NOTE: HEY GUYS SORRY FOR THE LATE POST! Technically it's still Sunday so I'm not tooo late. RL and Work was a huge pain this week. Deadlines on Deadlines due! Hybris could tell you guys all about how silent I was on the writing end. Anyway enjoy the new chapter!

Chapter 15: Into the Unknown

"Jadeite!"

Clutching his head dazedly, Jadeite tried to figure out how he had ended up in this strange place full-ass-naked. The pure sound echoed around him as if he had been submerged underwater and was coming up for the first time in a long while.

'Why is everything so loud?' Pouring a trickle of magic into his ears, Jadeite sighed in relief as the world grew quieter. Feeling centred now that the volume had been dialled down, he started at seeing two strangers staring back at him.

The man before him looked familiar, staring at him aghast yet relieved at the same time. The blonde girl next to him seemed to be eyeing him up, guarded in posture but clearly enjoying the view.

"My eyes are up here." He hadn't meant to say that out loud. Also what had happened to his beautiful voice?! It sounded revolting, all scratchy and hoarse. How had he ended up like this?

"Usagi-san!" The familiar guy seemed scandalized as he turned towards the blonde, slapping his hands over her eyes.

'He has a nice voice, I wonder if he sings?' What a weird thought to pop in his mind, and yet Jadeite couldn't help but think he might be pretty good if he was something familiar about it though...As if it was almost the right pitch, but something was missing.

"What? He's hot and naked in front of me. I'm not blind. I'd have to be to miss that. Also, can you, like, let go? It's far too late for my 'maidenly eyes' Mamoru-san."

Huffing a low raspy laugh, Jadeite noted that she was sassy. He liked that.

'Fiery spitfires especially.' His heart twinged in pain at the thought. The blonde's voice wasn't that bad either, higher-pitched; perhaps a soprano? Though how good her control was over that range was yet to be seen, her voice didn't grate to his ears.

Running his hands through his hair, Jadeite closed his eyes as he tried to remember what happened. Centring himself, he began to look inwards, trusting that he could easily take on the man and woman in the room should they try and attack him. Remnants of dark energy lingered, as it slowly disappeared.

Reaching to touch it, pain-wracked through his body, as memories returned of being a General in Elysion, his brainwashed actions by Beryl, and being put to sleep for thousands of years before being forcibly awakened again by the crazy raven-head-turned-red-head Queen wannabe. Hot, burning flames haunted him as they licked and melted his very skin and flesh. Ripping himself out of his mind, he hunched in panic, shuddering, as the phantom pains of his body being incinerated slowly receded.

'I know those flames,' Betrayal and anger coursed through him as he tried to figure out why he was feeling this way. Maybe Nephrite or Zoicite would know, those two always did find out-

Gasping in shock, he tensed as he swung his face up to see both the blonde and raven-haired man carefully trying to get closer; they seemed to have been calling his name for a while.

'...Their voices are compatible, perhaps they sing duets?' What was with his obsession with voices? Groaning slightly, he wished this all made more sense.

"-eite? Can you hear us?" He had his hands out, showing he was unarmed; he had even hunched slightly to make himself look smaller. Jadeite felt himself lowering his guard a bit at the sight.

"Mamoru…" They exchanged a glance, as Jadeite tried to get his bearings, trying to magically reach out to his brothers and getting nothing but white noise. His brothers were still trapped there.

Straightening from his hunched-over pose, he lunged towards the window, all thoughts focused towards getting back to the Negaverse and saving them from Beryl. These two people didn't seem involved with his situation and thus were irrelevant to his goals.

"Woah! Hold on, naked boy! You can't go lunging out windows with your bits swinging in the air."

The woman's arms wrapped around his waist and began to pull him back into the room. Normally he wouldn't mind having a pretty girl being pressed against him, but he had bigger issues to deal with right now. Turning his head to glare down at her, he vaguely noted something familiar about her face and tone of voice. Had they met somewhere before?

"Let. Go." He hissed, feeling his throat twing in pain again.

"Mamoru, help me out here!" She cried as he started to pull her arms away. She was stronger than he had expected, but no match for him. Plus her voice was getting too pitchy for his liking, he winced, rubbing an ear to coat it with more magic.

"Jadeite, stop! Please!" Dark blue eyes met grey ones, as the man grasped his arms tightly. Familiar energy poured from the man's body into his own as a memory of man, identical in face but wearing armour, cried out Jadeite's name in concern.

'They have almost the exact same voice.' The man in his memories had an earthier, more commanding tone than the one in the present day. This one had a more youthful feel and a sense of innocence that was missing from the other.

