Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Eheh. ^^; Turns out it wasn't deleted after all. A program must have made my fanfic folder turn into a hidden folder so I couldn't find it.

I created the Knights while Naoko Takeuchi created all the other Sailor Moon-related characters. And if you're a fan of Radiohead, I apologise in advance for the line in the third paragraph, but I truely dispise them.

Chapter XXV: In My Place

Int. Tokyo Sunrise B&B lounge - December 20th 2002, 5:20 pm.

Two hours had now passed since the eight English Knights were reunited with their ninth friend, and in that time they had made their way back to their accomodation, barely a few blocks away from Mark's own apartment, unpacked and joined Mark in the Bed and Breakfast's lounge for a drink. As the skies began to cloud over, the nine friends and a somewhat drowsy Ganymede, barely awake on Mark's lap, were swapping stories about the past three months.

"Hey, from what I've heard you've had a rollercoaster time here." smirked Anna, a small glass of Gin and Tonic in her right hand.
"Well you could say that, some of it I don't want to recall though. I'm kinda okay talking about Raye though."
"Who's Raye?" enquired Jess, arms behind her head as she sat back on the snow white sofa. Mark paused for a few moment, trying to gather his words, before replying, his facial expression one of masked sadness.
"Raye is," Again he paused to find his words, sighing before continuing. "or was, my girlfriend. I'm sure you all know the current situation with Sailor Mars over here, so everything shoud become clear if I told you that Raye is Sailor Mars." Some of the group seemed shocked. Anna and Lucy, however, remained emotionless. They had known for a while who Raye was, and could probably guess how Mark had been feeling for the past couple of months.

"Wow. Poor you." Steffany seemed the most shocked out of the eight. She was a firm believer in romance, even though she didn't have a boyfriend. To hear something like that was just intensely saddening for her.
"Well, it's okay now I guess. I think I've learned how to cope without her, but still, myself and the other Senshi just want her safe return at the end of this."
"So when is this battle going to kick off?" Andrew was the most gung-ho member of the group, but even he seemed extremely anxious about stepping into a Moon Kingdom warzone.
"I'm not sure. All I know is that it's in the dark, which doesn't help decide what time of day it is because dark energy blocks out daylight, and it's snowing. Apart from that, nothing." The others could instantly see that he was hiding something by the partially heartbroken expression in his eyes, but they dared not to ask in case it was something too sensitive. Jess swiftly changed the topic of conversation before the general mood became as depressing as a Radiohead album.

"Oh, back in Berlin and on the plane Ben reckoned he saw the Princess of Mercury." Mark instantly perked up and glanced in her direction. "Do you know if it was her or not?"
"Blue hair in a bob? Matching dress and Stilettos?"
"Yeah, that's the one." Ben leant forward in anticiaption, fingers crossed as if he was watching the lottery numbers come out.
"That's her. Amy Mizuno," Ben lept up and punched the air with joy before Mark continued. "soon to be Amy Urawa."
"What do you mean by soon to be Amy Urawa?" Jay seemed to be rather confused by what Mark said.
"She's getting married on Christmas Day. Darien said he's going to talk to her fiancee and see if I can attend the wedding." Again, Jess was gobsmacked.
"You mean Darien as in Darien Chiba?" The smile on Mark's face grew evermore.
"That's the man." This was just getting better and better for the six who knew not of Mark's experience in Tokyo so far. It was an almost certainty that he would have been fighting alongside the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Mask, but the fact that he knew Darein Chiba, the man to become King of Crystal Tokyo under the name of King Endymion, was just astounding.

