Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft of August Derleth.

Chapter 8: The King of Cydonia

Rei didn't know how long she had been lying on her bed trying to figure out how to deal with her feelings for Jun. A part of her actually wished Grete had never brought him back from the dead; it would've been far easier for her if Jun had never come back into her life and those old memories had never been awakened. Rei was finally stirred from her thoughts by a knock at the door, not from Jun's room but from the door leading out to the hallway. Glad for the distraction, Rei quickly got up from her bed and went to answer the door. To her surprise, Rei found Virginia standing on the other side.

"Ms. Virginia? What're you doing here?" a surprised Rei asked. "The Foundation let you go?"

"You can thank Chairman Kaidou for that," Virginia told her. "He didn't know anything about what Dr. Higgins was doing. In fact the chairman is the one who sent me here to get you. He needs to talk to you about this."

"Why me?"

"Because he feels like you're the only one he can trust."

Rei found this doubtful, especially after how her last encounter with Kaidou went. Then again, this latest turn of events certainly seemed to fit with the Kaidou she thought she knew. In spite of everything, Rei still wanted to believe that Kaidou wasn't involved with what the Foundation was up to.

"Let me get Grete and Jun first before I go with you," Rei told Virginia.

"No way," Virginia told her as she put a hand on her shoulder. "The chairman will only speak to you alone. Like I said, he doesn't trust anyone else, not even your father. Now let's go. Time's wasting."

Somewhat reluctantly, Rei agreed to go with Virginia on her own. As they went into the hallway though, a part of Rei felt it was stupid of her to be going along without taking Jun and Grete. Something about what was happening just didn't fit. Though Rei still wanted to believe that Kaidou hadn't somehow become an enemy, she still thought of the way he acted when she met him in his office earlier; about how it had been like talking to someone wearing Kaidou's face like a mask. It occurred to Rei though that perhaps if something had been controlling him, it had only been temporary, and whatever entity she was dealing with had released Kaidou for some unknown reason. If that was the case, then the real Kaidou likely needed her help badly.

Eventually Rei and Virginia arrived at Kaidou's office. Kaidou buzzed the two of them in, and when they entered the office Rei was surprised to find Kaidou with both Takashi and Dr. Higgins. Before Rei could ask what was going on, Virginia suddenly pinned Rei's arm behind her back and brought a knife to her throat.

"No sudden moves," Virginia warned into Rei's ear.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment Rei," Kaidou told her. "Or I guess I should say, Princess Mars. The timing of our reunion couldn't have been better too, as my current puppet is already starting to run down."

"You…you really aren't Kaidou, are you?" Rei realized. "You're just using his body! Who and what are you?"

Kaidou chuckled. "You already know who I am. We spoke earlier in the garden, though I was using the body of that defective soldier to communicate."

Rei went totally pale. "No…it can't be…"

"And now little girl, it's time you fulfill your purpose to me."

Suddenly Kaidou collapsed to the floor, with blood pouring from his nose. Soon after a hole opened up in the middle of the floor and a metal sphere on top of a pole rose up out of it. The front of the sphere opened up, and inside Rei saw a head with a face that she recognized instantly. It was the face of the thing in her nightmares, the face that someone had carved on the surface of Mars in the Cydonia Region, and this time the face was real and only a few feet in front of her. The head even wore a combination of helmet and crown the color of dried blood like what had been seen on the carving. After a few moments the head inside the sphere opened its eyes, and the moment it did Rei couldn't help but scream.

Jun had been lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling in thought when he suddenly heard a tapping noise coming from his window. He looked and saw Phobos and Deimos pecking on the glass. Curious, the blonde got up from the bed and opened the window. Jun had to duck when Phobos and Deimos flew into his room. The two of them began flying in circles near the ceiling and were cawing like mad.

"Has something happened to Rei?" Jun asked.

In answer to his question, the two birds flew down and perched on his shoulders. Jun went over and knocked on the door to the adjoining room. After a few moments when there was no answer, Jun tried out the special override key to the door's lock Grete had given him earlier in secret. When Jun opened the door, he found the room to be totally empty. Jun quickly realized something was terribly wrong.

