This chapter is a bit longer again, but the next one coming will be a bit shorter. Just so you're prepared ^^

L

Makoto was nervous. They didn't need to look at her to see it, they need only look outside. The weather kept changing, as if it couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. Little islands of blue skies surrounded by heavy clouds, a spark of lightning here and there only to clear up again and start anew.

They'd found themselves on a train out of town – after a few attempts of training Makoto at the Hikawa shrine Rei had very soon decided that it wouldn't do to drench her home in monsoons while Makoto couldn't control it, and they'd decided to move their training into the mountains for the weekend. It had been a tough decision to make – usually Rei could sense an attack happen way before so they'd have enough time to come back, yet especially during the last days they'd always been very unpredictable, so they were taking a risk with leaving town.

They took the Odakyu limited express train from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto. (The train was called "Romancecar" - Usagi's eyes lit up at that with a beam towards Mamoru and Rei glared at her something fierce in answer saying "no please god no don't even think about it" to which Usagi only grumbled with a pout), then took a bus to the very outskirts of the little picturesque mountain town only to hike up a further hour into them until they reached their accommodation.

It was beautiful up there. It was so easy sometimes, with them living smack in the middle of the biggest metropolitan area in the world, to forget how beautiful nature was. Especially the Japanese mountain region, and especially in autumn, with the trees so colorful; red, yellow, golden, and the nature just only still so very much alive with squirrels hopping, birds flapping, the sound of crickets stridulating, water rushing along little streams with little bridges that had been built over them.

Kenji had booked them this private little hut in the middle of nowhere just outside of Hakone and if it hadn't been for Usagi's heavy protest that they could just take the train he'd driven them there, too. (In fact, Kenji had thrown himself headfirst into research for them, as well, everything from ways to train them better to the reports he'd gotten from that very young head researcher at Infinity– it was helping immensely, and it amazed them – especially how very accurate that girl's warning system was without even her knowing and Kenji had vowed to establish a standing contact to the girl.)As it was though, both Kenji and Ikuko kept calling them every other hour to check up on them during their stay and keeping them updated on any news from the police and hospitals if they were suspecting a new attack, and all of them – the Tsukinos as well as Mamoru and Usagi on the other end – freaking out every time reception gave out – they were in the mountains after all.

But so far, they'd spent a Saturday midday and evening training Makoto, a Saturday evening being gourmet-cooked a three-course meal by Makoto who was obviously trying to make up for her guilty conscience of making them all sneeze by that point after having to stand in her weather all day (though Mamoru found Usagi damn cute in her raincoat and giant pink Wellies) and an early Sunday morning playing video games on that ancient Super Nintendo installed to that even more ancient tube-type TV set in their hut (Street Fighter II, the only game there was, still stuck in the machine –Rei kept winning, Mamoru was absolute rubbish at it). Makoto made them all breakfast while they were waiting for Usagi to finally manage to get up and showered and dressed for them to train anew – and throughout it all it had been quiet and peaceful in Tokyo meanwhile.

It gave them pause, especially Mamoru. The last few days had been heavy on very random, very out of place attacks. The Cardians were always on the weaker side, and never out to actually steal a lot of energy – but they kept looking for something, which Usagi (and Rei, too, by now) still swore must be him, yet they didn't react to Tuxedo Mask at all. It was weird though – on Monday a Cardian had attacked near his apartment complex again, Tuesday there had been two attacks on the same day, one of them on his university grounds, another by the arcade. On Wednesday another, just in front of their supermarket that Usagi and him were shopping in for Ikuko at the time. All of them places he frequented, yet he was never their desired target. It was strange.

And now, once there were gone out of town– peaceful.

They'd trudged back up the mountain, about half an hour away from the hut as not to destroy anything. Usagi had complained all the way about not having got to play Super Nintendo with them and having had to rush breakfast, which got only worse every time Rei said it was her fault for not getting out of bed. Mamoru had to bite his lip from time to time not to grin like a happy fool – the whole thing – spending a weekend away with friends that felt more like family – was the kind of thing he hadn't even dared to dream about in the orphanage.

It was so perfect, so normal, so exactly what he'd always wished for.

