Author's Note:

Yes, another fanfiction. As before, the disclaimers go as follows:

My email address is Guardian4@atlantic.net. If you want to email me about my story, please put fanfiction in the subject line. Sailor Moon was made by Naoko Tacheuchi, I don't own it.

Also, Rei and Mamoru never went out, k? And Kunzite and Zoisite are not lovers. I also used the relationship between the Shitennou from the manga, not the anime, which means they don't hate each other. I also use only the manga attacks for the Senshi. (Since in the Manga, Mars doesn't have Fire Soul and only talismans in the first season, I'm going to borrow a second season one, even though she doesn't have her Star Power transformation.)

Hidden Truths

Chapter 19

Nephrite, in the lull, searched with his eyes for his friend Zoisite. But he couldn't find him at all. Where had he gone? Was he…was he dead? Beryl screeched again, this time in success.

"We have the power, the energy to release Metallia! Yes! The universe shall be ours!"

"Be careful Senshi, Shitennou," yelled Luna as she and Artemis came running up. "She is extremely dangerous. We have to stop her before she releases Metallia!"

"She already did, in case you hadn't noticed!" retorted Mars dryly.

"No, she isn't fully released yet," Mercury reported, typing furiously on her mini computer. "But if she does get fully released, it's all over and the Earth will fall like the Moon Kingdom."

Kunzite turned to Sailor Moon. "You have to use the crystal; seal Metallia away forever!"

"But I don't know how to use it fully yet! Mother knew and even she couldn't stop this!"

"Sailor Moon, do it!" screamed Venus. "Right now even with only half knowing how to use it is an advantage for us. If you don't use it at all, were ALL dead!"

The blond raised her Moon Wand in the air and slowly began to collect her power. The Senshi, Shitennou, and the prince turned to buy her some time.

It was as Nephrite was fighting that he spotted Zoisite. "Oh, gods no," he whispered and ran to the unmoving body. He searched frantically for a pulse and found a weak, beating thing. Zoisite's blond curls moved as he stirred. The other King managed to drag off the dead youma carcass and pull his friend to his feet.

It was at this time that the good side suffered their worst casualty yet and it nearly broke Sailor Moon.

Sailor Venus cried out in pain and fell, a spear of dark energy thrust into her stomach. She coughed up ruby red blood and fell to her knees. Kunzite caught her as she fell backwards.

"Protect the princess," she whispered and her eyes closed. Her breathing, shallow before, stopped altogether.

"MINAKO-CHAN!" Sailor Moon screamed with all her heart. Only Mars' hand on her wrist kept her from dropping the wand and the power she had collected to use against Metallia.

Kunzite, his face shocked and full of horror at his beloved's demise, slowly shut down and moved into stone mode. Nephrite had seen it often enough: he no longer felt as he fought, but just moved mechanically, slicing and killing with no heart. And it was worse than ever now because Venus WAS his heart, the one thing that had really helped him become human again. The one thing that had brought Keagan's memories of his newborn life back, the one before Beryl took them again, though she never knew it.

Nephrite stayed close to the injured Zoisite as he fought, weak and bleeding. Mercury was frantically punching numbers and using her fog to help them, but it wasn't doing much to turn the tide to their side.

Despite all his attempts to protect his friend, Zoisite went down next. And it was scalding, his guilt. He had been fighting back to back with him, for gods' sake! Yet he had been unable to fight for his friend. One hard hit at the back of his neck broke his spine and killed him instantly.

Thank all the gods that Mercury didn't know yet…or did she? Nephrite wasn't sure if she could have felt his death or not, but perhaps her increased sobs encompassed not only her Senshi Venus, but her lover as well.

Jadeite fought back to back with Endymion, who was no longer Tuxedo Kamen. Watching them, Nephrite remembered back in the Silver Millennium, how those two had always fought back to back when they had been together. Of course, Endymion had always fought back to back with someone, but the two that had fought with him like that the most had always been Jadeite and Kunzite.