"I can't believe it! Just how many of the-" Jess' hyped attitude was beginning to become audiable to the other guests residing in the lounge. They did not want to have their cover blown by one of their own, so Mark quickly pressed his index finger to his lips, causing Jess to lower her voice significantly.
"Ssshh... Sorry Jess, but the last thing we need in a warzone situation is our cover to be blown." Amid wary glances from the other Senshi, Jess blushed in embarassment.
"Sorry guys." she whispered sheepishly. "I was gonna say, how many of the Sailor Senshi do you know?"
"Well, I'd say everyone except Sailor Pluto. I've met her, but you of all people should know that she has very little spare time, with you being the Pluto Knight and all. The only time she has off is when you stand in for her." Jess rolled her eyes unamusedly as Ben cut in.
"Well, I say god help us all if Jess takes the job on full time one day. She'd make the whole bloody Universe hyperactive!" chuckled Ben, applaused by a number of giggles and a stone cold glare from Jess.

I saw this photo at Darien's and Serena's apartment too. It had the nine Sailor Senshi in their civs and Darien, but it also had four more people. In front of Serena and Darien was this small girl with pink hair; I think she only looked about eight or nine -"
"That'll be Rini Chiba." yawned Ganymede, only just awake on Mark's lap, the sedatives having not worn off yet. "She's the daughter of the future Serena and Darien, I can't remember whether it's before or after they become King and Queen because of these damn sleeping drugs they gave me at Heathrow..." Eyes closed, Ganymede took an almighty yawn, trying to find the strength to avoid falling asleep and continue. "All I know is that she's due to be born on June 30th 2005..." The quite unusual sound of a snoring cat ravaged the ears of the English Senshi, but still the conversation continued on.

"Still, there was three others in the background. Three guys in red jackets and black shirts. They kinda looked like they were from The Hives or something."
"Do you think they're Senshi?" enquired Andrew.
"Well, they might be. I'm not sure."
"Well, why don't you check then?" Raising his eyebrows in approval, Mark put his hand to his shirt, the pendant between his finger and thumb, and squeezed the pendant twice before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his DataPad.
"Well, to be honest I'd be very surprised if they were. All the Japanese Senshi bar Tuxedo Mask are women." The DataPad instantly switched itself on as Marked tapped the red button on its top. All the others still seemed as relaxed as normal.
"Do you think they're Star Seeds we haven't recovered yet?" asked Anna while finihing off the rest of her G and T.
"It's a possibility. I'm in now, so I'll just look it up." Mark continued to tap the screen in various places, searching for the profiles of all the Japanese Senshi. "Here we go." Scrolling down, he looked carefully for the pictures of the three men, the others partially uninterested.

"Here we go. Seiya Kou, Yaten Kou and Taika Kou a.k.a Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Star Maker. Apparantly their civilian guise was a Japanese pop group called The Three Lights."
"That's original." Snorted Anna sarcastically.
"Yeah, apparantly they only helped the Sailor Scouts for approximately three months during their campaign against Galaxia. -"
"How could we forget that?" replied Emma. "That was the one campaign where the Sailor Scouts all got their arses kicked big time. I'm just grateful that their Star Seeds returned to Earth."
"Likewise for the rest of those serving the Moon Kingdom loyaly." Mark's head shot back with a look of confusion as he loaded the individual profile of each Sailor Star. "This has gotta be a glitch or something." Ben half-heartedly rose and walked towards Mark to see what theproblem was.
"What is it?"

"It says M/F in the gender field for all three of them. I can't understand why that's happened..." Ben too looked at the screen in confusion.
"Maybe they're both..."
"Nah. It would say H in the field if they were. I'll just ask one of the Scouts or Guardiens later. I still think it's a bug. Still, it looks like that their Star Seeds are still the only ones stilll M.I.A." Ben nodded in agreement and returned to his seat before speaking once again as a very important thought came to his head.
"Speaking of the Scouts, is there any chance we could meet them soon? I wanna see Sailor V in the flesh!" Mark and a few others burst out into laughter at Ben's comments.
"Please Ben, keep your fantasies to yourself. As for meeting them, I'll see what I can do. They're gonna be extremely busy this week with making sure that Amy's wedding runs smoothly, but maybe after that I might be able to arrange a meet-up." The group could argue with that, it seemed fair enough.

