Author's Notes/Disclaimer: My sincerest apologies for the long wait. I know you've all been greatly anticipating this update, but I've had a very busy month. I've had my first GCSE exams, a ton of homework and a slight case of writer's block. Here it is now though. Also, Naoko Takeuchi owns the Sailor Scouts and all other characters and I created the Knights.

Chapter XIX: So Close, So Far.

Int. Concert Hall 2, South Tokyo University - November 1st 2003, 4:00 pm

It was now only one week until Raye's concert, and in concert hall two of South Tokyo University the many musicians were tuning their instruments. However, three of those musicians had more important issues on their minds. Eagerly anticipating the arrival of the renegade senshi to the hall, Mark, Michelle and Lita warmed up at their instruments, eagerly glancing around for the renegade Mars senshi. Practicing the somewhat difficult solo from "A more beautiful morning will come", another of Raye's songs, Mark seemed distant, seemingly absorbed by the music before him even though it was more of a dance tune than a ballad. Almost everything of Raye's seemed to bring Mark to a standstill. Not even the other senshi could imagine how much he was missing the gentle, kind-hearted Raye.

Lita, however, had somewhat aggressive feelings stored in her. Nothing could hide the fact that Raye had brutally attacked one of her best friends, and for that all she wanted was pain and suffering to Raye for her atrocities. In her mind, she had decided that she would not relent until she was convinced that Raye had been brought back. She had been very good freinds with Raye for several, but for now that friendship didn't matter one bit. As she beat out a swing rhythm, she glared at the entrance to the hall, anticipating Raye's arrival.

For the most part, Michelle had exactly the same feelings as Lita. The previous week Raye had nearly sent her to her death from the top of Television Tower, although in some ways it was a blessing in disguise since Amara had pampered her for the rest of that week realising how close she had come to losing her love. However, by nature she was nowhere near as aggressive as Lita, being the senshi of the seas. Despite this, she wanted revenge, or at least her safe return to the side of the senshi.

"Okay, sorry I'm late guys." The musicians ceased their tuning as the star of the performance entered the room. Wearing a purple jacket over her yellow t-shirt and black trousers, Raye entered the room to a loud applause. However Mark, Lita, Michelle weren't clapping, and neither was Chad. He was still very sour over the dumping of Mark. Playing a few random riffs, he carefully glared at the firey-tempered singer.
"I can probably guess why..." thought Lita to herself as she finished her rhythm, spinning her drumstick in her right hand.
"Could you all find A More Beautiful Morning Will Come please? You've all done well this past month, but I think we're struggling to get this one perfect." The shuffling of paper echoed as Raye glared scornfully at the three musical senshi. Lita couldn't help but laugh at the support strip across Raye's nose, knowing all to well that her attacks had caused it.

"Okay, one, two, three, four. Mark started the synth's melody which he had programmed in before rushing back to the piano before the first four bars were over. Joining in after the intro, Mark occasionally glanced up from his music, looking for anything suspicious.

The gentle breeze of the summer days,
The moonlit summer nights,
For in my dreams, the seasons seem
To bring to my heart the light,

Sometimes my mischief gets the better of me,
Though that I can change,
But whether with smiles or tears,
I know I can beat my fears,
'Cause someday, some way,
I'll make this my day.

Trying to blot out Raye's angelic voice, Mark looked up once more for anything suspicious. Serious alarm bells began to ring as he looked towards the entrance to the hall. By the large red double-doors stood a fairly tall man, a man with shoulder-length silver hair. The man from his nightmares. Malachite. He was in disguise, but he hadn't taken much bother to change his face. However, he couldn't just stand up now. He had to sneak out when Raye wasn't looking. Trying to grab Lita's attention, Mark stared in her direction, keeping one eye on the music.

I believe in all the small things,
The important things in my dreams,
A more beautiful morning will come,
Yeah, it sure seems,

Believing in the light of love,
The soul of every single thing,
My courage will get me through the day,
The wisdom my heart sings.

Still keeping a close eye on what appeared to be Malachite, he managed to grab Lita's attention.
"What?" mouthed the electric brunette.
"Malachite! Look at the door!" replied Mark, shifting his eyes towards the doorway. Lita instantly realise what Mark meant as a look of complete rage invaded her face.
"I don't believe it!" Lita, like Mark also wanted to stand up and knock seven bells out of the silver-haired general, but she didn't want to attract any unwanted attention from the rest of the musicians, especially Raye.

As I lie back on my cozy bed and close my eyes,
The joyous memory of the day that I see,
The love filling inside of me,

Girls like myself always feel this way about days like these,
But yesterday for me, was such a different story,
Yet now I know the stars will show,
And shine bright for me.

Malachite was still standing there, although Mark and Lita were the only ones who noticed. Michelle was too busy concentrating on the music.