Jupiter jumped in the air and brought her hands down, crossing, over her chest. "Supreme Thunder!"

Her lightning struck not only youma, but Beryl as well, jarring the evil woman's concentration. She managed to glower at her before she continued her chanting that would fully release Metallia.

Nephrite caught a bad blow to his side and he stumbled. Mars managed to catch him in time before he fell. He gave her a tired smile and the two fought their way back to the royals, the princess sobbing like her life was being leeched away from her. 

And perhaps it was. Her Senshi had been her life. Not because they had protected her, nothing as shallow as that. But because they had been around her, were her friends for so long, that they had become her life, her family. No matter how many incarnations that she might go through, there was always one fundamental truth about her existence that always remained: her friends were her life.

Nephrite had just turned to Endymion when he felt a thin and sharp blade slide into his back. His eyes widened in shock and pain as he realized he was dying. Mars flambéed the youma, but could not stop his slow descent into death. Endymion caught him in his arms and the brown-eyed man looked up at his horrified prince.

"Remember…remember your promise," he gasped. "You promised us…you promised us your life."

"I promise I will," Endymion sobbed, his tears for another of his friends dying unabated.

Nephrite smiled at him. "Tell Jupiter…tell my star that I love her."

Endymion watched as the man stopped breathing and grew cold in his arms. Crying, he bent over the form as if he had been stabbed through the stomach with Kunzite's large sword.

A female scream jerked his attention to the battlefield.

"REI-CHAN!" his princess and his friend Jadeite screamed simultaneously.

He watched as Mars' body fell with a jagged slash across the front of her chest. She seemed to take her last breath looking at the teary-eyed blond and smiled. Then her eyes closed, her breath stopped.

Why did this have to happen this way? he asked himself. Why did all his friends have to die? And the Senshi were his friends too, not just the Shitennou. But the defenders were falling, one by slow one.

Mercury, a cry of frustration torn from her throat, tossed her computer away against a wall where it smashed. "Shabon Spray!" she screamed.

Her bubbles shot out in one stream surrounded by water toward Beryl. She caught it full in her chest, since her eyes were closed and she hadn't dodged. But the shock and pain of the attack jerked her eyes open. Something in the whirling vortex above her that was Metallia a black light shined and a shield formed over Beryl, protecting her from the onslaught of the Ice Senshi.

The dark queen's eyes glowed and a shaft of red light pierced the Senshi fuku. The blood spouting from Mercury's heart colored her blue outfit dark red down the front.

"AMI-CHAN!" Sailor Moon yelled again, the name broken up by her form-wracking sobs.

And then the only ones left were Jadeite, Kunzite, Jupiter, Sailor Moon, and Endymion. Kunzite looked to the Senshi and his fellow fighters. "Jadeite, Jupiter, listen to me. We have to help Sailor Moon get the power she needs. But to do what I propose, we must forfeit our lives."

"NO! Don't do that!"

Kunzite and the other two ignored Sailor Moon. Endymion couldn't get his voice to work, but even if he had, he would have remained silent. This was not something that could be decided by them.

"I'll do it," Jupiter said silently. Jadeite simply looked at his commanding officer.

"All right. Call upon your power and I will mine, while I capture the spirits of the rest of us still in the air. We'll transfer all our power to Endymion and he will give it to the princess. Understood?"

They nodded.

"Jupiter Power!"

"Fire of the Phoenix, aid me!" Jadeite barely managed to whisper his.

Kunzite pulled his power as he captured the lingering spirits of the fallen Senshi and Shitennou. Normally he wouldn't be able to do this, but there was one thing that not many people knew about Kunzite. He and Endymion were half-brothers, at least in the Silver Millennium. Endymion would have been able to do this because the souls of the warriors would go to the Earth and he was connected to the Earth. To some extent, because of their relationship, Kunzite could as well, but if he did do it, it would kill him, like it wouldn't for Endymion because Kunzite was only half. Kunzite's father had been from Jupiter, a passing dignitary that the Queen of Earth had had an affair with.