Well – normal was up for discussion, though. There were trudging up a mountain to teach a girl with superhuman strength to wield her lightning powers.

Makoto could with heavy concentration conjure up one type of weather now, keep the storm from coming all at once – only rain or only lightening, when concentration slipped though it was mostly just her mood, and when she didn't have her emotions under control it stormed like the world was going under.

On their second day now, they'd already fallen into a routine: Get Makoto worked up and upset and angry until the storm arrived and then try to calm her down so she could control it.

The upsetting usually involved calling upon some pretty raw feelings, talking of old wounds, or that one time simply seeing Usagi accidently slip and fall down the side of their trail and down through the trees – nothing had happened of course; Usagi was a tough girl, and the few scratches were healed by Mamoru in the blink of an eye, nonetheless the storm came on in answer as if called and they'd all – Rei, Makoto and Mamoru – had a giant fright.

Most of the teaching was left to Rei, some to Mamoru. Rei had, of course, that eerie sense of what was right and what had to be, which helped Mamoru and Usagi in their training usually, and added on top of that her knowledge of meditation and focusing. This was then the one part Mamoru could most effectively link himself in – he could of course tell by her emotions, her heartbeat, the spikes of adrenaline, when the calming didn't work and could give hints. Also – Makoto struggled most with controlling her emotions once the storm got brewing. It overpowered her, and she had no reign over it, which was exactly why she couldn't direct it pretty much at all. So Mamoru focused all of his ability, touched her arm when the storm was at its height, and tried to soothe and calm her turmoil.

It helped to a degree, but not enough for her to accomplish anything as difficult as aiming, and it frustrated Makoto. She wasn't used to not being in control, she wasn't used to be overpowered by anything, and so this was pretty difficult on her.

Especially because she'd never attempted to control it in the first place.

She'd told them, last night in front of their magnificent bonfire courtesy of Rei, that she hadn't known she had these powers most her life. They came out by themselves, and they were stirred by her emotions – that much they'd gotten already, of course, yet it seemed logical to them, that obviously good moods turning to good weather weren't as noticeable as heavy storms would be. So it had taken Makoto until the death of her parents – the first time in her life she had felt anguish, loss, heartbreak, terror, denial, sadness and all at once, to understand that it came from her. She'd thought at first that it had started only then when in truth she'd had it all along. The night of the plane crash it had started raining; storms that uprooted trees had lasted for days. Who could have known that this was Sailor Jupiter in her, her powers expelling through in raw emotion.

And it was exactly those feelings that, even though they were deeply buried, still overpowered her when they rushed from her so freely when she let it storm, let her emotions run wild and free, and caused her lack of control now. So they'd talked through the night – first about them – Sailor Senshi, Moon Princess, Golden Kingdom, Silver Millennium, everything they'd gotten out of the videos and what it all meant, and how mind-numbing and unbelievable and overpowering it all felt to each of them … and then about Makoto's parents, about her loss, about the struggle afterwards, and how it hindered her control in her abilities – and this had been where Usagi shined, where only she could help where the others all struggled with knowing no solution to dealing with Makoto's pain because they knew the loss all too well themselves and had known no way through it either…

So Usagi had talked the night through, speaking of hopes and dreams and how her parents would have wanted her to be happy, were so surely proud of her and she should carry that feeling of them with her everywhere, let it give her strength, keeping them close to her heart where they belonged, and how much she believed in her and loved them all, and together they would be strong, and keep each other together.

And today, knowing Usagi believed in her, letting the feeling of loss come to her but embrace it instead of fearing it – at least a little more – her control of the thunder came so much easier already. In a way, she even felt she wouldn't be able to do this without knowing what such strong, raw emotion felt like. It didn't justify her loss of course, but somehow at least something came out of it.

And so she slipped less, she could focus more.

Still, even though she felt she could control the intensity of the weather now by keeping her emotions in check, she also felt there was absolutely no way for her to aim.

They tried for hours again. Even Usagi was so patient it amazed her. They'd been up here at 9 o'clock, now it was past 4pm – they were to leave their hut around 7 to catch the train back to Tokyo at 9pm. So really, there wasn't much time anymore for her to learn, at least not while they were here where she couldn't accidently set fire to a house –they should all be getting anxious for her to improve herself and yet they weren't. It calmed her.