"Fine by us." replied Jay and Andrew as one last thing returned to Mark's head.
"Oh, and Ben?"
"Yeah?" A mischevous grin appeared on Mark's face.
"I have a feeling you might just get lucky with Sailor V. She has personally told me that she thinks you are a hunk." Greeted by wolf whistles and cheers, Ben''s face turned bright pink as he became dumbstruck with astonishment.
"You're pulling my leg, right?"
"I wish I was. You have my word, she really said it."

Int. Chiba residence, Juuban - December 20th 2002, 5:30 pm.

"Kino."
"Hey Lita. It's Serena."
"Hey."
"Could you come round to my place as soon as you can? Amy and Greg have arrived and they've just settled in."
"Really? I'm on my way! See you in ten!" Before Serena had chance to reply, Lita slammed down the phone with all-too-apparant excitement.
"Heh." she thought to herself, a small, contented smile on her face. "Time to get this place sorted." The idea sounded nice. Give the place the once-over before the guests arrived. She looked around the lounge and the hallway. Nothing. Everything seemed perfect, untouched from before they collected Amy and Greg. "Ah well, so much for that."

"Wow Serena, I can't believe how beautiful this place looks." said a voice from behind Serena's back, the voice of Amy.
"Well, we've only just cleaned this place out to tell you the truth." she replied as she turned around. "We had a spare few hours before you arrived, so we thought we should give this place an early spring clean." another, more modest smile emerged on her face as Amy continued to look around.
"Serena?"
"Yeah?"
"Just wondering, who was that guy that was with you and Darien at the airport?"
"That was Mark. He was Raye's boyfriend before she was captured. He was in the temple with her when Malachite captured her." Amy was shocked and mortified, horrified at how he must have been feeling since.
"That's terrible!" she exclaimed. "So I guess he's another civilian that knows about the Dark Kingdom then." Serena froze, staring Amy in the eyes before taking a deep breath.

"He's more than just a civilian. He's the English Senshi of Mars, the Mars Knight."
"Oh my..." Again Serena paused.
"The reason why he's here at the moment is so he can find his destiny. Apparantly he's nowhere to be found in Crystal London, while Sailor Pluto thinks there's a slim but possible chance that his future lies here." Amy was starting to become overwhelmed by the story, leaning back against the wall, looking down at the floor.
"Wow." Serena was about to speak once again, but was cut short by the harmonious melodic chime of the doorbell.
"That'll probably be Amara and Michelle. I'm sorry about that. I'll explain the full story later."
"Hey, it's okay Serena. I'll just go and fetch Greg."

Int. Tokyo Sunrise B&B lounge - December 20th 2002, 6:05 pm.

"And there he was standing in the doorway absolutely drenched, the mother of all frowns on his face, and Lucy turned round to him and said 'Had a nice journey?'" Sparking off hysterical laughter in the process, it was Ben's turn to share his anicdotes from the past three months. It was just past six o'clock, and the sun was beginning to set, painting the air a violent blood red.
"Well, whadd'ya know? Red sky at night, shepherd's delight." said Jay. The rest of the group nodded, seemingly uninterested. However, Mark had always seen red skies as an omen, the red sky at night in particular as an omen to caution, sometimes even an omen of immenant danger. Even with his current less-than-happy self, he took into account any possible meaning or that it could take.

"Heh. Fat chance of getting that dish in Tokyo. Thery don't even sell chips in the supermarket, so somehow I think the chances of getting shepherd's pie are somewhat slimmer." chuckled Mark, his undivided attention given to the skies above.
"Don't worry about it mate." replied Ben. "I'll air-mail you a few when we get back to England."
"Hey, thanks mate."

