Cosmic Warriors

Disclaimer: All non-original characters in this story are copyrighted to Naoko Takeuchi and Toei respectively. I also do not own the mythological beings you'll read about throughout the story.

Note: Thank you to LoveInTheBattleField, ericaphoenix16, the-neonbunny, and DonovanX for reviewing. Thank you to WonderShadow for following the story and adding it to your favorites! Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty Eight - Blood Diamond 2

Kunzite walked to the edge of the railing before he glanced back to the remaining two figures on the roof. "Wait for my command." he said before he leapt off. He spread his arms during his free fall, allowing his cape to flap wildly around his body. In his mind's eye he could see the reaper moving throughout the building, seeking out areas with the lowest human population.

Something in Kunzite's mind clicked as the reaper stopped and his body warped out of the night sky. A moment later he landed inside the Tower in a hallway. The Soul Shadow, or reaper as they called it, was waiting there with the princess under its command. Kunzite strode to the girl and with a wave of his hand the black shroud dispersed.

Her glassy eyes cleared and she blinked furiously as she took her in new surroundings. "Where am I?" she asked before she noticed the man before her. "Why am I here, who are you?"

The man stretched his arm out to her. "Hand me the diamond."

Daiya reached to her chest and protectively placed her hand over the gem. "No! Who are you? Where are my guards?"

Kunzite sneered as he stepped forward and wrapped his hand around the girl's throat. "I wasn't giving you the option. I will take it."

Daiya's hands clenched down on his as she tried to pry him off. "...No!"

From down the hallway came Artemis, rapier in hand. As he approached the bottom of his rapier blade erupted in a flash. The light was too bright for Kunzite and the man dropped the girl in order to shield his eyes from the brunt of it.

"Gotcha!" Artemis said as he picked the princess up off the floor. "So you're alive too, huh?" he muttered to Kunzite who was staggering backwards.

"W—Who are you?" Daiya asked as she tried to struggle out of Artemis's arms.

Artemis smiled at the girl, his eyes peering deep into her's. "I'm someone that's here to help you." he said as he stabbed his rapier into the floor. He then placed Daiya down before moving around her and strategically stabbing down two more times. "Be patient with me Princess, this won't take long. Riparo: Tre Torri."

Artemis slowly raised his rapier into the air and white beams of light shot from the floor from his puncture spots. The beams met at a point above the princess' head and more lights spread around her before she became contained in a shimmering white pyramid.

"Artemis." Kunzite hissed. The man swung his arm out and summoned his weapon, a foot artillery sword.

Artemis couldn't contain a small smirk as he stepped in front of the princess' protection barrier and held his own weapon up. "That sword is a little simple for you, isn't it?"

"Nephrite recovered it for me, it's a remnant of the American Civil War." Kunzite said. "I crafted it. It's been strengthened since then."

Their eyes met before each man lunged forward. Their blades clanged together before they pushed back. They tried this several more times before Kunzite gained the upper hand and managed to shove Artemis up against the wall. The smaller man curled his feet in and slammed them into Kunzite's stomach and forced him away.

With a flick of his wrist Artemis aimed the tip of his rapier out. "Spinta!"

A blue flash of light filled the hall as it focused on Kunzite. The man seemed unfazed and swatted at the air with the back of his hand, dispelling the thrusting charm instantly.

"One hand?" Artemis said. Before he could finish his questioning thoughts Kunzite was on top of him, sword blade pressed against his own. Artemis forced the man back and fired out a few weak blasts of magic from his rapier tip.

After leaping several yards back Kunzite extended his free hand and from it came spiked white chains that shot to Artemis. Artemis lunged out of their range, but wasn't surprised that they followed him. Intent on keeping away, Artemis continued to dodge before he leapt back behind the Princess in her pyramid.

Kunzite smirked as his chains snagged on the ethereal protection and dug into it. "Dispel." he muttered and the three walls protecting Daiya shattered. She shrieked in confusion and glanced around her. Kunzite then yanked back on the chains and they flew to Daiya, pressing into her back and bringing her skidding closer to Kunzite.

