from the flurry and demonic looking shoulder pad to the ground.
The appearance was unmistakable, Rei thought as terror spread through her veins. Queen Beryl was back, just like what the black rose petal she found on her way suggested.
"Why did you come back, Beryl?" Rei asked loud and confident, unwilling to show vulnerability to her enemy. "Back for Endymion again?" She sneered, but the dark mistress in front of her would not be provoked by her words.
"Take care of her."
The simple order was all it took to have the young Shitennou take action. Spreading out his hands, Jadeite summoned his twin daggers back to his hands, then charged at the priestess.
More prepared for battle this time, Rei didn't hold back and called out her Sailor Tambourine as well.
Clang!
The sharp sound echoed through the woods as crystal met metal, the Shitennou and ex-senshi's body pressed against one another.
"Jadeite, snap out of it!" Rei hissed, her hands shaking against the blonde warrior's strength.
"There is nothing for me to snap out of." Jadeite retorted easily.
"Do you seriously expect me to believe you would betray Mamoru and your friends? This is not you!"
The boy ignored the priestess's insistence. With one wave of motion, pushed Rei backwards, breaking their wrestle of weapon and strength. "Endymion was the one who betrayed us at the first place."
"That might be true in the past, but Mamoru's not Endymion." Rei argued.
"The past and the present. Same soul, same person. I thought you would've learnt your lesson by now, Hino Rei."
The words struck a nerve, and Rei started to doubt if Jadeite really wasn't himself or not. His aura suggested he was the real deal, but how about his mind? Was the boy controlled by Beryl's dark power again? Or is he doing this in his own free will? Rei couldn't tell apart. If only I knew him better, she thought. Now she thought about it, she found she never got to know the Shitennou on a more personal level. She knew about their past, their job, their general personalities, and got to hang out with them time to time when Usagi insisted a gathering, but she never connected to any of them herself, unlike Ami and Makoto.
Jadeite kept striking swiftly with his light but equally fatal weapon, and Rei was having a hard time keeping up with the attacks in civilian form, especially given that the blonde's attack was skillful and varied, one of the winning qualities of using short and light weapons. And worse of all, he had two weapons while she only had one, making her situation even more disadvantaged.
As the two battled, the dark mistress continued to observe from the side, a satisfied smirk on her face and her eye gleamed in enjoyment.
"Argh!" Rei cried in pain as her tambourine was finally knocked out of her hands and she took a booted kick to the stomach, causing her stumble and fall back to a tree. Quickly regaining her posture though with the support of weight from the tree trunk, she deflected the Shitennou's next attack by sending a wave of fire to the boy from her now out stretched hands.
"Tsk!" Jadeite scowled as the heat hit his face and was forced to retreat a step, but he was surprised to find the flame quickly dissipated just before really burning him. "What are you doing? Don't tell me you used up all your power already."
"That's not it." Rei replied between deep breaths, still leaning against the tree. "I don't want to hurt you."
The priestess's words raised deep anger in the Terran warrior. "Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to defeat you? You have an apparent death wish."
The priestess did not falter at the boy's nasty sneer. To both the blonde and the dark mistress's surprise, despite the obvious exhaustion, they found something spark in the Martian reincarnation's eyes, bright and strong.
It was hope.
Rei focused solely on the young Shitennou. "Prove it to me that you're not brainwashed. That you really are the Jadeite I've known these two years. That you're Kiiroi."
"Arrogant Senshi. I don't need to prove anything to the likes of you." Jadeite hissed.
"Do you remember your birthday?" Unfazed, Rei asked.
"Is this some kind of trick question?" Jadeite scoffed.
"Just answer the question." Rei said seriously. She was confident in her choice of question, finally recalling something that only the present Jadeite—Kiiroi would know.
"Birth dates weren't registered for people born to join in the military in the past life. I don't have a birthday, if that's the answer you're looking for." Jadeite replied swiftly.
Rei smiled grimly. "That is exactly the answer I was looking for." Concentrating her energy, the tambourine was summoned back to her hands again. Strengthened her fire ability by charging it through the gadget, she sent another wave to fire right at the Shitennou, forcing him to use his cape to block out the attack. That became the distraction she needed as she immediately switched her target towards Beryl and sent flying red star-shaped energies at the evil queen.
"Beryl-sama!" Jadeite cried in panic, unable to block the attack in time. But all it took was a wave of dark energy for the dark mistress to dissipate the attack.
"Silly girl. You think little tricked like that can hurt me?" Beryl taunted. "I am curious though, why would you be satisfied by Jadeite's answer even though it's the truth."
"Because while what he said was true, it also wasn't the truth. The Shitennou all have birthday. A shared one that is not their birth date."