"Mark." said a voice from the doorway, slowly and calmly yet sternly.
"Eh?" He recognised it. That oh so serene and heavenly voice. Not mentioned in the slightest of alluring tones, yet still it made his heart skip a beat. But it couldn't be, could it? "Raye?" Cautiously, Ben leant over to Mark as Raye gracefully glided towards the friends.
"Mark, is this the same Raye you were talking about a minute ago?"
"In body, yes it is her." Closer she came. His moment of bliss faded as he remembered her situation, their situation. "Leave this one to me. She won't understand you, her English ain't that good." Not daring to blink, Mark stared Raye eye to eye, likewise did she. "What do you want?"

"Who are there guys Mark?" Mark remained poker-faced.
"As long as remain a puppet of the Dark Kingdom, I will tell you absolutely nothing."
"Hey, don't act that way towards your true love Mark! I love you, unless you've forgotten that already!"
"It's no use playing the emotional card, they don't understand Japanese." he replied, directing her attention to his eight friends scattered around the sofas. "You may love me, but I truely dispise you. I only have eyes for one person, and that person is Raye Hino." Raye's calmness was waining fast.
"But I am Raye Hino!" she cried, trying to gain the emotional advantage over Mark. It wasn't working.
"You are not Raye Hino. You are just another slave of Beryl and Wiseman." His face had become red, his eyes beginning to water. This was personal, and the emotional tension was getting to him, but still he remained clam and focused. Unable to understand what they were saying, the eight English Senshi were powerless to intervene.

"Really? Well, I have long raven-coloured hair and purple eyes, my birthday is April seventeenth, my blood type is AB, my father is a bastard politician who abandoned me when my mother died, I'm currently enrolled in a music course at South Tokyo University, and oh, did I happen to mention I'm Sailor Mars too? I think that's an accurate description of me." Mark was beginning to tremble. He couldn't stand to see Raye like this, but still he had to make a stand, as futile as it seemed.
"No. You are not Raye Hino. You have her body, but my god, you certainly don't have her soul. That's the one part of a person that can never change, be it in life or death." A pause. Mark's breath deepened further, yet he was somehow finding a seemingly superhuman power to keep his nerve. "I plan to help kick the evil you've become out of you, and return the rightful soul of my only love to her body. And I will do it, be it with my own death if necessary." His breathing was almost out of control, his tears of rage for the Dark Kingdom contained by his tremendous will power. Raye leant forward, causing a jolted reaction from Anna and Ben, and kissed him momentarily on the lips.

"Now I'm no expert on Mafia films, but that, Mark, is the kiss of death. I suggest you make the most of what little time you have left with your little buddies. The final push for rightiousness is immenant." Mark continued to sit as Raye turned around and left the room, his eyes trembling with the anger of what Malachite had done to her. She was pure evil. The complete opposite of what she once was. She still had her temperment, but even that was not the same.
"Mark..." Ben walked over to his friend, taking caution not to cause a violent outlash. He didn't understand a single word of what was said, but even he could see that he was so deeply upset. "What just happened?" Mark slowly lifted his eyes, staring Ben in the face. The reality of Raye's words struck his heart, and now he was virtually speechless. The final battle was immenant. Surely this meant that his friends, the friend he had known and fought alongside for the past seven years, the friends who helped him open his eyes to the destiny of the planets, the friends he loved and cared for, would become embroiled in this final battle for love, justice and the welfare of the solar system.

"That was the kiss of death." he replied solemnly.
"But -"
"The final battle is almost upon us." He exclaimed to the group, gazing around. All that he could see were the distraught and shocked faces of his friends. He could not imagine how this could be much worse. Not only had he'd been effectively been sentanced to death by the posessed soul of his only love, but now his true friends were to become entangled in the affairs of this war. "I hope you've all got your pendants with you; When the snow falls, so will peace in Tokyo."

Int. Laboratory 1, Negaverse Command Centre - 20th December 2002, 6:20 pm.