I believe in all the small things,
The important things in my dreams,
A more beautiful morning will come,
Yeah, it sure seems,

Believing in the light of love,
The soul of every single thing,
My courage will get me through the day,
The wisdom my heart sings.

Mark's focus on the music at that point had hit rock bottom. He hit a severely dischordant chord at the beginning of the bridge, causing the rest of the orchestra to stop. Raye instantly dashed over to him in complete and utter rage, appalled that he had played such an increadibly disgusting chord.
"Where the hell were you? That was nothing like what was written on here! That was a horrid chord!" Waving the sheet music in protest, Raye had never ever been this angry over a chord.
"I wasn't concentrating, and you can probably guess why. Mark shifted his eyes towards the doors, signalling to Raye what he meant. As she turned her head to catch a glimpse of Malachite, the silver-haired general made himself scarce. However, she had seen enough of him to recognise him, and seemed just as wary as Mark.

"A word outside please, Mark." Mark stood up, but instead of following Raye he dashed out of the room in hot persuit of Malachite. As Raye also ran for it, Lita and Michelle abandoned their instruments and, unsurprisingly, followed the other three.
"Get back here now!" Mark shouted to the fleeing Malachite, reluctant to transform into the Mars Knight for the fear of exposing his true identity. Still the general remained silent, conserving his strength for the chase. Taking a look behind him, he realised that Raye was closing in on him. Still keeping up pace, Mark turned the corner, but realised that Malachite had disappeared. Stopping dead, he looked down the corridoors to his left and right, but there was nothing. Not a single trace could be seen.

"EXCUSE ME!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Not moving a single muscle, Mark seemed very unsurprised by Raye's enfuriated fashion.
"You know all too bloody well what's goin' on!" Mark was beginning to lose his temper - something of an extreme rarity. Malachite was one of the only two people he had ever held a grudge against, the other being Metallia. He was the one responsible for capturing Raye, and for that Mark absolutely dispised him.
"Malachite? I wasn't expecting him. I honestly don't know why he came." Still enraged at the appearance of Malachite, Mark slowly but menacingly turned around to face Raye.
"Say that to my face!" Looking down at the brainwashed senshi of fire, he honestly believed that he could see fear in her eyes. Her look of helplessness struck deep into his heart. This was very unusual. At that moment he realised that there just might be some hope in bringing her back; Facing her one on one seemed to take away her fighting spirit.

"I do not know why he came! That's the truth! I swear upon my life!" This was definately wrong. An enemy of his was now swearing upon her own life.
"Something's wrong with you. How come you've backed off like that?" Raye was now beginning to panic. This was not a situation she wanted to face. Her new found hatred was beginnig to fade and she began to fear how her leaders would react should they see her showing any sympathy for Mark.
"What are you talking about? I'm not backing off!" replied Raye rather sheepishly. Mark knew he was beginning to get through to her. This was probably a chance to bring her back. All he needed to do was approach her personality cautiously.

"Raye. Just listen to me. Malachite is using you. He is using your abilities and personality to do the dirtywork for the Dark Kingdom's plans." Raye was starting to shake slightly. To her this was preposterous. She was being used by Malachite? She did not believe that. However, deep inside her heart there was something nagging away, something telling her to listen to Mark.
"I don't believe you! Malachite would never use me! He would never dream of hurting me!" With every statement, Mark was delving deeper and deeper into Raye's true self. It was now or never.
"Really? What about the night of the twenty-third of October? About ten forty?" Clearly upset, Raye began to back away from Mark until she pressed against the wall behind her. Mark just followed her step for step, keeping an equal distance between himself and her.

"Mark! I can't remember! I don't know what you're talking about!" Becoming even closer to her, Mark placed his hand on the wall behind her as he smiled.
"I believe you do Raye. Just think back. Think of the Temple. Think of me waking you up. Think of -"
"There she is!!!" Mark and Raye looked down the corridoor to see Lita and Michelle speeding towards them. Raye instantly ran in the opposite direction while Mark tried to block the two women from getting past him.
"Mark! What the hell are you doing?! She's getting away!" Mark seemed like he was going to seriously lash out at Lita. His best chance of getting his true love back onto the side of the Moon Kingdom had just flown away, and now he was seriously angered
"Thanks a bloody lot! You just ruined a great chance of getting her back on our side!" Michelle backed off as Lita beared the full brunt of Mark's rage. The normaly calm Englishman was completely red in the face with complete and utter rage.