They were about to call it a day – Mamoru especially, she felt, had been a little on edge since her thunder struck much too close to Usagi for any of their liking a while ago – when Makoto tried one last time.

It made a beautiful sinewy trail in the sky where Makoto had concentrated on it – so hard it had started raining again – and tried to bend it, but it didn't move where she wanted it to, this time it didn't even come down. She sighed, and so did the others.

They turned to go, but Usagi kept standing rooted to the spot, her face angled up into the rain, frowning at the sky where the lightening had just been. "Um… guys?" She called back and they turned back to her. "Silly question probably, but… Is there fire in lightning?"

Rei's eyes widened and she told Makoto under her breath to do it again. Makoto went back to her previous spot and concentrated again, hard, and the rain came a little faster, wind shaking through trees, shaking the red leafs.

This time, while Makoto made it rumble and flash, Rei concentrated her own powers, trying to search out a spark in Makoto's brilliant shocks of white - and found one. Rei concentrated like she never had before, and with the flow of her hands the lightning bolt bent – and struck exactly where they'd tried to aim these past two days: the dead tree trunk in the middle of the stream ahead of them.

Usagi jumped a bit (She would never get used to thunder and lightning, however often they'd be doing this) and after a small shocked pause Makoto and Rei looked at each other with wide eyes and erupted into cheers. Makoto was giggling with joy and even Rei laughed, a real laugh that came from the bottom of her and both of them flew towards Usagi, grappling her surprised form up in a group hug, jumping up and down.

Mamoru shook this head, scratched his temple, dumbstruck… that was such a brilliant idea… that none of them had thought about that before…

Mamoru went into nerd-mode, excited, explaining the phenomenon – even though really only Makoto was even attempting to listen while she let it flash again and Rei proceeded in bending it (with some effort- but it worked); that fire really was a state of combustion in which matter – usually fuel – was ignited and combined with oxygen which resulted in flame, and that lightning was an electric spark of fiery discharge in the atmosphere between clouds, both of them linked due to their flow of energy – both miniscule eruptions of energy only really differing through their combination but which created two different sets of the same thing: Something that burned when struck. He went on and on, and Usagi giggled and shrugged when Rei tried to get him to shut up, that they didn't care about the physics behind it, they only cared that it worked, but he wasn't phased at all and just went on talking; that they're not the same by all means, but lightening once there could cause fires when it produced enough heat to get the chemical reaction going– and that this was what Rei was most probably using to temper with, and how brilliant it all was.

They eventually got him to shut up (though it kept bubbling out of him here and there) and only after as little as an hour more, Rei and Makoto had developed a rhythm that worked perfectly.

It really was time to go though, they still needed to get back to the hut, pack their stuff, hike down and catch their bus back into town.

"Well..." Usagi said, hopping back across the stream that had gotten a bit bigger since they'd unleashed Makoto's rains on it and onto the trail that led back through the woods. "Guess we only need someone to control water then to take care of Mako-chan's rain, huh?"

They grew silent, all thinking the same – Makoto was pretty sure of that.

Sailor Mercury... Just like Sailor Venus, Baby-Usagi had had lots to say about Sailor Mercury…

"Think we'll find her, too?" Makoto asked, her boots splashing a bit on the muddy earth.

Rei frowned, and looked off into the distance. "I'm very sure we will…" She said, ominously. It was still a bit spooky to Makoto, the way Rei just… sensed things. And then she rolled her eyes, because Mamoru was back in nerd-mode, saying that really Mako's rains would take care of themselves, because they really were only a side-effect of the thunder and once she had that fully under control there would not be any spontaneous rain anymore and then proceeded to explain that all some more in fancy words until Rei smacked him in the shoulder and he protested loudly…

They packed back up pretty fast – all except Usagi who had basically emptied the contents of her backpack all over the hut and now had trouble finding it all, while Mamoru called the Tsukinos to let them know they were on their way back and wiped down the counters and kitchen, trying to leave it all like they had found it, and Rei and Makoto rolled the futons back up and stowed them away.

