Chapter 35

Returning Memories: Usagi and Mamuru's Past

Zoisite stood in shock and dismay, at seeing that Sailor Moon was the princess of the Moon, while Sora stepped slowly towards her, noticing the aura of light that surrounded his friend.

"Usagi is Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon is the Princess, and the Princess is Usagi," he said.

Suddenly, a shining light erupted from Luna's forehead.

'Sailor Moon, you're the princess. Princess Serenity," she murmured.

"What!?" gasped everyone.

"Luna, did you say Princess? Are you telling us that Sailor Moon is the princess we've been searching for this whole time?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

"And on top of all that, Tuxedo Mask is actually Mamoru?" Sailor Mercury asked as well.

Sailor Mars looked out towards them, her eyes filled with shock by this revelation.

"So the princess has awakened, has she? Fine then. First I'll get rid of her, then I'll get the Silver Crystal!" he said furiously.

He tried to strike her down, but Princess Serenity raised the Moon Stick above her, and blasted Zoisite back, as Sora watched in awe.

"It's over now! You lost!" Sora said to Zoisite.

"Tuxedo Mask, you're hurt all because of me," sobbed Serenity.

When her tears touched Mamoru's face, he slowly awoke, and said Serenity's name.

"I'm able to remember everything now, Serenity. I am Endymion," he said.

"Endymion," gasped Serenity.

Then suddenly a new light surrounded them, as Usagi remembered clearly what had transpired long ago, which then engulfed Sora, transporting him into their memories. There standing in front of him were Mamoru and Usagi, dressed in royal raiments. Then seeing clearly the first time, the music box that Usagi held onto, being passed to Endymion, and heard the tune it played. As he watched them embrace, the image shifted to flames and destruction, as Endymion drew his sword and charged into battle, followed by a burst of light that engulfed them.

"Endymion. You're Endymion, my one true love," Serenity said.

Then Serenity changed back to Sailor Moon, and collapsed to the ground, as her friends rushed to her side.

"Don't worry, she's gonna be fine," Sora assured them.

"Thank goodness. Looks like she just passed out," replied Sailor Venus.

"What a relief," agreed Sailor Mercury.

"It's understandable. It must have been her memories of being the princess rushing back and overloading her mind," said Artemis.

"Yes, I felt it, when we saw it happening," added Namine.

"Mamoru, can you hear me? Say something!" called Rei.

"He's in pretty bad shape," said Makoto.

Suddenly, they heard Zoisite grunting in pain as he slowly stood up, and glared at him.

"I won't let you get away," he said.

But Kunzite appeared from the dark corridor, as Zoisite staggered towards him.

"I found her Kunzite, it was her all along. Sailor Moon, turned out to be the Moon Princess," whispered Zoisite.

"Yes, I see. Her awakening explains it. The Rainbow Crystals must have been drawn to her," replied Kunzite.

His eyes settled on the Silver Crystal, But everyone quickly prepared themselves for battle.

"I will let you all live, just a little bit longer," he told them.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" asked Sora.

As if to answer his question, Kunzite sent a powerful burst of darkness, not at them, but to Mamoru, and teleported him away.

"Mamoru!" cried Rei.

"That's it!" shouted Sora, rushing towards the two warlords.

But they teleported away, before he could strike them down, then Sora's anger exploded like never before.

"Where are you!? Don't you dare hide from us! Show yourselves!" he screamed, swinging his Keyblade in a blind frenzy.

"Where is that they could have taken him?" asked Rei, ignoring Sora's rage induced threats to Zoisite and Kunzite.

Inside her throne room, Queen Beryl glared furiously at the two warlords.

"Kunzite, you fool! Not only did you let the Silver Crystal fall into enemy hands, you have also awakened the Moon Princess!" she snapped enraged at this new development.

"Yes, my Queen. I have no excuses. Fortunately the princess has just awakened, and does not yet have full control of the Silver Crystal. I'll need a little more time," replied Kunzite.

"Very well, do not fail me!" Queen Beryl said darkly.

Her eyes fixed on Zoisite.