"Dammit!" Artemis hissed as he sprinted forward and slashed at the chains. "Dispel!" his vanishing hex failed to work as the chains brought Daiya ever closer. "They're not magic made?"

Kunzite gave one final tug on the chains before Daiya was struggling in his arms. "You continue to question me and my power. It's no wonder you've lost this fight." he said before he raised his sword blade to Daiya's neck. "And now this war." With a slick movement his blade cut a red gash into the girl's neck.

Daiya stiffened his in embrace, her hands instinctively tried to grasp at her throat, but Kunzite kept them pinned.

Artemis watched in horror as her blood spurted from the long wound before she crumbled to the floor. Kunzite grabbed the diamond and tore its chains from ,,,, the girl's neck as she hit the floor.

"Goodbye." Kunzite said calmly.

"You're not getting away!" Artemis snapped, his eyes still fixed on the dying girl and her spreading blood pool.

From the ceiling came a slender green monster like a goblin. Kunzite deposited the diamond in its hand and with a flick of a wrist open a black portal behind him. "Take it back." he said and the goblin hopped into the vortex that closed in after him.

After the portal vanished from the hall Kunzite turned his attention to Artemis again. "I don't plan on retreating. I've stood by and observed failure after failure by my comrades, waiting patiently for the day Queen Beryl needed me. Now that day is here and I will come through on all that my fellow kings could not." he said before he let go of his sword, letting it fall only a few inches before a white chain connected from his palm to the hilt appeared. "How is Princess Venus?" he asked before he began twirling the sword by its chain as he approached Artemis.

"Don't say her name!" Artemis hissed as he fell into a battle stance. "I'll shove this blade through your throat if you say it again!"

In a breeze of wind Kunzite had vanished and reappeared mere inches from Artemis, with his free hand pressed to the man's face. "Venus." he whispered before he shoved Artemis back and sent the man tumbling backwards down the hall.

Artemis hit the wall hard, his head crashing through the plaster as he collided.

Kunzite narrowed his eyes at the man before he hurled out his sword. The chain extended as the sword flew before it pierced Artemis' gut. Kunzite wasted no time in yanking the weapon before before he hurled it out again, stabbing Artemis through his leg this time. The Shitennou continued his onslaught as he approached the man before stoping a few feet in front of him.

"You're so calm for someone who just lost their Princess, and the Silver Crystal." Kunzite said as he crouched and grabbed Artemis' face in his hand. "Where is your rage?" The man studied his face for a minute, observing the clenched jaw under his hand, the darting blue eyes and their air of uncertainty floating around. "Unless. Unless she wasn't the Princess." he said finally. "Or, that wasn't the Crystal."

Artemis remained slightly, only trying not to pass out or give into the pain of blood literally pouring from his body. Kunzite dropped his head and stood. "That's it, one of those. It makes sense now, we received those transmissions about her visiting Japan rather unexpectedly and it was quite easy to infiltrate. But the question is, which is it? Was the girl a fake, or is the diamond worthless? Either way, you've lost. Without a Princess the Silver Crystal is nearly just a bobble. A song in the mind of someone who cannot speak. And vise versa, without the Crystal the Princess is nothing more than a girl."

Kunzite was walking the hall now, up and down, stepping over Daiya's corpse in his path. Artemis had struggled into a sitting position against the wall and was clenching his jaw shut on a mouthful of blood.

"Artemis, you haven't answered my question." Kunzite said as he strode back to the fallen man. "How is Venus?"

Artemis swallowed down the mouthful of copper and strained to speak. "Ask her... yourself." he spat.

Kunzite's brows jumped before he whipped around to his south. Expecting someone to be there he raised his blade, but dropped it again at the sight of the empty hall. "Cute." he sneered as he turned back to Artemis, but froze at the feeling of the man's hand pressed to his throat.

Artemis smiled, his normally pearly teeth stained red. "I know you deflected that spell earlier, but at this close of range...there's no way." he coughed.

Kunzite grunted before he drove his blade into Artemis again. "Dispel." he muttered.

Bumps ran across Artemis' body as a biting chill soaked through him, spreading from his newest wound. There was a building spark that died within him and he stared, dumbfounded, at his hand.