Jun left the room with Phobos and Deimos still on his shoulders and went across the hall to Grete's quarters. The door opened the instant that Jun buzzed it.

"What is it Mr. Aragaki?" Grete asked. "I'm still in the middle of going over the data Ms. Hino downloaded from Chairman Kaidou's computers."

"Rei's missing!" Jun answered. "Phobos and Deimos came into my room to let me know something was up. When I checked Rei's room, she was gone."

"How could you let this happen?"

"Hey! In case you haven't noticed, these rooms of ours are practically soundproof! There was no way I would've heard a struggle."

Grete shook her head. "We need to find Ms. Hino as soon as possible."

"Well I think our two feathered friends might be able to help us."

Without being asked, Phobos and Deimos took off from Jun's shoulders and flew off down the hallway. Jun quickly transformed into Jadeite and dashed after them, with Grete following close behind.

"Did you find anything that might be helpful in that data?" Jadeite asked Grete as they ran.

"Perhaps," Grete answered. "I discovered there are crystals embedded throughout the entire compound, the type of crystals normally used by most planets to channel mystical energy."

"Any idea what they're for?"

"Not at this time. Crystals like that can have a number of uses. We can worry about it though after we rescue Ms. Hino."

In another few moments Phobod and Deimos had led Jadeite and Grete to Kaidou's office. Jun opened the door and they found Rei standing in the middle of the room with Kaidou's body at her feet. Virginia, Takashi and Dr. Higgins were also present, standing behind the desk.

Rei looked at the new arrivals and smiled. "Ah! General Jadeite. I was wondering when you'd finally arrive."

Jadeite quickly noticed there was something different about the look in Rei's eyes and realized something was off. "You're not Rei, are you? You're the thing who was talking through Officer Sampson's brother before! And who was probably using Kaidou!"

Rei clapped. "Very impressive! I didn't think you'd catch on so soon."

Phobos and Deimos were flying near the ceiling, cawing down hatefully at the thing currently using Rei's body.

Rei scowled. "So you brought that vermin into my presence again, servants from the Planet Coronis. I never understood how the other peoples of Mars could stand those things." She then smiled and licked her lips. "Then again, they were quite the delicacy among my people. Once I get my real body back, I may have to help myself to your two companions to celebrate."

"Enough of this!" Jadeite protested as he drew his sword. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

Rei put her hands on her hips. "I suppose I might as well tell you now since things have advanced this far. I am Thurin-Xa! The King of Cydonia! And once I regain what was stolen from me I shall release Great Cthughua burn this entire galaxy to ash! Now that I control the body of Princess Mars, everything I've sought is finally within my grasp!"

"What good is using Rei's body going to do you?"

"She's the only being in existence who is the proper conduit for my powers." Rei chuckled. "It was actually much easier than I thought taking control of her, given how willful she normally seems to be. But she was so terrified of me that she didn't even put up a fight."

"Let her go now!" Jadeite warned as he pointed his blade at her.

"Or what? You'll kill me? Bear in mind boy that the princess is essentially my hostage. Attacking me will only do harm to her."

"Not all of my techniques are destructive ones! Deep Freeze Slumber!"

A thick icy mist fired from Jadeite's blade and covered Rei completely. In seconds the mist subsided and Rei was encased in a large crystal of ice. Takashi, Dr. Higgins and Virginia were all instantly alarmed.

"There. That'll keep her on ice for a while," Jadeite declared. "Hopefully Thurin-Xa or whatever he calls himself will decide to leave Rei's body since he can't use it."

Jadeite's confidence was soon shattered though when Rei's body began to glow red inside the block of ice. Suddenly the chunk of ice was enveloped by a burst of flames. The flames soon died away and steam was rising from Rei's body.

"Not bad!" Rei praised. "Unfortunately your powers are a bad match for mine."

"Well I'll find some way to free Rei from your control!"

Rei laughed. "Oh, you pathetic little human. The princess is beyond your help. In fact you're the last person she needs help from, since all you did was cause her harm."

"What do you mean?"

"You know your little regression sessions with Dr. Ichinose? The memories you and the princess uncovered were all awakened by my power. Her machine is connected to my mind, one of the few affective conduits for my psychic abilities. It was very amusing for me to see the little romance between you two in your previous lives. Now that I control the princess's body I was able to gain access to the memories that were still dormant, and since I've essentially shared those memories with her I may as well awaken the memories still sleeping within you…so you can see that you're just as much a bane to her existence as I am."