They made it down into the little town in time and strolled back through Hakone with their backpacks towards the train station. It was the last station on the line, so it was already standing there when they arrived although it wouldn't leave for a bit yet, thus they basically had free seating choice when they walked in – something they weren't usually accustomed to being used to the Tokyo metro.

They took the last seats in the car, in the very back, Rei and Makoto in front, Usagi and Mamoru behind them – all of them a bit rueful to leave Hakone behind, vowing to try and do this again sometime, acknowledging how beautiful a town it really was.

"Also, when giant angelic aliens attack, we'll be safe here and might just survive." Usagi remarked, and thank god, this time at least Rei and Makoto chuckled, getting it. Not Mamoru though, and Usagi groaned. "Tokyo-3? Nerv? C'mon Mamo-chan. This has to stop. I'm making a list now."

Rei snickered at him and Mamoru rolled his eyes, and Makoto basically fell asleep the minute the back of her head hit the plushy seat behind her – she was very Japanese in that way, and also pretty exhausted from all her training over the weekend.

Rei donned her giant red headphones again, listening to music, when the train slowly began to fill a bit more and finally rolled out of the station and towards Tokyo, and Mamoru unpacked his giant anatomy text book that he'd barely had any time to glance into over the weekend – Usagi, who had her head resting on his shoulder wrinkled her nose at the pictures in it and demanded his phone to occupy her time (her battery was low).

He handed it over without hesitation, and she even knew the pin to unlock it (she had a habit of forgetting to charge her phone overnight, so anytime it died and she got bored she'd use his –he was very much used to that), yet when she put her headphones in and he saw that she wasn't watching YouTube videos like she usually would he began to fidget. It got worse when he saw she had begun scrolling through his music. "What are you doing?!"

She looked at him a bit perplexed, finger stilling on the touch screen. "Looking for stuff to listen to?"

He blushed. She blinked, confused. "…unless you don't want me to?"

He seemed to take a moment to consider, and his blush deepened, but he turned back to his book and mumbled "No, 's okay, go ahead."

Usagi lowered his phone in her lap and looked at him curiously. "It's okay… I won't if you don't want me to…" Then she held it back out to him, offering it back.

He cleared his throat and shook his head. "No… you can. It's okay."

She looked at him for another few beats, utterly confused on what would get him so flustered, and well, hadn't she been so curious, she'd insisted and given him his phone back anyway, but if he said it's alright…

So she went back to scrolling through his music, this time glancing back up at him every few seconds for a reaction while he – very obviously flustered – pretended to be reading his textbook even though his eyes weren't moving over the words.

At first glance his (gigantic) music collection was exactly what she'd have expected. Mostly classical music, lots of foreign music, a substantial amount of jazzy and bossa nova bits, all mostly very boring cause no J-Pop to be seen, but with the odd electronic song mixed in.

But on second look one thing stood out: He'd labeled every song – Mamoru's music on his phone was not ordered by album or some other logical thing like the alphabet, instead he had labeled them all with emotions. And not any base emotions, of course –no, no – no 'sad' or 'happy' here – this was Mamoru after to all, so they were quite diverse ones ranging from 'mellow library mood', to 'apprehension', 'anticipation', or 'intimidation' to 'last minute panic'.

It fits, she thought immediately, for him to categorize music by what most affected him in his life - emotion. His own and those of others, and a deep wave of affection for him washed over her that caught in her belly and stayed there and she beamed up at him for a second – he was blushing wildly - until she went back to scroll through his emotionally sorted music playlists.

One label - one emotion that he'd labeled - made her breath catch: The emotion that he had labeled simply "Usako"... she tapped on it and it was the fullest playlist of them all. And this one, she could see, was very different from the others, very diverse, a mix of all genres, even J-Pop. And it wasn't even new! Some of these songs, she saw, had been added to the list over a year ago. On it, she could pretty soon see when scrolling and playing and skipping through the titles was everything and anything from weirdly cheerful instrumental swing numbers to every song they'd ever danced to – even her favorite Taiko ni Tatsujin song was on there that she always forced him to play with her and that he claimed to hate... and a few other songs on there, that made her heart miss a beat.