"And then there's you, Zoisite. Are you ready to accept your doom?" she asked.

"Please, my queen, give me another chance," begged Zoisite.

"No, you tried to kill Tuxedo Mask in cold blood, and defied Queen Beryl's orders," said Sephiroth.

"Yes, but that was-!" cried Zoisite.

'Did you think you could fool me with your lies!?" shouted Beryl.

"I take responsibility for that. Please…!" begged Kuznite.

But Queen Beryl had heard enough, and blasted Zoisite with her power, as he called for Kunzite. Kunzite stood watching in horror, as Sephiroth moved towards Zoisite.

"Sephiroth, finish him off," Queen Beryl said.

"With pleasure," chuckled the One-Winged Angel.

He plunged Masamune through Zoisite's chest, and his screams sounded like sweet music to his ears, as Queen Beryl left.

"'O Great Ruler, Queen Metalia, I call on you to awaken now," she said.

"Oh, Endymion, how I've missed you," Metalia said to the unconscious Mamoru.

"I must admit, that I never expected that prince of the Earth would end up being reincarnated in this era," Beryl said to the dark being.

"Regardless of the circumstances, heal Endymion with the power of darkness immediately," replied Metalia.

"Yes, my Queen," Beryl said solemnly.

Back in Beryl's throne room, Zoisite's screams echoed as Kunzite couldn't handle it anymore, while Maleficent laughed wickedly at the carnage before her.

"This is the end of you," Sephiroth said, tossing Zoisite into the air.

He surged towards him, and began hacking and slashing him with Masamune. Then he flung him down to the ground, and raised his right hand into the sky. Darkness surrounded Sephiroth, as he summoned a meteor to severely injure him even more.

"No more… Sephiroth… I beg of you… Please, let me die a beautiful death…" pleaded Zoisite.

"Sephiroth, I'm begging you. You can't do this," begged Kunzite.

"Oh, Kunzite. I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to help Beryl end this planet. But in order for Queen Beryl to have her revenge, I agreed to this alliance with her. Now, in the name of Queen Beryl, and in the name of Queen Metalia, I sentence Zoisite to be transformed into a Heartless, by Maleficent's hand," he said.

"I know you tried your best Kunzite. I'm just happy knowing I'll be reborn as a Heartless in your arms," Zoisite replied.

Then Kunzite watched, as Zoisite's heart emerged from his chest, and transformed into a Heartless, and his eyes filled with sorrow and shame.

"Goodbye, Zoisite," he said solemnly.

With Sora and his friends, Ami guided them to find the exit, in the hopes that they would be able to escape, after he had calmed down from his rage infused threats to Queen Beryl's goons.

"Are you sure this is the way out?" asked Minako.

"I'm pretty sure, according to the sensors, but we do have a problem," replied Ami, who was typing in her computer.

"What kind of problem?" asked Luna.

Amazingly enough, this appears to be a complexly sealed projective space. I mean, theoretically, it's not connected to the three dimensional space we just came from. It's more of a two dimensional space. You see, the polarity of this tunnel is an inverse phase, and it's connected to the other side of this inverse phase, to this zero dimension," explained Ami.

"I don't understand any of those words," sighed Makoto.

"Good thing we have Sailor Mercury for this situation," said Luna.

"We gotta move. If we stick around here, those guys are sure to find us," Makoto said, as she was holding Sailor Moon in her arms.

"I agree with Makoto, both the Heartless and Queen Beryl's henchmen could be after us, and they could potentially turn us all into Heartless," agreed Riku.

"Right," replied Ami.

But then suddenly, they heard Usagi stir and turned to face her.

"Sailor Moon," Ami said.

"I think she's starting to come to," replied Makoto.

Usagi glanced around, knowing that her friends were with her, but she sensed that someone was not with them.

"Tuxedo Mask," she said, slowly clambering off Makoto's back.

"Where, where is he? Where is he? Tell me, please!? Is he dead," she asked.

"No, he's still alive, but he's been taken by Queen Beryl's thugs," answered Sora.

"Really?" asked Usagi.