The Shitennou, with the exception of Akai, had no recollection of their present lives before the battle against plant monster Mio, and that included their own birthdays. The only thing they knew was their given civilian names.
Usagi, being the friendly person she had always been, found this out when she asked the men for their birthdays, a must-do for her as sign of friendship. So immediately, she told Mamoru about it and they discussed on it. It was Mamoru who made this decision to give the four men a common birthday on a special day. Rei could still remember the joy and gratefulness reflected on the men's face when they had their first ever birthday party last year, organized by the Chibas.
"You might have control of his mind and knowledge, but to have him serve you again, you would also have to block out his memories of him and Mamoru; just like how you sealed the Shitennou's memory of the past life the last time, I reckon? That would only make this knowledge of his birthday unreachable since they are connected." Rei turned to Jadeite. "Jadeite! Your birthday is the 19th of November, remember the meaning behind it!"
"That is useless. Your voice would never reach him. Though I must admit I am surprised by your cleverness. I thought Mercury was the only one with a brain." Beryl laughed.
Rei paid no attention to the dark queen's words, and that pissed the woman. "Jadeite, kill her!"
In a split second, Jadeite was attacking the priestess again.
"Dammit, Jadeite! I'm not your enemy. Wake up!" Rei hissed as she dodged the energy blast sent at her.
"Remember the significance of your birthday. Remember your bond with Mamoru, Kuroi, Shiroi and Akai!" The priestess called while she blocked another one of Jadeite's dagger attack, the impact rocked though the muscles of her right arm.
"Remember the birthday party Usagi set up for you guys last year! That day meant more than it seems to you guys, right? Even an outsider like me could see it." She continued between dodging flying daggers and balls of energy, hoping her voice would reach the boy's mind and trigger something.
"Remember your friendship with everyone! Kiiroi!"
The words resounded in Jadeite's mind, triggering something in him.
Kiiroi. Masuo Kiiroi. His name; his present civilian name.
November 19th. Kiiroi's birthday—HIS birthday…
The day they all reunited with Mamoru in their civilian form.
The day where they promised that they will always stick together, and whatever happened in the past would never affect their friendship.
Jadeite's attacks stopped abruptly, his blue eyes squinted shut and gloved hand holding his head as if in pain. "Master…Endymion…"
"Kiiroi!" "Jadeite!" Rei and Beryl both called, the first in joy while the later in disbelief.
"Tsk! Such a weak mind; so easily shaken." Queen Beryl hissed. "Then I shall make you a soulless shell. Serve me well, Jadeite! And be honored!" She spread out her arms, the purple fabric covering her dress fluttered strongly as a gush of black energy rise and swarm at the struggling Shitennou.
"Leave him alone!" Rei shouted as she took out three pieces of ofuda, flung them out, and concentrated a mixture of her natural gift and Senshi power into them. The charmed paper flew past Jadeite and floated between him and the dark magic in a horizontal line. When the wave of blackness rushed at it, a shady white appeared and halted the black raid.
"Foolish mortal!" With a pushing moment of her arms, Beryl increased the magnitude of the black wave, slowly pushing Rei's shield backwards.
The priestess struggled to keep the barrier intact, her out stretched arms shaking already, but met with Beryl's attack without her full Senshi power, she was hopeless to win. The corners of ofuda burst in flame and the flare slowly spread towards the center, marking the remaining strength and time of the shield.
Another second later, one ofuda was already burnt out and cracks appeared on the barrier, allowing the darkness to slip through and reach Jadeite.
He could feel something foreign—a power he never felt before, entering his mind aggressively, but the sensation was not unfamiliar. Still, it was uncomfortable, and he tried to fight it, but it only hurts to fight. The power dug deep, invading his privacy of thoughts, emotions, and most importantly, memories; one layer after layer…
/
"Hey! Kiiroi-kun! Give it back!" Usagi pouted, chasing after him around and between tables and chairs in the Senshi—the now Senshi and Shitennou Secret Base.
"Catch me if you can!" He laughed, holding the bowl of chips just out of the princess's reach.
/
"Happy Birthday to Kuroi, Shiroi, Akai and Kiiroi!" Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Mamoru, Motoki and Luna shouted as they popped open the party poppers, the coloured streams and paper bits flying out, covering him and his fellow Shitennou.
Grinning, they held up their own glass of champagne.
"To the past." He started.
"The present." Akai continued on his right.
"The future." Shiroi added to his left.
"And our everlasting friendship!" Kuroi concluded, opposite of him around the table.
Clang. They cheered and drank.
/
"Kiiroi, room 3 and 4's clear! Go clean them up!" Akai called from the place behind the store's front counter.