She played through them, skipping through each song. She blushed wildly – matching his current skin color quite beautifully – when listening to the lyrics of Jason Mraz's 'Butterfly' (even though she didn't understand every word she got the gist of it) and started and looked up at him wide-eyed when 'Marry You' by Bruno Mars came up.

He shrugged, a bit helplessly, and she'd never found him more adorable.

L

He saw her sitting by herself on the step in front of their school building, alone. There were only very few students still trickling out of the building and Usagi was playing with her phone, glancing up to the school gates from time to time, probably waiting for Chiba.

Damn Chiba. He'd so counted on the weekend, after he'd so frustratingly managed to stay hidden from his Cardians all week – but Chiba had just been gone, god knows where.

He set his jaw, making up his mind and plopped himself down noisily, right next to her.

She jumped a bit, eyes widening. "Seijuro! Hi."

"Chiba not picking you up today?" Even he could hear the annoyance in his voice when he said the name, and Usagi gave him a peculiar look.

"He's running late, he needs to talk to his professor about some assignment." She waved her phone as if it would explain everything.

They grew silent. He didn't know where to start and she obviously not what to say to him, even though she was usually so chatty with everyone else. He scowled.

"What is it about him?" He said with a scowl.

She turned her head to look at him sideways and cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"What is it that you like." He said, looking her straight in the eye.

She smiled, the smile grew softer and softer and she turned it into the distance, then looked down at her clasped hands, eyelashes fluttering and cheeks blushing a rosy color. She looked so beautiful with that smile for Chiba he felt like choking. "Um… he's really sensitive and vulnerable, but he doesn't let anyone see that side of him, not because he's ashamed of that side of him, but because he doesn't need to bring it out there?... Um, that doesn't make sense I guess, what I mean is…..I'm in awe of him, really... that he's so compassionate and considerate, although he had such a tough childhood, and how that didn't make him vengeful or jealous and instead he wants to protect people from suffering what he himself endured...He cares so much and acts where no one else does just because he thinks it's right..." She trailed off, and turned back to him, sheepishly, one eye shut and her hand flew to her head, scratching her temple, but smile and blush firmly in place.

She looked so adorable he thought he might die from the longing he felt.

In the distance he could hear grunts and shouts – one of the sports clubs must have started their practice, and the wind rustled the trees. It was quiet, peaceful even.

He swallowed, and met her gaze. "I'm in love with you."

Her smile fell. "I know you think that..." She looked back at her hands, and her shoulders slumped a bit. "I'm sorry."

His eyes flared indignantly. "Think? I do!"

Usagi sighed, and looked at him sadly, empathically. "Seijuro… you don't even know me…"

He knit his brows, his eyes not wavering from hers. "That doesn't matter"

Usagi paused, cocked her head. "Well… why do you love me then?"

He blinked at her, taken aback. It took him a moment, and he looked around the deserted school grounds to organize his thoughts, but answered.

"You're the single most beautiful being I have ever seen and your beauty inspires me. It makes me feel things I haven't felt before. And I see the joy you give to others and I want that as well." He stated, firmly.

Usagi nodded, and looked back into the distance. She knit her hands, and cleared her throat before she turned back to look at him. She looked apologetic, but kind.

She took a deep breath before she spoke. "You say you love me like I would say I love milkshakes or karaoke. Things that I enjoy, that give me something, mostly gratification, like that giddy feeling I have when shouting lyrics at the top of my lungs and my friends around..." She stopped to think for a moment, and he frowned at her.

" In the end I don't really love milkshakes and karaoke, though. It's just the word we falsely use, but the way these things make me feel is not about the milkshake and the karaoke at all but about myself and how they make me feel, I enjoy these things for what they give me." She was back to mumbling towards her kneading hands, her voice timid and small, as if she were sad she had to say them.

But she continued nonetheless. "You see... you don't know me. You like how I look and the fuzzy feeling it gives you, but not really me..." She looked back at him.

Seijuro shook his head vehemently, preparing to protest, but Usagi held her hand up. She wasn't done.