"You feel it, don't you?" Kunzite asked as he grabbed Artemis' hand roughly and effortlessly broke one of his fingers. "The loss of your magic. Like ice running through your veins, the force that you've known so well since your birth is leaving you, leaving you hollow and barren." Kunzite said as he ripped his sword free and stood.

Before he turned he sensed movement behind him and prepared to attack, but something under him caught his attention as well. Several dark straps of fabric shot up from the floor and instantly began to bind his legs. He extended his free hand out to dispel it, but his arms were then pinned at his sides as several thick chains wrapped around his upper body. Straining, he turned his head to the end of the hallway and gawked at the two figures crouched there, Warrior Venus and Luna.

Venus had her sights fixed on the man they had bound, while Luna's attention had already shifted to Artemis who had collapsed onto his side. The woman touched a finger to her earpiece and steadied her breath before she spoke. "This is Luna, we've encountered and restrained Kunzite, but Artemis is heavily wounded and Princess Daiya is in critical condition, if not already—"

"Dead." Kunzite said for her. "The girl is dead. Artemis will follow her, and so will the two of you."

6:39 pm - OSA-P

Naru shut off the faucet after she finished washing out a bowl and paused at the window. "The storm is getting bad." she muttered before a crack of thunder boomed through the house. The sheer magnitude caused her to jump and set her nerves on edge. From down the hall she heard a slight moan and dreadfully she turned her attention in that direction.

Naru returned to her room to find Nephrite sitting up in her bed, clutching his head and thigh. "You're up."

"Naru...?" he rasped. "Where—Where am I?"

"You're at my house." she said as she crossed the room to stand at the foot of her bed. "I don't know how you got here, but I tried my best to patch you up, but I think you should leave now."

Nephrite felt the bandages on his thigh and back and looked up to her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome..." Naru shrugged and tried to keep her eyes on anything but him. "Your jacket was bloody, you can borrow that." she said and gestured to the wrinkled dress shirt laying across her bed. "It belongs to my mom's boyfriend, I hope it fits."

Nephrite leaned and laid his hand on the power blue shirt. His eyes lifted to Naru, she looked defensive. Arms locked in a cross on her chest, head turned to the window and jaw set. "Will you look at me?" he asked, though it sounded more like a plea.

Naru bounced on the balls of her feet and kept her gaze on the window.. "I think you should go."

"Naru."

"You should go... Nephrite, go!"

The unwavering power behind her voice set him back. Reluctantly he slid out of bed and put the shirt on. It didn't fit, so he opted to leave it unbuttoned. "You wouldn't have any pants I could borrow, would you?" he asked, noticing the left pant leg of his uniform was cut up the outer side.

Naru seemed to deflate. Her shoulders dropped with a sigh and she cupped her face before the sobbing began. Nephrite rushed to her side and pulled her into his chest. He let her cry for a minute before he decided to speak. "I'm sorry, Naru." he muttered as he kissed the top of her head. "I can't expect you to understand, but it was my mission to kill Warrior Moon. I never expected it to really be you, and seeing you—seeing you behind that mask sent me over the edge."

"Why... why is she so important to you?" Naru cried. "What is it about her?"

Nephrite's mouth fell into a hard line. "The organization I'm a part of, for us to succeed, people like her have to be eliminated." he admitted.

"She's my best friend." Naru sniffled back the best of her tears and pushed away from him. "I can't help you and I won't let you use me anymore."

"I'm giving up the hunt for her." Nephrite interjected quickly.

"I don't believe you." Naru said as she observed him.

"This," Nephrite said as he gestured to the wound on his thigh. "the other man that was with me yesterday, he did this to me. Because of everything I've done for you Naru, all the times I came to see you, my actions last night after seeing you. They can see I care for you and they want me dead. You're all I have left anymore."

Naru shook her head and stepped away as he tried to progress on her. "I wanted you dead too." she whimpered. "You've been hunting my friends, you tried to kill me!" she croaked. "When I saw you laying there, I wanted to let you die. But I won't help you anymore!"