Pausing, Jadeite stared intently as the memory faded away, feeling his eyes widen once he realized who it was before him.

"Prince Endymion!" Reflexively kneeling down before him, he vaguely noted the blonde being pushed back by his actions and landing on the ground. He did catch how his Prince flinched at the sound of his name; perhaps he was undercover?

'That's not right, only Zoicite and occasionally Nephrite has ever gone undercover.' Something was wrong, why was Endymion here...

"Oof! Hey!" Turning to glance at the offended girl, Jadeite smirked at her irritated face as her eyes continued to stray towards his chest and arms. Good to know his physique was still impressive, at least he hadn't lost that during this cluster-fuck.

"It's your fault for being pressed so closely against my back. I did not place you there, though if you wish to be in my arms, you only had to ask." Her offended face was truly hilarious, though her eyes seemed to finally stay on his face. At least she wasn't as squeaky as before, truly her range in the high notes was to be applauded for, even if it did make his ears metaphorically bleed.

'Why is she so familiar?' Seeing her eyes narrow at him, Jadeite could practically hear the girl preparing to snap back at him. Her energy crackled and swirled, weak and drained as she was. Something about the woosh of the flow of energy reminded him of the winds under the moonlight, an eerie, ethereal sound, hissing that under its rays you were not alone.

"In your dreams Casanova. I doubt you lot practiced safe sex way back when, and unlike you, I actually care about my body's health!"

What expressive eyes and her range of voice was very colourful for such a young girl, rich with emotion. The eyes weren't his thing really, preferring shapely legs and round backsides. And a great voice was a definite must! But... if she kept looking at him like that then perhaps he could be persuaded to change his mind…

Taking a moment to absorb what she just said, Jadeite felt his eyebrows raise to his hairline as he tried to make sense of her strange accusations.

"...How can sex be 'safe'? ...Are you perhaps one of those that enjoy knives in the bedroom?" There had been a particular man he had enjoyed duelling with, who had preferred knives coming into the equation when they had enjoyed themselves in his youth. His voice had been a delight, Jadeite recalled fondly of making that voice sing under his ministrations. Of course, that was before he had met...who had he met? Flashes of deep purple eyes and raven hair crossed his mind, a strong passionate song followed by a searing flinched from the sight, his heart throbbing in pain, frustrating Jadeite as he refocused on the scowling blonde.

'Just who was she?' Her manner of dress was peculiar and nothing like he had seen at court... He vaguely recalled the hordes of women from all stations trying to steal his Prince for themselves, trying to seduce him with all manner of outfits...

"Ahem."

Oh right. His Prince. Endymion didn't look too impressed with either of them as he crossed his arms in annoyance. Honestly, the last time Jadeite saw him wear this face Zoicite had managed to fool a persistent suitor into thinking Endymion was secretly a woman who pretended to be a man in order to inherit the throne.

"Usagi-san, do you mind stepping into the kitchen for a moment and preparing some tea, while I get Jadeite some clothes? I feel he's still very disoriented." There it was, that royal tone he got when completely irritated with them. His brother could be so predictable.

"...Sure, Mamoru. You can drop the '-san' by the way. I think we've been through enough that we can speak informally, don't you think so?" Ballsy this blonde. He didn't fully understand why they were adding things to the end of their names, but clearly that was an important thing here. Zoicite would have loved analyzing and dissecting this culture; he was good at that.

"...Thanks, Usagi." Watching the blonde leave the room, Jadeite wondered who she was and why she seemed to be able to take so many liberties with his Prince's space.

Flinching as another headache took over him, Jadeite wished for some form of clarity. Hissing out his pain, he took a shallow breath as his Prince placed a hand on his shoulder, centring him from the flashes of pain.

"...Is she your mistress Endymion? Because she seems a bit younger and less...innocent than what you are usually into." Watching his prince choke on air was mildly disturbing, causing Jadeite to get on his feet and give Endymion's back a few hard hits.

"My Prince, are you alright?!"

"Jadeite...Usagi is most definitely not my mistress. She is my friend. A good friend, but just a friend. Okay?" He looked so serious about this; how odd. Dark chocolate and cello strings came to mind as he puzzled over how Endymion had emphasized certain words.

From what Jadeite could recall, the only time he sounded like this when speaking about a woman was with the Princess-Oh no.