"Like Sora said, the enemy took him away, we don't know where he is," admitted Rei.

"In other words, the Dark Kingdom got him, and dragged him to who knows what," added Riku.

Usagi nodded sadly, until Luna and Artemis stepped up.

"Everyone, I want you to listen. Now that the Princess has awakened, it's important that you hear the whole story," said the white cat.

He glanced at Luna.

"Starting with this. Luna when you woke up, did you finally notice that your memories returned?" he asked the dark colored cat.

"Yes, very clearly!" replied Luna.

"Okay, what in Kingdom Hearts are you guys saying?" asked Axel.

"He's talking about our previous lives, and more than that, about the Moon Kingdom's Silver Millenium," replied Minako.

"A long time ago, there was a Kingdom called Silver Millennium, that existed on the moon," began Artemis.

"It was a very peaceful paradise," added Luna.

Princess Serenity was looking at the beautiful flowers, until she picked one up and held it close to her heart. Just then her mother, Queen Serenity arrived, and gently led her daughter through the palace, to show her Earth hanging close by.

"But then, something terrible happened. The Earth was taken over by an evil entity," explained Artemis.

Streams of purple flowed towards Earth, engulfing it in darkness.

"Within a short time, it's forces attacked us, to steal the awesome power of the Silver Crystal within Silver Millenium," Luna said.

"The Kingdom was destroyed in a fierce battle. But, with the power of the Silver Crystal, we managed to seal away the evil entity. And, you four are the reincarnations of the Guardians who fought that battle," finished Artemis.

"So, does that mean those four girls actually came from the Moon?" asked Sora.

"Not really. All of us are beings of this earth. The mothers and fathers that we know, are actually our true parents," answered Minako.

"That was the wish of the Moon Queen. She wanted the Princess and you four girls to live happily on this planet as ordinary humans. That's why she chose this era for reincarnation, because it was so peaceful" said Luna.

"But it hasn't quite worked out quite as she hoped. Someone has released that evil entity to the world," added Artemis.

"I see now that evil entity is the Dark Kingdom's boss, isn't it?" replied Ami.

"That's correct. I'm sorry it had to come to this. If it weren't for them, you would have lived your lives peacefully as normal girls. But, if we don't protect the Silver Crystal and defeat the enemy, there will be no future for any of us," admitted Luna.

"I feel that it's our destiny to fight this battle. Do you all understand, We can't allow the tragedies of the past to be repeated. We have to work together and defeat this threat," said Minako.

"Absolutely," agreed Rei.

"We'll fight it together," added Makoto.

"Then you can count on us, too," said Sora.

"Yeah, we're with you," added Donald.

Uh-huh," agreed Goofy.

"We promise to stand by your side, as per the orders of Master Yen Sid," said Kairi.

"We won't let the darkness destroy everything you hold dear to you, just like before," piped in Riku.

"Yeah, when it comes to you girls, we'll be there for you," smirked Axel.

"Our connection is far stronger than they're darkness," said Roxas.

"That's a promise from all of us," agreed Xion.

"We'll also ensure that you make new memories of what's to come and will be remembered," added Namine.

"Together, we are invincible," Terra said bravely.

"We'll prevent this dark destiny from becoming reality," added Ven.

"Our hearts are far more powerful, when they have a strong light," said Aqua.

"Then as King of the worlds, we'll help you win," smiled Mickey.

"Sorry, but count me out," Usagi said sadly.

Everyone turned to face her.

"I'm sorry, but I'm sick of fighting," she sobbed.

"Are you serious!?" asked Minako.

"I'm sick of it! It's all I ever do!" she cried.

"How can you even talk like that? You're the Princess!" replied Minako.

"You say I'm the Princess, but the truth is, I don't feel like one, and I don't want to be like one. I'm Usagi, not Serenity!" she said tearfully.

"Usagi, don't you understand, you have a mission!?" Luna asked worriedly.

"I don't care about any so-called mission! So what if I had a previous life! It has nothing to do with me right now! Don't get it!? I'm tired of risking our lives fighting all the time! I keep thinking, what if all of you end up just like Mamoru? I don't ever want to see that happen! I"m just so tired, being sad," she sobbed.