Naru's words were followed by a clap of thunder and Nephrite turned his head down. "Then I'll help you." he said as he stepped forward.

"What?" Naru breathed as she stumbled back.

"I'll show you everything you need to know about the people I work for, and what they want." Nephrite said as he held his hand up and palmed her forehead.

Naru's pupils dilated rapidly under his hand as a fizzle of heat popped just under her skull and a map of images bloomed in her mind.

Tuxedo Mask poked his head out of an alleyway to survey the chaos on the street. The storm had reached a fever pitch. Bolts of lightning were striking down onto the tops of buildings, the roads had become slick with the perpetual downpour and cars were fish-tailing and crashing into one another.

"Glad we got out of the sky when we did." he said and turned back to the alley. Sitting on top of a garbage can, Usagi was rubbing her head. "How do you feel?" he asked

"Dizzy." she muttered as she started to blink wildly. The ice cold rain seemed to snap her out of the stupor.

At the sound of sirens Mask turned his attention to the street again and watched as several squad cars and paramedic vehicles zipped by. "What a mess." he said. "I never even got to see the Princess." he muttered before he slammed his fist against a brick wall. "If she really had the Crystal... I'm screwed. These dreams! They have to stop... I need to know what they mean."

Usagi listened intently as he muttered to himself. His words were barely audible through the patter of rain, but she could make out a few things. "Thanks for saving me from... whoever that was." she said. "That man on the Tower, what did he want?"

Mask straightened up and sighed. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"I heard you, you said something about dreams." Usagi frowned as she eased down from the can and stumbled towards him. She watched a mix of emotions register on his face before he decided to speak.

"I've been having strange dreams for as long as I can remember." he said. "Of a woman telling me to find a Crystal, I've been trying to find that Crystal for quite some time too. I thought I'd finally found it tonight, but I'm not the only one looking for it."

"Do you remember anything else about your dreams?"

"The woman she tells me to stay close to a Warrior girl in a blue suit." he said. "But I don't know why I have to be with that Warrior, or what she can do for me."

Usagi flushed. "I've seen her before, that Warrior."

Mask nodded. "I'm sure you have, she and her other Warriors are fighting to protect the city. Tsk, I'm saying too much. You're just a young girl, this is too much for you to be worried about."

"No! It's fine, maybe I can help you!" Usagi offered as she placed a hand over her chain bracelet. For a moment, the thought of transforming occurred to her. Suddenly a familiar thought crept into her mind, would he like her if he knew she and Warrior Moon were the same person? The girl he's had to rescue several times now is the one that's supposed to help him, would he accept that?

"How can you help?" Mask asked.

Usagi furrowed her brow and let her hand slip off the bracelet. "Maybe if I see her, the Warrior, I can tell her you're looking for her?"

"I don't have a problem finding her really." Mask said, sounding troubled. "I told you, I'm drawn to you, and it's almost the same with her. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it, when I'm needed and I usually arrive when one of you is in trouble. I don't always help, because I'm not always needed, but I am always there, watching."

Heat filled Usagi's cheeks at the thought of this man watching over her. "Oh Tuxedo Mask..."

Mask smirked and rubbed his nose. "Would you like me to take you home?" he asked. "Actually, I'm insisting." he said as he placed his hand on the small of her back. "I don't want you walking tonight alone."

North Pole

Kunzite stepped through the entryway into Beryl's chamber and instantly noticed something was off. "Your Majesty." he greeted as he moved forward to the throne.

"You've returned, Kunzite." Beryl said as she dropped her hands from circling her orb. "Your messenger goblin returned with the diamond, it's being examined as we speak.

Kunzite kneeled before her. "I see, I'm glad we've acquired it. As you wanted, the girl who possessed the diamond was killed."

"Excellent." Beryl purred. "You may stand. Kunzite, you have done a great service to this organization, I will not forget it. I should have assigned you to Japan over Jadeite, you managed to complete our mission in one tonight."

"Your Majesty it's not over yet, we still do not know the identities of the Warriors." Kunzite said.