"I don't love Mamo-chan for what he can give me... I would love Mamo-chan regardless of if he'd ever chosen to be with me. It's not about what he gives me at all... maybe even the opposite. I know I love him because I know I want to give him anything he would ever want or need, because I want to make him happy, this wonderful person that he is..." She smiled warmly then – for Chiba again, of course – and his insides clenched in jealousy. "I want to help him make all his dreams come true, I want to give him the happiest memories I can, I want to comfort him and share his burdens, I want to protect him and give him a family and a home…"

She stopped again, and he was glad, momentarily, because he felt his insides clench at hearing about Chiba… Always, always, Chiba Mamoru. Always him.

Why him.

"Do you get what I mean?" Usagi asked tentatively. "It's…It's not about what you get out of it, what it makes you feel …Sure he also makes me feel so happy and loved because he's wonderful to me… but that's not why I know I love him, that's how I know he loves me…" She smiled, full of sympathy. "So in the end, with that precious right person… you'll get both. … But loving someone… it's about what you want to give that makes it love..." She trailed off then. "Do you understand?" She added, with wide and careful eyes.

His look hardened. How big could the thrall possibly be that this guy had her under… that he would make her give herself up for him in this way, giving all she had. It was the most unnatural thing he had ever heard. She didn't even see that this wasn't how the world worked, than no one in their right mind would think someone else were more important than your own happiness...

He wouldn't be able to make her see with Chiba still in the picture, though. So instead he forced the furrow in his brow to smooth over and took a deep breath before saying. "I understand what you mean to say."

She smiled a satisfied little smile then, obviously thinking she'd gotten through to him with her blinded logic. Then her gaze skipped back towards the distance, as it had continuously done all throughout their conversation, and this time her eyes lit up while she did.

Seijuro followed her gaze, and sure enough, there was Chiba coming towards them, approaching the school grounds, lips pursing when his eyes met his own, yet eyeing him neutrally if reserved. He didn't stop at the school gates then as he normally would every day, but kept walking.

Usagi didn't notice the exchange between them, or if she did, she didn't let on. Instead she hopped up from her perch on the step, and spoke with that usual happiness back in her voice. "I'll go now, there he is…" She turned to beam at her approaching boyfriend, then looked back at Seijuro with a smile and a friendly wave and then skipped the remaining distance between them towards Chiba and latched herself onto his side.

Chiba chuckled then, a sound that raised Seijuro's hackles, and he put his hand onto her cheek and it lingered there for a second while he looked at her so intensely before he broke it to give her a small kiss in greeting even as they turned and walked off the school grounds, talking in low murmuring voices.

He was seething.

Chiba hadn't even looked back at him, had proceeded to completely ignore him.

The way he looked at her… So deep and intense. Surely, surely, that's how he did it. That's how he kept her trapped and at his every whim.

Don't worry, Usagi-chan, he thought. I'll deal with this. I'll set you free from him.

He'd make sure himself this time.

He looked around himself, and satisfied to see there really was no one there anymore, he teleported away.

L

" – really think he's just so lonely…" Usagi said.

He hrmpfed. No reason to confess to his girlfriend, he thought.

He held her hand a little tighter, having seen the possessive and angry look in Seijuro's eyes just minutes ago. It irked him, not really because he was jealous – the whole world could confess to his Usako, and he knew it wouldn't change a thing about them. He only became jealous when they looked at her in that certain way that he knew (and could feel) they were thinking things he didn't want anybody to think about regarding her –, but rather because it worried him. It was vengeful, that look.

They were on their way back from her school towards Rei's –on their schedule today was trying to create her weapon again while Makoto was still busy with her club activities – and stopped in front of 'their' usual Family Mart like they usually did to buy snacks on the way.

It was when they stepped into the small conbini and left the noises of the street and people behind the sliding doors that he felt something was wrong. It was too silent in here. No customers. It was barely just a second that he had to contemplate it, looking around the little store to see there wasn't even anyone manning the till, that the pit in their stomachs opened, signaling danger, and they looked at each other in alarm.

Before they'd had the chance to dash out of the market again though the sliding doors snapped shut in a thicket of vines and thorns that appeared, smashing the glass and blocking the exit.