Rei's eyes suddenly began to glow red, and two beams of crimson light fired from her eyes and struck Jadeite in the face. Jadeite fell to the ground upon being hit and was instantly unconscious.

Jadeite's mind traveled back to the time of the Silver Millennium, back to that cabin he had hidden up in the mountains. Weeks had gone by since that mission to the village where he and Sailor Mars had been forced to kill that boy. Since then, Jadeite and Mars had been meeting in secret up at that cabin every few nights. As wrong as they both knew it was, a romance had blossomed between the two of them, and they could no longer deny what they felt for one another. The sun had almost set completely as Jadeite and Mars stood out by the lake looking up towards the stars that had already appeared in the sky.

"I can never get over how beautiful this place is," Jadeite remarked. "I feel like the luckiest man alive to be able to share something like this with you."

Jadeite reached over and was about to put an arm around Mars when Mars suddenly backed away. "Jadeite…we can't keep going on like this."

The blonde looked at her, feeling shocked. "What're you talking about?"

Mars turned to face him. "You know what I'm talking about. What we've been doing, sneaking up here in secret like this, it's all been a mistake."

"Are you serious? You honestly think what we have is a mistake?"

"Our feelings for each other are growing far too strong. Soon they'll grow out of control and…and they could destroy your prince and my princess."

Jadeite put his hands on Mars's shoulders. "I don't buy that. Maybe what we have is some sort of cosmic crime, but I don't care! I'm not willing to throw this away."

"But we must! At least I must do it. If I don't, I am in danger of breaking my vows, and I cannot allow that to happen!"

"So you're just willing to toss away what we have like it was nothing!"

"It's not that easy for me! Do you know how much it's hurting me to even say all this?"

"Oh sure! It's painful for you to twist the dagger into my heart!" Jadeite sarcastically responded. "Well do you know what it's like for me being on the receiving end of your blade?"

Tears began to come to Mars's eyes. "Why in Hades do you have to make this so hard?"

"Why? Because I don't want this to be some clean break for you! Because nothing about this is clean! But then I guess you've never really known anything about human emotions you callous bitch!"

Mars reacted as though she had just been slapped. "Even after all this time…it amazes me that you can be such a moronic pig-headed barbarian!"

"Better a barbarian than a cold-hearted aristocratic cow like you!"

This insult caused Mars to slap Jadeite in the face. Jadeite ordered Mars to leave, and in moments Mars dashed of and vanished with Phobos and Deimos in a burst of red flames. A few moments after she left, Jadeite staggered back towards the cabin feeling as though his entire body had been hollowed out like a pumpkin.

In the following days, the strange monster attacks had only increased, and very soon the people of Earth began to blame the Moon Kingdom as the source of the trouble, the rumor being that the monsters were some kind of military experiment being conducted by the people of the Moon. The first person to make this accusation was the princess of a small kingdom named Beryl. Jadeite and his fellow Shitennou were familiar with the princess due to the king and queen having once tried getting Endymion to marry Beryl, but of course Endymion had not been at all interested in her. While nobody knew what proof Beryl had regarding the Moon Kingdom's involvement in the monster attacks, it was clear that people were taking her seriously, and her supporters were quickly growing by the day. The unrest was quickly getting to the point where there was talk of going to war with the Moon Kingdom, which had forced Kunzite to call a meeting of the four Shitennou to discuss what to do.

When the meeting began, Nephrite was leaning against his usual spot on the office wall with his arms crossed, while Jadeite and Zoisite were both sitting in the chairs in front of Kunzite's large desk. Jadeite had given his report on the most recent developments he had seen in his territory from the new anti-Moon movement, but afterwards he more or less tuned out what the others were talking about and started reflecting on the views of this movement. Jadeite found he agreed with some of the things Beryl had said because they tracked with the things he had once thought about the Moon Kingdom. He had mostly changed his position after having worked with Sailor Mars for so long, but when he considered why Mars had decided to end their relationship Jadeite wondered if perhaps he might've been right all along.