"If the diamond is indeed the Silver Crystal the identity of the Cosmic Warriors is an insignificant matter." Beryl said darkly.

Kunzite nodded and glanced around the chamber, noticing its emptiness. "It seems, quiet, does it not?"

"Ah, yes. Zoisite has taken a fleet into Japan to hunt for Nephrite." Beryl said. "I ordered all of the scientists to work on examining the diamond, when the time comes I will offer it to Metalia."

Kunzite struggled not to let his face fall. "I see. Is there something I can of assistance with then?"

Beryl hummed and tapped her fingers against her armrests. "Kon and the other Doom Girls are still searching for the rest of Metalia's children. Having the Black Crystal calibrated to search for them would help the hunt."

Kunzite bowed. "Of course, I will finish the preparation for it at once."

8:28 pm

On a hill overlooking Azabu-Juuban Zoisite stood under the downpour that broke against his head like an ocean. Beyond him a fleet of Youma huffed out clouds of breath in the biting October weather. Their vibrant and vicious eyes were focused on nothing in particular, but they were still menacing in the absence of focus.

Zoisite clapped his hands together before he spread them to the sky. There was a crackle of magic in the air before a glint of something darted into the sky above the city. "Listen well." he said and his voice pounded around inside his own head. The Youma behind him also heard his voice and started to fidget. "Within your city a man is hiding, some of you know him as Masato, but to us he is Nephrite, a traitor to our operation. I ask you deliver him to me by midnight tonight in the forest south of the shopping center. There is a mansion here, I want him inside. If he is not here, I will set fire to the skies above your city and rain hell until I find him. I have prepared an army of monsters, no one will be safe if my demand isn't met."

8:25 pm

Rei and Minako were sitting silently in the backseat of Artemis' car. Luna was in the driver seat and had been watching the road since Kalla drove off with Artemis.

"He'll be okay. Luna." Rei assured. "He's tough."

Luna frowned and dropped back into the seat before she started the car's engine. "I know, but it's Kunzite. I hadn't considered that he was alive being a possibility, it changes things."

"He's strong, I'll give him that." Minako said as she hugged herself. There were sore spots all over her body that she knew would become bruises by morning. "But what was all that crap he was spouting about knowing me? Does he know who I am?"

Luna listened to the engine turn over before she pulled out of the lot. "It's a long story, but he knows you as Warrior Venus from the age of the Silver Millennium, but your identity is safe."

There was a fizzle in car, in the air. Each of the girls heard it, a spastic clicking in their head, an intrusive chatter of the supernatural kind.

Listen well. Within your city a man is hiding, some of you know him as Masato, but to us he is Nephrite, a traitor to our operation. I ask you deliver him to me by midnight tonight in the forest south of the shopping center. There is a mansion here, I want him inside. If he is not here, I will set fire to the skies above your city and rain hell until I find him. I have prepared an army of monsters, no one will be safe if my demand isn't met.

As the message stopped each of the girls lurched in their seat. "What the hell was that?" Rei sputtered.

Luna pressed a hand to her temple and gritted her teeth. "Zoisite..." she said, the message was gone but left a throbbing pain behind. "That was Zoisite's voice, no doubt."

"What was the message about though?" Rei asked. "Nephrite is a traitor? Why would he do something like that?"

"Everyone in the city probably heard that!" Minako cried as she looked out the window. The people on the street were walking along as if nothing had happened.

"No, it's likely it was just a mental transmission." Luna said. "Only those like us will have heard it."

"With true Seeds." Rei added.

"Is he really going to attack the city if he doesn't get Nephrite?" Minako asked. "Why can't he find him on his own?"

Luna pursed her lips. "I have no clue," she said as she glanced into the rearview mirror. "we'll have to figure this out at headquarters. I'll drop you girls off first though, you need to rest."

End of Chapter Thirty Eight

Next, Zoisite's threat has the town on edge. The Guard prepares for the worst, while the Warriors struggle to go about their day as time ticks on. When a full scale attack on Toyko begins everyone will come together to protect their home, but where are Nephrite and Naru during the attack. Find out next time.

Chapter Thirty Nine - A Promise Called Death