"Your Highness...Was that- tell me she's not-that is to -say...was that Princess Serenity?!" Jadeite winced as his voice cracked painfully, still too dry and worn to be able to express the full range of his incredulous-ness. He wondered why he even bothered to hope that they had finally escaped that woman. His Prince had fallen so swiftly and strongly; it had concerned them all, allowing Beryl to wiggle in and…

Clutching his head in agony, Jadeite felt the room spin as more memories continued to pour in.

'Fuck, this is too much!'

Collapsing to the ground, Jadeite vaguely noted that she had come back to the room in a panic. The last thing he saw before passing out was two sets of blue eyes staring down at him in concern.

Naru poured Usagi some more tea as her friend continued to go on and on about what had happened at the airport. Looks like the Sailor Scouts were actually starting to plan out their battles, though the fact that Mars was so gleeful during battle concerned Naru.

'I think Sakurada-sensei taught us about a certain type of warrior from world history class… I think they were called berserkers?' Naru shuddered as she recalled that apparently they would lose themselves in a battle to the point that getting harmed by them was a high risk for their comrades.

'Could she be this kind of person?' Naru hid her frown as Usagi scarfed down her homemade high-calorie cake. Her clothes were still a little baggy on her friend's body, but not as much as they had been two months ago.

"-and then you wouldn't believe what ended up happening with Jadeite!" Usagi seemed to deflate, looking even more exhausted than she had been when describing the battle.

"Usa-chan?" A huge pause filled the room as Usagi just stopped talking, seeming to struggle in getting her words together.

"...Naru. I'm sorry but, I don't think I can explain the sheer scope of ridiculousness that occurred at Mamoru's place." Flopping over her coffee table, Naru wondered what on earth had happened to cause this kind of reaction.

"Wait! Did you go to his house? Alone?!" Naru couldn't believe how bold her best friend could be, going over to an older guy's place, one who definitely had an interest in her. A part of her hoped that one day she would have the courage to be able to be so direct with beautiful people.

"Na-chan you know I'm older than I look, you can stop clutching your pearls." Usagi giggled as she peaked up at her.

Scooching closer to her, Naru poked her cheek as she leaned over Usagi.

"You cannot tell me that something ridiculous happened with stone-Jadeite at that hot older guy's place, and then clam up about it."

"Okay, okay! So...first off, I forgot to tell you that Mamoru is like me. Kinda." Naru always hated it when Usagi got like this. Using vague language, forcing her to start asking a million and one questions to get a straight answer out of her blonde friend. Tidying up the tea set, Naru continued to talk as she moved it to her dresser since Usagi insisted on being a drama queen and laying over half her coffee table.

"What, like, he's a reincarnation like you, or that he's from the same era as your previous lives, or he's a secret reluctant superhero like you?"

"...All the above." Startling hard, Naru stumbled and felt her neck make a weird noise as she whipped around to face a sheepishly smiling Usagi. Opening and closing her mouth in shock, Naru tried to find her voice as complete and utter bafflement filled her. She had been kidding when she had listed those options! Kidding!

"What?!"

"Annnd, he's also kinda,thereincarnationoftheMoonPrincess'sloverwhowasthePrinceoftheEarth." Staring blankly as Usagi seemed to wait wearily for her reaction, Naru wondered if this was how the rest of her life was going to be? Her nearly wanting to strangle her friend for making things unnecessarily more complicated?

'She is so lucky that I love her!' Naru thought as she took a deep, calming breath before trying to understand everything again.

"...Can we please say that again, but in understandable Japanese this time?"

"I said that Chiba Mamoru, that guy, is the reincarnation of the Moon Princess's lover who was also the Prince of the fucking Earth." Usagi enunciated angrily and precisely, as she seemed to really resent and dislike these bits of news. Seeming to deflate again, she mumbled an apology for swearing. "Pardon my french."

"...You mean to say that he's your soulmate?!"

"Nothing that binding!... I hope." Usagi pouted at her, as she honestly did not look happy about this at all.

'Only Usagi would be upset that she found the one at the end of her red string of fate.' Sitting back down at her side, Naru gently laid a hand on her friend's ridiculous tense shoulders, and lightly massaged the knots out. Slowly, Usagi began to melt a little in her hands, as Naru tried to figure out how to ask her next question without further upsetting her, clearly she was sensitive about this.

"Okay, break it down for me because I'm a bit confused. We don't like knowing that guy is possibly your soulmate because…?" Naru winced as her friend abruptly stood up and began to pace the room as she grew more upset.

'Oh, shitake mushrooms! Naru, you messed up.' She thought to herself as Usagi began to rant.