"What exactly do you mean?" Lita seemed very surprised. Mark had been angry at her before, but this time he had truely blown his top.
"I MEAN YOU HAVE JUST COMPLETELY PISSED ME OFF FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!!! DO YOU EVEN GIVE A SHIT ABOUT BRINGING RAYE BACK?! IT'S OBVIOUS YOU DON'T, OTHERWISE YOU WOULD HAVE LEFT US ALONE!!! YOU DO NOT REALISE HOW MUCH YOU HAVE JUST TOTALLY SCREWED THINGS UP!!!" Lita stepped back in complete and utter shock, taken aback by Mark's outrageous comments. For once she was lost for words as it dawned on her exactly how close Mark might have come to taking Raye back. As she noticed a tear start to form in Mark's right eye, Lita became over-ridden with guilt.
"Mark... I'm sorry... I didn't realise..." She knew what she just said probably meant absolutely nothing to Mark, but it was an instant reaction. Michelle at that point had disappeared, probably making her way back to the concert hall.

"Oh no, of course you didn't realise. You just decided to take a quick jog through the corridoors of south Tokyo University, and who do you see? Mark Davison talking to Raye Hino. Your instant reaction? You run over towards them like the crazy bitch that you are and ruin a perfectly good chance for me to something good for once. Thank you Lita. I owe you one." Mark's sarcasm made Lita's guilt multiply tenfold. She had hardly ever felt this bad before now, probably never.
"Mark! I'm sorry! I feel really guilty over this!" Resting his head against the wall, Mark contemplated exactly how close he was to recovering Raye. Lita's apologies didn't matter one bit to him at the present moment.

"Just save it. I'm gonna get my stuff back from the hall and go home. You go and lead the Orchestra if you want, somehow I don't think Raye's gonna be back today." Mark stormed off back towards the concert hall, still enraged by Lita's overzealous actions.
"Mark! Wait!" Lita began to run after him, but she soon froze as Mark turned back around to address her.
"Lita, don't. You've already pissed about enough with me today. Don't send me completely off the rails." Mark continued to make his way back to the concert hall. Lita followed behind, but kept her distance. At that moment she knew that she had to stay well clear of Mark. She could only hope that she would possibly be able to patch things up with him, despite not liking him too much herself.

Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - November 2nd 2003, 6:00 pm.

Another day, another twenty-four hours of worries over Raye's safety. Mark still felt extremely annoyed over how close he came to getting Raye back, and was currently reconfiguring his Dark Kingdom hacking program to try and take his mind off her, although it was probably futile since it had taken him nearly seven months to find a way to get into the Dark Kingdom's mainframe in the first place. Chad seemed slightly anxious about Mark's anger, but got no straight answer when he asked what was wrong. Lita had even tried to call Mark a couple of time, but he simply diverted her calls to his answerphone. He had seen Raye during the music lecture that day, but she didn't look in his direction even once. Added to the rumours about why he ran out of the concert hall the day before, all Mark wanted was to be alone.

Mark jumped before gazing down at his mobile phone on his desk in anger as the Eternal Melody played. He was about to press the cancel button to send it to his answerphone when he realised that it wasn't Lita calling. Slowly he picked up the phone and answered the call.
"Davison."
"Mark, it's Darien." This seemed pretty strange. He knew that Darien had probably found his number from the phone book Lita took, but why was he calling?
"Hi Darien. What's up?" Mark's tone of voice seemed fairly depressed. Darien could instantly tell that he was still feeling very upset over Raye.
"Nothing much. Just asking if you like to come round for a meal at mine and Serena's place." This was quite strange to Mark. Darien was inviting him to a meal? This he hadn't expected.
"Are you sure?"
"Certain. It'll be a good way for us to properly introduce ourselves. Will you be joining us?" Now this definately was an offer too good to refuse. A meal with his future King and Queen? He was already there.
"If it's not too much of a bother, yes please. When is it?"
"Tonight. Sorry it's such short notice." Things were starting to get even better for Mark, even though it now made him slightly nervous. Raye was now completely gone from his mind for the moment.

"No, I don't mind. It'll be a bit of a welcome change. Do you live far from Cherry Hill?"
"Well, we live in Juuban, so it's not too far. Don't worry about it though, I'll pick you up at about half eight. You do live at those flats near the temple, don't you?" Realising how little time Mark had to get ready, he pushed his chair over to his wardrobe using his feet before opening it and browsing at what suits he could wear.
"Yeah, Hiwaka view apartments, down the road from the temple." sighed Mark, the thought of Raye returning with a vengance.
"Okay. See you at half eight. I'll be in a red Honda."
"Okay, thanks a lot. I owe you." As Darien hung up, Mark grabbed his black suit and blue tie, throwing his mobile phone on his bed. Hanging the suit back on the door, Mark strided out of the room to inform Chad and company, feeling somewhat relieved that he could get out of the apartment without worrying too much about Raye. However, he knew he couldn't allow himself to totally forget her.