"To be honest, I don't think the question is how we stop a war with the Moon Kingdom," Zoisite spoke thoughtfully. "The real question is should we go to war with them? And honestly, I think perhaps we should."

Zoisite's comment caused Nephrite to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Surly you can't be serious! For these last few months we've been working side by side with the members of Princess Serenity's royal guard, and now you're suddenly saying that they're our enemies?"

"I'm simply saying that we've perhaps been a little too trusting of them. I will admit that I've found some of Sailor Mercury's recent actions to be a bit suspicious."

"In what way?" Kunzite asked.

"Well for instance… one time I came back to my office to find Mercury looking through my private files. As you know, my files contain details for key strategic instillations all over the kingdom. Additionally, I looked into Mercury's more recent examinations on our kingdom's central library. She was looking into all the material we had on human anatomy. That's just the type of information the Moon Kingdom might need for a biological weapon that turns humans into monsters."

"But you have no proof that's why Mercury was looking into that information?"

Zoisite shook his head. "I don't, but I do believe that it's reason enough to at least be suspicious of the Moon Kingdom. Plus, you have to admit that Princess Beryl makes some compelling arguments."

"I don't believe this!" Nephrite protested. "Zoisite, I don't know what kind of experiences you've had working with Mercury, but Sailor Jupiter and I have fought alongside one another against those things that our people have been turning into, and she's been even more appalled that we've had to kill innocent civilians than I have been! Kunzite, you've had the same experiences with Sailor Venus, have you not?"

Kunzite tented his hands on his desk and nodded. "I have. And I do find it very difficult to believe that she and her people could be behind whatever's creating these monsters. I also have difficulty believing these claims of Princess Beryl that the Moon Kingdom has been spying on us, or even that they think they're superior to us."

"I don't," Jadeite interjected. "From the way that Sailor Mars has tended to act around me, she definitely thinks she's superior. More than once she's called me a savage barbarian."

"Maybe you just have a talent for getting on her bad side," Nephrite argued. "That mouth of yours has gotten you into trouble with the ladies more than once."

"Kunzite, you must admit that recent negotiations with the Moon Kingdom have been a little strained as of late," Zoisite interjected as he rose from his chair. "Plus you're all overlooking one simple fact. Technologically, the Moon Kingdom is far superior than we are. It's unfortunately not uncommon for a people to think of those not as advanced as they are as inferior. The rulers of the Moon Kingdom seem to view themselves as the divinely appointed protectors of our world, and thus likely think we're incapable of taking care of ourselves."

"That's why they probably spy on us and think they can tell our rulers what we can and can't do," Jadeite added. "Just as Princess Beryl says."

Kunzite let out a heavy sigh. "What do you think we should do?"

"For now, I say we cut ties with the Moon Kingdom," Zoisite recommended. "At least until we can truly determine whether or not they're our enemy."

"I agree with Zoisite. Until we can figure all this out we can't trust them, we shouldn't let them near us," Jadeite declared.

"You two do realize what that would mean though. It would mean that our prince would have to end his little fling with Princess Serenity," Nephrite pointed out.

"That relationship had been doomed from the start," Zoisite pointed out. "Even if none of this had happened, a marriage between our Prince and Princess Serenity would never have been allowed."

At last, Kunzite reached a decision and rose from his chair. "Until we truly determine whether or not the Moon Kingdom is actually an enemy, we should cut all ties with them. Come, let's go tell the Prince."

Thus the four generals left Kunzite's office. A few minutes later they found Endymion in the palace garden. The prince noticed the serious expression on each of their faces as they approached.

"Kunzite, everyone, what's wrong?" Endymion asked.

"My prince… I'm afraid we can no longer permit you to see Princess Serenity," Kunzite spoke.

Endymion's expression became just as serious as that of his guards, but the fire of anger burned in his eyes. "And just what is the meaning behind this decision."

"Prince, the fact is the Moon Kingdom now seems to be an enemy," Zoisite explained as he stepped forward. "If that is truly the case, then it would clearly be inappropriate for you and Princess Serenity to keep seeing each other."

"And just what evidence do you have that the Moon Kingdom is our enemy?"