They came willingly to his power, anger and hatred toward Beryl and unwavering devotion and love for the princess. He found Venus' soul and she managed to give his psyche a kiss before fading away into pure power in his fist.

"Golden Dragon, guide me!" the silver-haired man cried out, the pain he was feeling laid bare for all to see.

Jupiter, Jadeite, and Kunzite glowed, their auras leaving them and engulfing Endymion. As soon as the power of all eight warriors were inside the prince, their bodies fell to the youma covered earth, devoid of all life.

Endymion felt the power and wrapped his arms around Sailor Moon's sobbing form. "Don't worry, love. They'll always be with us, forever."

She managed a nod. "I love you, you all. Beryl, you and Metallia are going to die! Forever! MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

Beryl laughed at first when she saw the white power coming, but it died a sudden death when she realized it wasn't heading for her, but the black cloud in the sky behind her.

"No! STOP! METALLIA!"

Metallia screamed in pain as that power slammed into her. Sailor Moon's form glowed white and then it became a strobe effect as Princess Serenity finally had control. The Ginzuishou's light washed over the street and the decayed and dusty bodies of the youma faded. The Shitennou and Senshi's bodies faded away in all the glory of their color and the returning sun as Metallia was pushed away.

The darkness that had covered the sky retreated and soon it dissipated like a storm cloud when the wind pushed it farther to some unknown destination.

Beryl screeched in outrage and fear, bringing the two royalty's attention to her. "Beryl, you will die now."

Endymion's voice was dead with no emotion, but Princess Serenity heard the underlying pain and sadness. She winced at her beloved's grief and felt it as her own, which it was, with her Senshi gone.

The white light cocooned Beryl around her shield which was breaking under the pressure. She pulled what little power she had and turned around to go back through the portal that had been behind her.

She stopped in a panic when she saw that the portal no longer existed. "NO! STOP!"

The white light shattered the sphere-shaped shield and swallowed her up in its purity. She screamed as it filled her lungs and invaded her system. Her blood began boiling and her skin steaming as if she was made of fire and ice cold water had been dumped on her.

She, too, faded away into a remaining storm cloud that was broken apart. Princess Serenity's formed flickered back to Sailor Moon and Endymion caught her as she fell back in his arms. He felt the power of the eight warriors leaving him with loving care and he felt his knees wanting to buckle.

Luna ran out to the two, her emotions vying for control. Artemis picked up the newly rebuilt computer of Mercury's and followed more slowly. Mamoru barely looked at it, barely registered the fact that the power of them must have put it back together. As if Mercury would be coming back, he thought bitterly.

He picked up his love and made his way back the Hikawa Shrine before any civilians decided to come out of their homes.

Rei's grandfather was out in the yard, sweeping, when he came up the stairs, drenched in sweat and exuding grief. The broom fell to the ground and the man's eyes became wary. Yuuichirou stepped out of the shrine slowly.

"What happened…? Rei-chan…?" the old man stuttered.

Endymion's eyes overflowed with tears and he sobbed. "I'm sorry…she's dead."

And Rei's grandfather crumpled to the floor. He seemed much older now, seemed like his age, without any of his vitality left now that his granddaughter was dead. Yuuichirou ran up to him, but nothing he said brought the old man back from his shocked and painful daze.

Sailor Moon sobbed into his shoulder and he felt as if nothing in the world had gone right.

"What about the others?" asked Yuuichirou shakily.

Endymion finally looked at him. "They're all dead now."

End Chapter 19.

Part 20 and epilogue is all that's left!!

I know the Shitennou didn't exactly call out henshin phrases, but I couldn't see them having one. What I did see was them calling on their Houses guardian (you know, the House you were born in back in the Silver Millennium would dictate their guardian over the family type stuff).