"Hey! It's been me cleaning the rooms for the past three hours! Shouldn't it be your turn now?" He complained. He might have gotten used to cleaning things up in those two months he worked in Crown, but that doesn't mean he have to do all of them.
"I'm the store manager, so I'll be the one greeting customers." Akai sounded rather smug; he was so not going to let him get away with it.
"Only because you worked here for a longer time, not because of your social capability, you grunting gorilla." He used the nickname he made for Akai, for grunting was a very common response Akai gave Motoki.
"I'm not a gorilla!"
"But you don't deny grunting!"
They glared at each other, faces only centimeters apart and bodies separated only by the counter. Then, the store's front door entry alarm rang.
"Welcome to Karaoke Crown!" Both of them simultaneously turned to greet the group of school girls with bright smiles.
/
"Usagi and I have been talking." Mamoru started out of the blue during their second monthly gathering at a bar.
"Which is extremely unusual for a married couple." Kuroi rolled his eyes, causing him and his teammates to snicker as their prince glared at the leader.
"We—well, she insisted you guys need to have a birthday. Not exactly a 'birth day', but a day to celebrate your returns."
That was nice of her, he thought as he seeped his beer.
"So, our resurrection day?" Shiroi asked.
"I don't think I remember mine's." Akai squinted his eyes thinking.
"You don't have to, because that's not it." Mamoru confirmed. "The date I decided is November 19th."
/
He fiddled with the time showing device on his left hand as he waited for his prince with his teammates.
A wrist watch, Nephrite had told him.
It was on his wrist already when he woken in his civilian form, and he was immensely intrigued by this invention of the present, finding it ingenious. It does not only show time, but date as well. The small block showing a 'Nov' and a '19'.
"Master Endymion." He heard Kunzite, now in black short hair, greeted the approaching prince. So he looked up, and with his fellow Shitennou, kneeled down.
"Wow, guys. Stand up!" Their prince immediately said, quite flustered. "This isn't the past life, you don't have to do that now."
They all stood up, and were met with the prince's joyful smile. He looked well, and very happy. Nephrite had told them thd prince had only returned from his 'honeymoon' with Princess Serenity, whatever that is. He wondered if this 'honeymoon' was the cause of his slightly tanned skin tone.
"Akai told me everything already. I'm so glad see you guys. You all look well. What are your present names? No, Akai you don't need to tell me, I know yours." Endymion added at Nephrite. "Why did you kneel with them even though you know you don't have to?"
"Kunzite made me." Nephrite answered.
"Because that's the proper way for us to greet our master." Kunzite lectured before replying their prince "My present name is Kubodera Kuroi,"
"Endou Shiroi." Zoisite answered.
Endymion turned to him at last. "Masuo Kiiroi."
"Kuroi, Shiroi and Kiiroi. Nice to meet you guys! My name's Chiba Mamoru. Call me Mamoru."
/
He stood with his fellow Shitennou at the grass land behind the crowd, watching their prince and the reincarnation of the moon princess walking out of the white chapel, finally married—the happy ending they deserved.
He thought their prince wouldn't be able to see them, just like the rest of the senshi and the normal civilians.
He was wrong, and was mildly surprised to find the prince turning to them with a smile.
He nodded in greeting along with Kunzite, Zoisite and Nephrite, smiling as a sign of his blessing.
/
"Master." He called out as he and Kunzite, Zoisite and Nephrite appeared before the prince and princess in a white glowing place.
"It's your life." He smiled, holding up the picture that once held the prince's life energy.
"For our sake, please live in the present." Kunzite said.
"We will always be with you, Master." Zoisite claimed.
"If anything happens, we will surely come." Nephrite announced.
And he nodded, agreeing with his comrades wholeheartedly.
"You guys…" Their prince sounded deeply moved, voice filled with gratitude.
Yes, Prince Endymion deserves to live after what he had been through, he thought as he watched the prince took hold of Serenity's hand and ran out of the white space to where they belong.
/
"Beryl-sama! The Dark Kingdom is collapsing!" He called towards the dark mistress as the cavern shook and rocks fell.
"If you desire to run, then do so. I will not leave the castle." Queen Beryl remained having her back face him.
"Then I will also—"
"Enough. I am done playing queen."
A wave of dark magic burst out of his body, flying into the mistress's opened palm. He immediately felt lighter, as if a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulder.
He looked back up at the woman before him, the sight of her back lonely and sorrowful.
His heart came to a decision.
"What are you doing? The curse should be removed." Beryl turned around in awe when she realized he didn't leave.
"I have decided that Beryl-sama is my master."
"What?"