"I had hoped I could do this without your girlfriend having to see it, to be honest, but I feel it's now or never that I get a chance like this."

Both their eyes snapped towards the source of the male, slightly off-pitch voice, but there was nothing. The place was still devoid of people, the voice having no one to attach to.

Usagi looked at him in alarm, clutching at her brooch, but he shook his head sharply. Surely someone was watching, surely this voice was a threat that shouldn't know their identity.

The thicket of vines behind them grew, smashing the glass of the complete window front and thickening still. The glass clattered noisily inside, and Usagi, with a shriek, jumped a bit further into the market to avoid being hit by it.

Mamoru inhaled deeply, letting his radar feel out around him. There were two other people here. One unconscious, breathing shallowly like people do whose energy had been drained by a Cardian, lying behind the till, the other hidden, breathing, but slightly off – as if it wasn't human.

Mamoru tugged on Usagi's hand which he'd never let go during all of this – instead he'd steeled his grip on her – towards the tills, making to see if there was a way out through the back. Usagi gasped when she saw the shop clerk collapsed unconsciously on the floor – they knew him, his name was Haru, Usagi small-talked with him every time they were here.

The door to the backroom snapped shut as if by an invisible hand, overgrowing with vines in an instant, before they reached it.

"Oh no, no, you don't." The voice said, harshly.

Mamoru drew Usagi slightly behind himself when they felt the tug in their guts deepen – signaling a Cardian. They heard a flute being played – it was an enchanting, almost peaceful melody, and with it, a Cardian roared to life.

It seemed completely transparent, as if made out of glass, and small – smaller than Usagi. With an earsplitting, high-pitched screech, so impossibly uncomfortable that both Mamoru and Usagi had to clutch at their ears, all the glass in the small convenience store seemed to vibrate – the remaining glass on the edges of the windows, the glass of the refrigerators and freezers, of the glassy shelves of the displays, and then shatter and fly towards the Cardian.

Usagi and Mamoru both gasped when hundreds of tiny shards of glass cut their skin through cloth, leaving bloody trails, on their way towards the Cardian.

"NO, NOT HER, you idiot – HIM!" The voice boomed, and the Cardian focused completely on Mamoru.

And then a woman appeared – but she looked strange, green skin, a bordeaux-colored body-suit with vines on it not unlike those that blocked the exits, flowing pink hair and red-eyes. "Ail!" She screamed towards the ceiling, towards the voice, and looked at Mamoru in horror.

He looked back at her, clutching at his girlfriend, brows furrowing, breath hitching. She looks like Fiore…

Mamoru clutched Usagi tightly to his side – her school uniform was cut all over, just like his clothes were, blood seeping into the white fabric of her shirt but she didn't make a sound of pain, instead looked towards the woman with the brave and steeled expression of Sailor Moon in her eyes.

"Ann…" The voice said, and then became corporeal at the same time that Usagi, seemingly, had enough.

She shouted her transformation words, and let herself be engulfed by the colorful lights and ribbons that made her into Sailor Moon.

Both creatures – the man, now corporeal, made Mamoru's breath hitch even more – was that Fiore? No, no… he can't be. He just looks like him? How…

And the man – Ail? – in question gasped, and fell to his knees.

The woman's eyes hardened. "This is how you keep him?" She hissed at Sailor Moon, full of venom, then turned to the Cardian. "Get her!" She yelled.

The Cardian screeched again and hurled the entirety of glass in the room towards Sailor Moon.

Mamoru cursed, and transformed as well.

He jumped towards Usagi just in time, crushing her face-forward to his chest, his cape materializing around them, keeping most of the shards away. Some struck into his back and he gasped, others lodged into both their legs and Usagi whimpered.

The woman – Ann – gasped upon seeing him as Tuxedo Mask, shock written in her whole stance.

Ail started to shout. "No, not her, can't you see, it's him. He's making her do this. He's making her fight us."