"I understand. More than you realize, I understand you, Usagi Tsukino. I get scared whenever I see someone is about to sacrifice themselves for my sake. The look on their faces when they're about to perish, fills me with more than just sorrow, but fear as well. but no matter what happens, you can't let yourself be weighed down by shame and doubt. That's why, as your friend, I don't want you to bear this pain on your own. Mamoru saved you because he followed the guidance of his heart, and that's what made us see this revelation. So, please, don't let your own fears cloud your judgment, Usagi. People who don't fight the darkness, aren't heroes. They are branded as cowards, because they chose to embrace it. And you know we'd never let that happen, no matter what. So that's why we're gonna help you and your friends avenge this Moon Kingdom, that the Dark Kingdom destroyed, and see to it that it's legacy will live on. So I promise you, that no one will end up becoming just like Mamoru," Sora said.

"Why are you saying that!?" Usagi said as the tears poured down her cheeks.

"You have to believe," Sora said.

"Believe?" she asked.

"Exactly, believe. I thought it was all over for me. But then Riku looked me in the eye and said, 'You don't believe that,'" explained the brunette Keyblade Wielder.

Usagi was now overcome with happiness, that she hugged Sora tightly.

"It's gonna be okay, Usagi. Cry as much as you need to. But never forget that we're here for you, both in body, and in spirit," he told her, as he hugged her back.

Rei was surprised to hear Sora saying that, and slowly walked up to him.

"Hey, Sora," she said.

Sora glanced up at the raven-haired Sailor Guardian of Fiery Passion, until she felt her hand upon his shoulder.

"I know it's not my place to say it. But, hearing your words made me realize something about you. It's true that you can be immature like Usagi, but you both have strong hearts, and beautiful friends to give you the strength to carry on in the ongoing struggle against the darkness. And like I said, even though I may have difficulty controlling my anger, from time to time, you both stood with me. So, on behalf of Mars, I grant you the blessing of the great Phoenix," Rei spoke in a tone that seemed calm and peaceful.

Sora nodded at her, as he held the sobbing Usagi in his arms.

"Yeah, you, Minako, Usagi, Ami, Makoto, Luna, and Artemis became more than just friends. You became a family. And family is what will help us win against the Dark Kingdom. But after meeting you guys and becoming your friends, you became a part of my heart, just I became a part of yours. If we think of each other now and then, and if we're never apart, then our hearts will be one, forevermore" he said, after Usagi calmed down, but still felt somber about what happened to Mamoru.

"I think Sailor Moon needs some time to think about this," Artemis said.

"Good idea, Artemis," replied Riku.

"Give her a little space, and I'm sure the old Usagi will return. Until then, let's be patient and watch over her," added Ami.

Then she removed her goggles.

"More importantly, Luna. I found the exit," she said to the black cat.

"Great! We're not done with our talk, but I think we'd better get out of here while we can," smiled Luna.

"Let's get going, everybody," said Minako.

They had just begun to walk out, when they saw Kunzite standing before them.

"So you found the exit. Very Impressive," he said furiously.

"Kunzite," Sora said darkly, as everyone prepared for battle.

"Luna, Artemis, you need to take cover, right now!" Minako said to the cats.

"Okay, we hear you," replied Luna.

"You be careful, Venus," added Artemis.

The two cats managed to get to safety, so that they could get to safety.

'

"We're not gonna lose to you," Sora said bravely.

"That's right! Everyone, protect the princess!" added Minako.

"Hold on, I'm fighting with you," said Makoto.

"We appreciate it, Sailor Jupiter," replied Sora.

"You're wasting your time," glowered Kunzite.

"Don't underestimate us! Supreme Thunder!" cried Sailor Juptier.

But Kunzite managed to stop it, and absorbed it with his dark barrier.

"No way He completely absorbed my attack!" gasped the Thunder Guardian.

Kunzite smirked, as he watched Sailor Venus fire her Crescent Beam, which was also absorbed by the dark barrier.