"Because that is another thing that I didn't get to choose! Because fate is screwing me over by taking away my agency!" She whirled in a huff, her hair swirling about like golden ribbons as Usagi looked down at her with pleading eyes. Naru felt her heart break, as they seemed to cry to her for reassurance that Usagi wasn't crazy for feeling like this.

"Because I don't believe in falling at first sight, and he most certainly is not in love with me and actually agrees with my feelings on this whole shitty mess!" Her face looked so relieved at the reveal that Mamoru wasn't in love with her and was on the same page as her.

"Usa-chan…" Naru just wanted to hug her friend right now. Just try and hide her away from this cruel world that kept shaking up her life.

"I wanted to make the decision of choosing who I end up with. I still do! This is my, god knows how many times, reincarnated life! I already have to purify those monsters, or else creepy corpses appear. And isn't that alarming?"

So the mummified corpses were because the Scouts failed at purifying the enemy? Naru wondered if it was because she was the reincarnation of the Moon Princess?

"There's also some "great evil" wanting to hunt me down and kill me, so I have to deal with that as well. Is it too much to ask to want to have some say over my own fucking love life?!"

'Wait wait! What?!' Alarm and fear coursed through Naru as her friend revealed that little tidbit. Just how much did the enemy want her friend? And why?! It seemed Usa had reached her limit as she threw herself into Naru's arms.

Usagi gripped her tightly as she buried her face into Naru's embrace, had her friend grown taller? She certainly could feel her hard muscles under the layers of clothes.

"...Can't I have any agency in my personal life?"

"Of course you can." Placing a kiss on her sister from another mother's forehead, Naru decided that even if she didn't fully understand Usagi's choice - as it was Naru's dream to find someone just for her, someone destined for her love and her for his - she would support it.

Usagi loved Naru. She pitied people who didn't have a Naru in their lives; everyone needed a Naru. Already she was feeling so much better. Usagi didn't know how long they just stayed like that, cuddling and enjoying being in her friends' presence, but the warm orange-red rays of the sun told her that she might have to call her parents to ask to stay for a sleepover. She didn't know if she was ready to go back home just yet. Naru softly broke the silence, as she gently stroked her hair, causing Usagi to hum lowly in pleasure.

"So what happened after you talked to Chiba-san?"

'Oh boy, where should I start?' Feeling mischievous, clearly, a good Naru cuddle was the cure for feeling like shit. 10/10 approval rating. Usagi decided to tease her, just a bit.

"He was great, we're definitely friends and after we chatted Jadeite hatched out of the stone. Like a chicken."

"Wait, what?!" Laughing into her friend's embrace, Usagi felt her tug at her hair.

"Stop laughing, this is important! How the hell did the general hatch out of his statue?" Looking back, it was pretty funny. The man's hair had been sticking up everywhere as the statue had literally cracked wide open.

"Like a chicken. A naked, baby chick with fluffy yellow hair." She would never let the man live that down. Never.

"Usagi you are being ridicul- Wait! Naked?!" Usagi was impressed at how high her friend could screech. She might be able to compete with her ear-piercing screeches.

"Yup. Naked as the day he was born. He was much bigger than I had thought, you know, considering he's pretty short for a guy." Pulling back and grinning at her friend's stunned, bright red face.

"And hmmm those muscles" Usagi gave Naru a shit-eating grin as her face went from fire engine red to a red-wine colour. She bet if she cracked an egg on Naru's face right now, it would sizzle.

"...I hate you." She squeaked, pulling away from Usagi and hiding her face in her hands.

"Picturing it huh?" Laughing as Naru frantically shook her head, Usagi gave in to the little devil on her shoulder to tease her some more.

"No! I am not!" Her red ears, peeking out from red locks, betrayed her.

"So, you don't want to know about that amazing six-pack he's carrying? And how muscled and toned his back and arms-" Usagi laughed even louder as her friend snatched a nearby pillow and began to try to smother her.

"You. Are. Horrible." Grappling the pillow away from her face, Usagi grinned evilly as Naru seemed to just blush in guilty-pleasure.

"Don't try and deny it, I know your type Osaka Naru! Motoki-nii-san might be the cute older boy, but hot, muscled men who make you feel petite and dainty are what you truly desire!"

Usagi smirked as Naru hid her face again, moaning about how cruel her friend could be. Laughing out loud at her theatrics, Usagi wondered how far she could push her friend when a menacing aura seemed to explode from beside her.

Naru's face was still red but her hands grasped not one but two pillows. Giving the slightly terrified blonde a sweet smile, Naru raised both hands above her head.

"Usa-chan? Prepare yourself, because, in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

Please let me know of your thoughts, comments, questions or concerns!