Frantic. The only word that could be used to describe the four scientists at work maintaining and monitoring Metallia's health and progress. She was almost fully healed, but still slightly too weak to gain the overall victory for the Dark Kingdom. Their leader Professor Tomoe, however, seemed more relaxed. In his small office he browsed through the figures and stats on his screen, yet he seemed completely uninterested. He had much bigger priorities.
"Fools." he whispered, gazing down at the white coats by the huge glass tank. "None of this is going to matter one bit. I will single-handedly bring the world to my vision, my future..."
"Professor." Tomoe jolted and looked alert as Prince Diamond etered his office, clipboard in his hand.
"What is it this time?"
"Your twelve hour report is due." Frowning, Tomoe opened a nearby drawer and took out a small pile of paper, no more than three of four sheets thick, and handed them to the general.
"Everything's still on plan for wednesday's attack. She's almost at full health, and it looks like that will be achived on the eve of the 24th."
"Christmas eve." chuckled Diamond, a tone of evil in his voice.

"Yep, it's sure going to be the best christmas present we could ever ask for." chuckled the Professor in return, hands cushioning his head.
"Just make sure everything's kept perfect until then, okay?" Diamond began to turn away and leave.
"One last thing."
"Where's the other guy? Malachite?" Diamond turned back around. "I've heard rumours that he's been spending a lot of time around that Raye girl. You don't happen to know anything about them, do you?" This was a tight spot. The Professor was onto Malachite. If Tomoe were to speak out to the high command, it could result in Malachite's death.
"First I've heard. I'll look into it though." he replied, again turning to leave.
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then." Diamond had left the dimly-lit, minescule office, leaving Tomoe to put his feet on his desk once again.

"Asshole..."

Int. Apartment 211, Hikawa View Apartments - December 20th 2002, 6:55 pm.

"Chiba and Tsukino."
"Serena, it's Mark."
"Oh. Hi Mark.
"Serena, I've got some good news and some bad."
"What is it?"

Mark had only been back at his apartment for a few moments, but already he was on the phone to Serena. The news of the return of his friends was already joyous enough to him, but that was equally balanced out by Raye's kiss of death. He was convinced that Serena would be as equally ecstatic at the prospect of having eight more Senshi fighting alongside the Japanese ones, but he did not want to think what she would say to the kiss.

Lurking around the corner of the hallway, however, listening with extreme care from his bedroom, was Chad. He had to get it off his chest. He was having extreme trouble accepting that his former girlfriend, who he was close friends with for six years, was Sailor Mars. He had walked out on one of the world's most beautiful women, even though he had always regarded Raye as the most beautiful woman in his life. The fact that his new best friend was also a Senshi of Mars was just as unbelievable. He had to ask. He had to find the right moment to confront his doubts.

"I'll start with the good. Well, you know those guys who I ran to at the airport?" he began to lower his voice to avoid the other flatmates hearing from the lounge.
"Yeah?"
"They are the other eight Senshi of England. They came to visit me for christmas, but they also said they will help out in battles should they erupt, which means we'll probably have the superior firepower should the final battle happen this coming week."
"Mark, that's brilliant! You don't know how much help that'll give us!" Serena was very much ecstatic from the news. Mark had to bring her back down to earth with a thud though.

"Which leads me onto the bad news. It looks like they're gonna try and make sure I don't survive the battle."
"Mark, don't talk rubbish."
"Serena, I'm being serious!" he exclaimed. "Raye came by earlier. She came by and gave me the kiss of death."
"Mark. They're just playing mind games with you. They want you to give up and surrender. If you do that, chances are that our won attack will collapse."
"I still think she's being orchestrated. The moment the battle's over Beryl will turn around and kill Sailor Mars! She has no use for the Dark Kingdom after this Serena!"

That was more than enough for Chad. He now realised that Serena was in on this Sailor Scout business. Why else would Mark be talking to her about the battle? It was now or never. Once Mark hung up, he would have to confront the noble Englishman.