"I will never leave your side."
"Then you are a fool too." She implied that she herself was a fool as well, and he didn't mind being a fool with her.
"Yes."
Beryl stretched out her left hand invitingly, a ghost of a beautiful smile gracing her lips. He instantly knew what she wanted, and with a nod, he stood, walked forth, and knelt again, raising his right hand to take his master's hand, not caring that the world was crumbling around them.
Rei's shield finally shattered as the remaining two ofudas turned to ashes. Instantly, the swarm of darkness surrounded the young warrior mercilessly.
"Jadeite!" Rei cried as Queen Beryl's evil laughter filled the air, her heart growing cold at the sight.
The power of darkness turned into a large, pure black sphere, the Shitennou swallowed within. The globe slowly shrank in size, and a sinister purple aura coated the surface, showing that the power was slowly absorbed into Jadeite…
Or so the two women thought.
"What is going on?" Queen Beryl exclaimed in shock when the orb of blackness suddenly reacted violently, its shape deforming unstably.
Rei stood in awe as cracks appeared on the smooth surface of the orb, rays of light purpled light leaking out.
"Tsk. So he can't accept the amount of darkness in his body, huh?" Beryl said in epiphany with her voice in a mixture of disappointment and annoyance. "At this rate, he'll probably explode from the excess energy in his body."
"What!"
Rei's frightened exclaim turned Beryl's look of displeasure into a smirk.
A crack on the orb widened and soon totally shattered. Wild and strong energy waves burst out, lighting the whole area in light purple and triggering a whirl of pressured wind, sending Rei flying backward and also forcing Beryl to use her magic to float back for temporary retreat.
"Who was it that you were saying is going to explode? Don't underestimate me!"
The voice sparked hope in the priestess's heart again.
The light finally died down and wind also ceased. Rei slowly sat up on the ground, squinting her eyes to wait for the bright spots in her sight to vanish. When her vision cleared up, she was relieved and extremely grateful to find the blonde standing tall before her, strong and uninjured. "Jadeite!"
"Impossible!" Beryl's face twisted in rage.
"Obviously, you're wrong." The young warrior retorted as he gave Rei a hand to help her stand up.
"Are you alright?" He asked the priestess quietly.
"Yeah. You?" Rei returned.
Once confirming the priestess was truly all right, Jadeite muttered an "I'm fine" and turned his full attention to the dark mistress, his blue eyes gleamed in hatred and wrath.
"How dare you use me like this."
"What? It's not like it's the first time you were being used." Beryl sneered coldly, showing indifference, but it was obvious to the warrior and priestess that her dark eyes were burning in anger and displeasure.
"How dare," the twin crystal daggers appeared in the enraged Shitennou's hands, "you use my memory of her!"
A sudden gleam of satisfaction lit in the Queen's eyes, and her smile stretched across her lips. "I was only giving you what you wanted."
Rei frowned in confusion, not knowing what—specifically, who the two were talking about.
"You may have escaped through sheer luck, but you're not strong enough to do that again." Beryl continued to taunt.
"Wanna bet? I'll come back out no matter how many times you try. I have a strength that you know nothing about." Jadeite claimed confidently.
"A strength I don't know, huh?" Beryl's smile curled further ominously. "How about your friends? Do they know too? Or is your strength a part of the secrets you kept hidden from them too?"
"Shut up!" Jadeite barked, flinging a blast of energy at the laughing woman, who simply deflected with a wave of her own power. "Return to your true look already, your little game's over!"
"Why? My look struck a sore point for you?" The red haired woman taunted. "Ah well, I hate to look like an old hag anyway." She shrugged.
A whirlwind of black rose petal started and surrounded the fake Queen Beryl. When it dispersed, the woman revealed has shoulder length brown hair, wearing a black laced dress. On her face, was her signature Cheshire Cat grin.
Author's Notes:
Whoops, sorry. Apparently I estimated my upload date wrong again. Then again, I didn't know I was going to Japan with my parents when I upload the previous chapter. And who knew getting prepared for university would be so troublesome… I lose half of my day every day because of all the shopping or farewell dinners/gatherings and other stuff related to it.
Not gonna predict my upload date again, but I'll try my best to keep it under a month time. Might be hard though, since I'll be heading to Canada very soon and will be busy with moving in and getting used to university life.
Um, sort of a cliffhanger for the ending of this chapter. Hope I didn't upset anyone by stringing them for so long thinking it is Beryl doing evil again. Guess you all figured out who's that already.
Hope you enjoyed reading and the chapter lived up to your expectation. My beta helped me a lot in making it more interesting and less boring. It's proof of collab work.
Reviews are deeply appreciated.