Tuxedo Mask held onto Sailor Moon, but he was so confused. So utterly confused. Obviously, they were like Fiore. Obviously, they were of Fiore's species – and now that he had to face the fact that his imaginary friend hadn't been imaginary at all, he also knew that Fiore had been the most peaceful, gentle being he had known at the time; the only person gentler he'd ever met currently in is arms.

Fiore had believed to be the last of his kind. Fiore had been scared, lonely – and definitely not evil.

These two, if they were like Fiore, couldn't be evil.

Usagi's words, from weeks ago, rung in his ears, while he held onto her. That people weren't evil, that they were just people, doing evil things for reasons.

He looked down at Usagi, she looked back up at him, wide-eyed. Scared, but determined.

Behind them, in front of the store, he could feel Rei and Makoto had arrived. Rei was burning away at the vines, trying to free them, even though they kept re-growing, re-appearing, Makoto was making it storm so people would keep away.

He let go from Usagi slightly and faced the man – Ail. "I'm not going to fight you. We're not going to fight you." He said, determined. Usagi looked at him, confused. "We're going to talk, and then we're going to help you."

Ail signaled the Cardian even when Ann tried to prevent it, and it let out another shriek, this time forming a huge spike of glass that she hurled at Mamoru.

Mamoru just stood there, not dodging, and Sailor Moon's eyes widened.

She shoved him away, Mamoru fell with terror in his eyes when he realized what she was doing, and now she was in its path.

It happened so fast – Usagi's crescent moon pulsed and a power exploded out of her, blasting through the store, blinding everyone – and when it was gone the Cardian had been evaporated, the broken windows and doors had been restored, the vines ripped through, the shop clerk was coming to, and the spike had been shattered – yet still the smaller pieces it had shattered into had lodged themselves into Usagi's abdomen.

Both Mamoru and Ail exclaimed in horror, and Usagi, clutching her stomach, fell to her knees.

Mamoru clutched at her, with trembling hands, dimly and not completely aware of people shouting, of Rei and Makoto that came running, of the aliens yelling, crying at each other. He was only aware of his Usako, blood seeping from her when he grabbed at the shards and pulled them out of her, one by one. She was conscious, looking at him wide-eyed, blood gurgling from her mouth and he was frantic, panicked. Healing her as fast as she could but she was slipping from his fingers, loosing blood too fast.

He registered a shout, by a voice he had never heard before. "MERCURY AQUA MIRAGE!" and Ail was engulfed by a globe of water, when Ann screamed in horror and freed him just in time, but he didn't look, he didn't care, he could only babble mindlessly at Usagi, willing her to respond, to stay with him, to give him the time to heal her.

She was slipping, slipping so fast. Rei appeared at his side, shouting panicked at Usagi to stay awake, and he had to do something, he needed to heal her faster, more efficiently.

Something in him ripped. Giving him the power he needed.

With an anguished roar armor broke forth on an ornate navy uniform and onto him, and Endymion replaced Tuxedo Mask.

He could grab at his power now, so easy now, and the golden glow of his healing hands intensified, cape billowing out behind him.

Gold became brighter, and brighter, and solidified, and Usagi's eyes snapped open, healed now, looking at him wide-eyed.

Remembering, just as he did.

L

Cliffhanger again. Very evil one, yes I realize that and I'm sorry. xD I'll update very soon, as always.

Also:

Here's some little bit of Mamoru's playlist (because of course I looked for songs that would match. Of course.)Feel free to fill up in your head as you like, obviously xD

Bruno Mars – Marry Me

Moloko –The Time is Now

Benny Goodman – Sing Sing Sing (meloD Remix)

きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ–PON PON PON

Toploader – Dancing in the Moonlight

Jason Mraz – Bella Luna

Pomplamoose – Batman Theme

Billie Holiday – It had to be you

Alexander Rybak – Fairytale

John Legend – All of Me

The Beatles – I Will

Florence & the Machine – Cosmic Love

Beach Boys – Wouldn't it be nice

Phillipe Rombi – Love Theme

Justice vs. Simian – We Are Your Friends

Frank Sinatra – Witchcraft

Beth Rowley – You've got me wrapped around your little finger

Sting – Until

Jason Mraz – Butterfly

Franz Liszt – Liebestraum

Promise of The World Music Box Version