"Sire, it's totally obvious that the Moon Kingdom see us as lower than dogs!" Jadeite cut in. "We're tired of them ordering us around and spying on us!"

"And since when have you been ordered around and spied upon?" Endymion asked forcefully, causing all the Shitennou to flinch. "Just whose words are you speaking? Yours, or that repugnant creature's?"

None of them could bring themselves to respond. It was clear that Endymion wasn't going to listen anything based on Beryl's accusations about the Moon Kingdom, and they all felt a bit foolish for even brining it up.

Endymion turned away from the four and composed himself. "I will not be swayed by Beryl's fear-mongering, and I'm greatly disappointed that the four of you were. I will keep seeing Serenity despite anyone's objections. If the four of you still have a problem with that, then you're all free to resign as my protectors."

With those words, Endymion marched away back into the palace. The four guards remained rooted where they were, feeling rather ashamed of themselves.

"Well that went beautifully," Nephrite sarcastically declared. "I'm so glad I went along with all of you on this."

"Clearly we underestimated how badly the Prince would react to our decision," Zoisite observed.

Kunzite sighed and nodded. "I myself once said that it would be impossible for us to keep the Prince from seeing Princess Serenity."

"So what do we do now?" Jadeite asked.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some time alone to think," Kunzite decided as he began to walk away. "I'm going to my homeland and shall be back by morning. Keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

The other three Shitennou watched as Kunzite turned on his heel and left in the opposite direction from the prince.

"Now what?" Jadeite asked.

"I'm going to try and find more evidence that either confirms or disproves Beryl's accusations," Zoisite answered. He then looked straight at Nephrite. "Just like you and Kunzite, I truly don't want to believe that the Moon Kingdom might now be an enemy, but we need to find proof that what Baryl's been saying is nothing more than a lie. That's what I'll be working on."

With that, Zoisite walked off towards the direction of his little laboratory in the palace.

"Okay, so then what're you going to do?" Jadeite asked Nephrite.

Nephrite sighed. "Right now I just need to get out of here so I can think."

Jadeite let out a heavy sigh as he watched the last of his comrades leave. "Now that you mention it, that's not a bad idea."

Jadeite had gone back to his cabin, the one place on Earth he felt he could be totally alone with his thoughts. He had just spent the last two nights thinking more about what was going on, and if the Moon Kingdom was truly an enemy. The night before Jadeite had realized that he probably only wanted to believe Beryl's accusations because of how Mars had ended things with him. The simple fact was it just hurt too much for Jadeite. When he had first come up to the cabin to gather his thoughts, he had a fleeting vision of what might have been; of Mars standing in the doorway to the cabin with a warm smile on her face, cradling their first child in her arms. It hadn't been the first time Jadeite had experienced such a daydream since he and Mars had begun their forbidden romance, and the fact Mars was willing to simply throw that future away was one of the things which angered him the most.

As Jadeite reflected on all of this for perhaps the hundredth time, he had just finished chopping some more firewood and was about to head into the cabin when he suddenly heard a growling noise coming from the surrounding trees. He turned and saw several monsters emerge from the woods, at least twenty in all. Jadeite didn't hesitate for a moment to draw his sword. The creatures all roared at once and charged at him. Jadeite took out the first four with icy spears shot from his blade and took out two more with strikes and thrusts to the chest as soon as they came within the range of his weapon.

A few more of the creatures emerged from the trees as Jadeite started cutting down his current foes, and the battle that ensued lasted for about fifteen minutes. In the end, Jadeite had managed to come out of the battle with barely a scratch. He sheathed his sword and turned to go back into the cabin when a blast of flames struck him on the back and knocked him into the cabin wall. Jadeite managed to recover and turned around to see Sailor Mars standing a few feet away. A cold heartless smile was on the face of the raven-haired priestess.

"You're a lot stronger than I gave you credit," Mars remarked as she advanced. "I suppose I should've done this myself from the start."

"Mars, what's the meaning of this?" Jadeite demanded to know.

"Simply put, you Earthlings have become an infestation that's grown out of control, and I've come to help exterminate you. In order to do the job properly though, you Shitennou have to go, and I've come here to make sure you die!"