"Yeah, but our priority is to ensure your safety in order for you to persuade her to become the kind-hearted, loving person she really is. You won't die." There was another anxious pause. While Serena and Mark pondered about what lay ahead, Chad was trying to find the right words to say to Mark. "So any idea when the final battle will happen?"
"No idea. There's a really strange set of weather fronts to the west of Japan, so no-one, not the Tokyo Broadcasting System, not the BBC, not anyone has any idea what the weather will be like for the next few days, but snow is a strong possibility. We've just gotta remain on high alert until they can figure out what the weather's gonna turn out like."
"Yeah..." sighed Serena anxiously.
"Well, I'll call you again if anything's up. See ya."
"Yeah, see ya Mark." Just as soon as Mark put his phone down, Chad entered from his room.

"So she's in on it too... Serena Tsukino..." Mark was puzzled, whereas Chad was gazing down at Mark's feet, seemingly trying to conceal his feelings.
"Chad? What are you on about?"
"Mark, don't play the innocent. I know your secret."Alarm bells began to ring in Mark's head. Very loud alarm bells. Had his cover been blown? He could not say a thing until he knew that Chad was completely correct.
"Chad, what the hell are you talking about?!"
"Mark." Chad remained quiet, trying to avoid the unwanted attention of Jack and Sarah. Having seen the Sailor Senshi in real life a number of times, and even having been saved by them on one occasion, he appreciated their role in Tokyo. He appreciated that revealing his identity to anyone else could jeapordise those closest to him - Raye, Jack, Sarah, even himself. "I know your powers. You are the Mars Knight."

Mark froze. He had been exposed. Chad was now the first civilian that knew his true self. Struggling for words, he tried to make a quick comeback.
"What else do you know?"
"So you're not denying it? It would be pointless to anyway."
"No I'm not denying it. Just answer my question." Chad slowly lifted his head, his solemn brown eyes locked onto Mark's face.
"I know that Raye is Sailor Mars, and from what I just heard, Serena's in on it too."
"And where might you have gotten this information then?"

"When you injured your hand this morning I went to your room and picked up the pen, ready to put it in the trash like you asked. I saw your note pad on the floor and was curious enough to read it. That's how I found out the identity of Sailor Mars, and hell, I have been feeling extremely pissed off with myself all day because of it!" Chad was beginning to lose his normally serene temperment. "For six years I have loved her! Ever since I turned up at the temple door completely stone-cold drunk one night! And after one large argument one night, do I try and patch things up with her? No! I run off to America like the cowardly piece of shit I am and leave behind the most beautiful woman in the world! Not only that, but she's a legendary superheroine too! Now how damn unlucky can one guy get, eh? TELL ME!!!" Mixing English with Japanese, Chad was at his wit's end. His eyes were watering and he was beginning to bury his head in his hands.

"Look, you didn't know these things. Don't go blaming yourself, okay?" Mark was trying his best to be sincere in order to calm Chad down.
"It was my decision and I made the wrong one!"
"Everyone makes bad decisions." Mark paused as he remembered the worst decision he had ever made, the one that brought down the mighty Silver Millenium. "Compared to other wrong decisions, your consequences are not very bad at all. Tell me, would it have made any difference to your opinion of her if you knew from the start she was Sailor Mars?"
"I don't know."
"Destiny has you linked to someone. That someone happens not to be Raye though." Mark stopped momentarily as Chad began to sob, the reality becoming too much for him. "I could tell you a lot more, but under my duties I'm forbidden to give any sensitive information to civilians."
"So what can you tell me?"
"Get away from Tokyo this week. Something serious is likely to happen within the next seven days, something which will endanger the lives of everyone in Tokyo. You've been one of my best friends here, I just want to keep you safe." Wiping a tear from his eye, Chad seemed very surprised.

"When exactly will this happen?"
"When the snow falls this coming week. That's about as accurate as I can give you. If you have relatives outside of Tokyo, pay them a christmas visit or something. Just get out of here."

End Of Chapter 25