"It's no use! In this dimension, he can summon up every ounce of energy we throw at him!" Sailor Mercury said.

"What are we supposed to do?" Sailor Mars asked worriedly.

"Die!" replied Kunzite.

He sent the absorbed attacks right back at Minako and Makoto sending them sprawling to the ground.

"That's not enough to defeat us!" the brunette said bravely.

"Is that all you got Kunzite?" asked the other blonde.

"Not at all!" he said furiously.

He was about to unleash a more powerful strength blast, when Sora stepped between them.

"No you don't!" he cried, deflecting it with his Keyblade.

"Way to go, Sora!" cheered Minako.

"You meddlesome boy!" roared Kunzite, lunging at him.

But Sora charged right at him until their weapons collided against each other in their frenzied dance, with everyone watching.

"Tell me what the Princess see's in you, and grant me the pleasure of taking it away. Because when you fall, she will lose the will to fight, embrace the darkness, and be reborn as a Heartless," smirked Kunzite.

Sora quickly forced him back, but stood his ground.

"Sailor Moon will never become a Heartless, not while I'm around," he said bravely.

"What!?" growled the silver-haired warlord.

"I know of one weapon that's more powerful than the Silver Crystal or a Keyblade, and it's our hearts!" answered Sora.

"You're hearts? What good would those weak little things do for you?" scoffed Kunzite.

"Although our hearts are weak, they're ever alone. They've grown with each new experience, and they've found homes for all the friends we've made," Sora said, his determination giving him strength.

"And you think it's about your friends?" sneered Kunzite.

"At least I have some! I've become a part of their hearts, just as they've become a part of mine! And that's one thing you'll never understand, Kunzite! So never forget what I say to you! My friends are my power!" declared Sora.

"Sora," gasped Usagi.

She saw him standing bravely, as the Heartless, pounced on Rei, Makoto, Minako, and Ami, pinning them to the ground, but Sora raised his Keyblade to the sky.

"HOLY!" he shouted.

Then the Heartless vanished, as Kunzite, absorbed it, and redirected it at Sora, who dodged out of the way, without a scratch.

"Ready, Sailor Moon?" he asked.

"Yeah. Your friends are your power, but so are mine!" replied Sailor Moon, who now had a strong glint of determination in her eyes.

"So you've chosen the path to the darkness together. Is that right, you two? That's fine with me! I shall strike you both down with great vengeance, for Zoisite's end!" he shouted.

"Do it!" cried Sora, summoning the X-Blade.

Kunzite's attack then struck them head on

"Kingdom Hearts/Silver Crystal, Give me strength!" they called out.

Instantly a powerful light emerged, blocking the finishing blow, and surprising Kunzite, who vanished. Then the distorted reality exploded, and Starlight Tower was restored. Both Sora and Sailor Moon stood tired but triumphant, as Kunzite reappeared clutching at his wound.

'Curse them. not only is she learning to use the Silver Crystal, but that boy called upon something called Kingdom Hearts," he said, wincing in pain.

Inside the Dark Kingdom's citadel, Queen Beryl stood before Mamoru who was now in a makeshift healing pod, as he called to Serenity.

"Endymion, she haunts you. You still can't forget about her. But no matter how much you love Serenity, it is a love that can never be," she said to him.

In the ruins of Starlight Tower, Sailor Moon stood with her hands held in prayer, as she thanked Tuxedo Mask with her heart.

"You saved us," Luna said proudly.

"Yeah," replied Sora.

"Thank you, you guys," smiled Minako.

"Does this mean, you're still gonna fight for us?" asked Rei.

"That's right, I will," replied Usagi.

"And I'll be by your side, as your friend," Sora assured her.

"Guess that's stage one done, wouldn't you agree?" asked Luna.

"Yeah, you were great, you two," smiled Artemis.

"And the same goes for all of you. Remember, if we continue working together and do our best, we can overcome any obstacle," added Luna.

Sora and Usagi nodded, but they knew that wherever Tuxedo Mask was, but they swore that they'd never give up until they found him again as they turned towards the rising sun.