Mars then fired another intense blast of flames from her hand. This blast enveloped Jadeite completely in a pillar of fire. As Jadeite screamed in pain, he couldn't help but curse at the fact he had been right about the people of the Moon Kingdom. Eventually the flames subsided and Jadeite fell to the ground on his face, with smoke rising from his body. Mars then shot a single fireball from her palm at Jadeite's cabin, setting it ablaze.

"I think that's good enough," Mars spoke. "It shouldn't be too long before you die."

The raven-haired Sailor Guardian then turned on her heel and headed into the surrounding woods. Jadeite tried to reach for her before he finally lost all consciousness.

Jadeite slowly opened his eyes to find a woman kneeling down before him with a concerned expression on her face. She had long wavy red hair and red eyes, wearing a black cloak and a long black dress. Her skin was incredibly pale and her ears seemed to have a slight point to them.

Jadeite recognized the woman almost instantly. "Princess…Beryl? What…what are you doing here?"

"Please don't strain yourself, General Jadeite," Beryl told him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "By the gods, if only my men and I had gotten to you sooner!"

Jadeite soon realized he was sitting against the trunk of a tall tree, and saw there was a black smoldering structure a few feet away behind Beryl. It didn't take him long to determine the black structure had once been his cabin, and recalled how Sailor Mars had shown up and mercilessly attacked him.

"Earth needs you now more than ever, my general," Beryl continued. "The Moon Kingdom is threatening to destroy everything we hold dear. The preservation of our very existence rests on you!"

"I…I wish…I could…help you," Jadeite croaked. "But…looks like I…don't have much longer."

Beryl shook her head. "You are not lost to us yet." She then reached into her cloak and pulled out a vile of black liquid. "This potion of mine will heal all of your wounds. It will be as though you have never been harmed. Not only that, your strength will be magnified ten-fold. Do you consent to take it?"

Jadeite nodded and Beryl poured the foul-tasting liquid into his lips. The blonde general managed to swallow it and suddenly his entire body was wracked with an intense pain. In a matter of seconds though, all of the injuries that Jadeite had sustained had been healed, even the hair that had been burned off had grown back. Jadeite soon found though that he felt wrong somehow, that he wasn't human anymore. Suddenly the attack Sailor Mars had inflicted upon him replayed in Jadeite's mind, but in the playback he saw that Beryl had been to one to attack him.

Jadeite rose to his feet realizing he had been played. "You damn witch! I should cut your head off right now!"

"You won't be doing anything of the sort," Beryl told him as she smiled and rose to her feet. "As of now you belong to me, body and soul. The only thing you are capable of doing now is obeying my every wish."

Beryl snapped her fingers and suddenly an incredible pain wracked Jadeite's entire body. In an instant he had forgotten everything he had discovered about Beryl's treachery.

"From this moment on, you are now a general of my Dark Kingdom!" Beryl declared as the pain Jadeite was suffering finally subsided. "My first command to you is that you will help me lead an assault against the Moon Kingdom!"

Jadeite kneeled before Beryl. "I will do so with great pleasure, my queen. At your command, my sword will run red with the blood of the Moon Kingdom's people."

Just like Jadeite, the other three Shitennou had fallen under Beryl's spell, and soon after the five led a massive army to the Moon where they began a siege of the kingdom. At some point before the attack had begun, Mars and her fellow Sailor Guardians had taken both Serenity and Endymion back to the Moon Kingdom's palace in an attempt to keep them both safe. It had been decided by Venus that they should protect Endymion not just for Serenity's sake, but also for the hope that he might somehow be able to bring sanity back to his people and end Beryl's reign of terror. Total chaos broke out the moment the Dark Kingdom's army reached the Moon and began their attack. Everything that unfolded all seemed to happen in a matter of seconds.

By a twist of fate, Jadeite and Mars had ended up in battle against one another. Since the start of the battle Mars had been putting up a good fight, but Jadeite could sense she was holding back. It was though she was trying very hard not to kill him.

"What's the matter, you arrogant wench?" Jadeite asked as he deflected another flame attack with his sword. "Do you think I'm not worthy enough for you to use your full strength against? That conceited attitude of yours is going to cost you your life!"