Int. Auditorium, T*A Private Girls School, Juuban - November 2nd 2003, 7:30 pm

All was silent in the almost pitch-black auditorium of T*A Private Girls School, only the beams of moonlight seeping through the windows above providing light. The caretaker had locked up the school and left half an hour earlier, but that was no obstacle for the two shadows standing proud atop the large stage at the front.
"Ah, so many good memories. I love this time of year." Flicking her long, tied back raven hair over her shoulder, the silhouette of Raye gazed nostalgically at the rows of seats, a deep shade of purple in the moonlight.
"Indeed. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of hearing you sing before. It's something I'm looking forward to with great anticipation." Towering over her, the shadow figure of Malachite carefully scoured around for possible places to hide while stay in contact with the renegade senshi.
"Thanks. Some people have said this year is one of my best line-ups." Raye seemed very egoistic, the fact that she was one of the best up-and-coming talents in Tokyo going to her head.
"Indeed, but remember that you are on a mission to collect energy for the Dark Kingdom. Your job is to keep the audience focussed on yourself and give the signal to start the energy-draining process."

"I've got an idea about when to start that process. How about during the bridge of the final number?" asked Raye, pacing about the stage for ideas as to where to stand.
"Which is?"
"Eternal Melody. The bridge is when I start singing about the corners of space, that's when you start the energy collection." Malachite stood silent for a few moments, contemplating whether he would have enough time to collect a worthwhile amount of energy.
"If I started the process the moment the bridge began, how much time would that give me to collect the energy?" Raye scratched her chin as she tried to work out how many bars into the piece the bridge was, comparing it to the total length of the piece and tempo.
"I'd say about a minute and a half, give or take ten seconds." Malachite was thinking deeply. He knew that this was probably going to be vital to the final assault, so he had to work everything out perfectly.

"I think that would do. I was thinking of starting it two minutes before the end, but that might arouse some suspicion. We don't want to leave it too late though."
"Yeah, that seems about right to me. The next problem is how to deal with the Moon Kingdom soldiers." Malachite was still in deep thought, although this time the problem seemed a little harder. It was definately going to be two versus three; He had seen the civilian identities of Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Neptune and the Mars Knight during the practice sessions and knew of their powers.
"How many are we expecting?"
"Almost a full house. Sailor Mercury's in Germany until christmas, Sailor Venus is out of action until the end of the month and Sailor Pluto's stuck in the middle of nowhere guarding the gates of time. Apart from that everyone's going to be there, so there's going to be a total of seven senshi." Still thinking increadibly hard, a look of disappoinment came across Malachite's shadowed face.

"That puts things in a different perspective then. I'll put Tomoe's energy drainers under the chairs in each corner and in the middle of the rows, but I'll hide back stage and hit the switch. If they don't see me, they probably won't suspect anything until it's too late." Sighing with slight anxiety, Raye gazed towards the moonlit orchestra pit behind her.
"How fast can those things drain energy?"
"Tomoe said that the energy drainers when put together can transfer a maximum of ten gigajoules per minute. That's enough to render a crowd of two hundred unconcious in a minute."
"We're expecting three hundred on friday. If you're right it means we'll be able to get enough energy. Will I have an escape route if problems arise though?" Stepping down from the stage into the rows of the red seats, his shoulder-length silver hair gently flowing in the moonlight, Malachite inspected the seating of the venue.

"Yes, you will. Just use the portal link device that Professor Tomoe issued you with. Should the going get too tough, make yourself scarse and get out of there. Don't make a complete failure of yourself though otherwise I dread to think what Beryl and Wiseman would do." Gazing up at the crescent moon in the clear winter evening sky with disgust, Malachite contemplated what plans the high command may have in store after this next mission. Deep in his cold heart he believed that, yes, this time the Dark Kingdom would reign victoriously. However, there was something new.

Even though during the time in the Silver Millenium when he was a loyal guard to Prince Endymon of Earth, he had been in love with the Princess of Jupiter. Now, however, he pictured himself standing in the gardens of the emperess' palace in Dark Tokyo beside the Senshi of Mars. Looking back at the senshi of fire, her face glowing in the beams of silver seeping through the windows, he couldn't help but feel slightly sympathetic towards her. However, he knew that it was of upmost importance to keep those sorts of feelings locked away during a military campaign. He feared being outcast for having feelings for a senshi just like when Prince Diamond sympathised with Sailor Moon. This seemed all too harsh for him. Shaking away his fixation of Raye, Malachite opened a portal in front of him.

"Raye, let's go. I think we've discussed this enough now. We should be okay for friday now."
"Yeah, okay." Raye raced down the steps and through the portal in record time. Malachite, however, gazed painfully at the stage for a few moments more before slowly walking through the portal himself.
"Just keep your eyes on the mission, not the girl..."

End of Chapter 19