"I beg of you, just stop this!" Mars pleaded. "Don't you realize you've been bewitched? The man I…the man I know wouldn't do anything this horrible of his own accord!"

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Now die you Martian cow!"

With those words, Jadeite charged in with his sword raised high above his head. As he came in range, tears came to Mars's eyes as she fired a blast of flames that struck Jadeite through the chest and burned a small hole through his torso where his heart was. Jadeite immediately fell to his knees and dropped his sword. Mars went over to him as tears streamed down her cheeks. She kneeled down to get a closer look at him, but suddenly Jadeite picked up his sword and stabbed her through the chest

"Nice try, but not good enough!" Jadeite declared. "You should've just burned me to a crisp you stupid cow!"

The blonde pulled out his sword and Mars collapsed to the ground. In spite of the pain from the wound he had just sustained, Jadeite couldn't help but feel great joy over his triumph…and yet at the same time a great sorrow he couldn't explain. Suddenly Jadeite heard a horrible scream, and from where he was outside the palace he could see Endymion falling to the ground after having taken a fatal attack from Beryl. He had apparently taken an attack meant for Princess Serenity. As Serenity began to weep over the body of her fallen prince, Jadeite realized that he had just made several horrible mistakes, the biggest being using his sword to impale the woman he loved.

Suddenly the old daydream he had of Mars greeting him as he returned to his cabin in the woods, holding the child they might've had together in her arms, flashed though his mind. The moment he recalled the vision, a great anguish consumed Jadeite completely. Not only had he taken the life of the woman he loved, he had destroyed the life they might've shared together.

With tears coming to his eyes, Jadeite reached over and touched Mars's cheek. "No…Mars. Wake up…please. Mars. I'm sorry. Please…open your eyes. You can't…you just can't die. Especially not…when it's because of me."

Jadeite began to sob as he kept begging Mars to wake up until he could no longer speak. By the time Princess Serenity had taken her own life using the very sword that had slain her prince, Jadeite's consciousness had fallen into total darkness. His life had ended.

Jadeite slowly awoke to the sound of two people calling his name at once. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw two identical young women with long raven hair. They seemed to be only inches away from his face, causing him to realize the two women were extremely small, almost as though they were fairies. He thought of them as fairies because they both had a pair of black wings on their back. Each of them also wore what almost looked like a red one-piece swimsuit.

"We're so glad to see you awake, General Jadeite," the two fairies said together as they smiled.

Jadeite sat up and soon realized he was on the bed in his quarters. "Who are you two?"

"I am Phobos," the fairy on his left answered.

"And I am Deimos," the other fairy answered.

Jadeite was completely stunned. "You're Rei's two crows?"

"These are our true forms," Phobos confirmed.

"We don't often take them because we would be seen as very out of place on Earth," Deimos added.

"But because of the circumstances, we decided we should take our true forms to properly explain what's happening now."

"I was just as surprised by their true forms as you are," a familiar voice spoke. Jadeite turned and saw Grete leaning near the door with her arms crossed. "How are you doing?"

Jadeite grimaced and held his head. "Well, I've been better. I just remembered how I made myself into the world's biggest asshole and fell into Beryl's clutches, and how I died the first time." He gasped. "Shit! Where's Rei?"

"Still under Thurin-Xa's control, I'm afraid," Grete answered. "After you were knocked unconscious, I was forced to make a retreat with you, Phobos and Deimos. Fortunately we seem to be a low priority to the Foundation at the moment. I suggest you now look out the window."

Jadeite did as Grete asked and looked out the window to his room. Instead of the familiar blue sky and island landscape he had been seeing since arriving at the facility, Jadeite saw an endless rocky red desert under an equally red sky.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Jadeite exclaimed. "Are we where I think we are?"

Grete nodded. "We're on Mars, specifically in the heart of Cydonia if my suspicions are correct. This was Thurin-Xa's plan all along."

Author's Note: This chapter concludes the flashbacks to Silver Millennium for this story. Believe it or not, I had a pretty hard time with the death scene for Mars and Jadeite. I'd like to take a moment to thank my beta reader, masterray5 for helping me find a way to give the scene the emotional impact I felt it was lacking before.

I'll hopefully be back next week with the next exciting installment. Until next time, please review and let me know what you think.