Author's Note:

The normal disclaimers here of course and that I'm certainly not doing this for money.

There are a few elements that are exclusive to the manga, as you will read, but those only involve character differences than from the anime, such as the Shitennous' relationship. Also, the Golden Crystal, which Mamoru has.

If you need to contact me, my email is Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put fanfiction or something in the subject line so I know what you're emailing me about. And if you're a really nice person (if this pertains to a certain fanfiction that I've done) you might want to put the name of the fanfiction you're referring to somewhere in the email.

All names are like the Japanese say them, last name first. So Kunzite's name would be Kail Rainer in America, but in Japanese it would be said Rainer Kail.

Army of Immortals

Chapter 7: Sanctuary

"So this is your control room?" Kunzite murmured, looking around in appreciation.

There had to be at least twenty computers running and doing something different than another. Mercury walked up to one that dominated the room the most and plugged in her handheld. She typed for a few minutes and low beeping sounded, followed by other computers. She sat back with a long sigh.

"All right, they're all scanning. It should only be an hour or so before it comes up with something, assuming there's something to find here."

"You don't think they're here in Japan?" Zoisite asked, leaning down and looking at a screen.

"I have barely any doubt that she isn't even on Earth," she said and swiveled back to the main computer monitor.

He walked up behind her and gazed over her shoulder. "Considering the evidence, I agree with you."

Nephrite leaned back against a desk. "Damn, and I had wanted a date tonight too."

"Mercury, we should call Luna and Artemis," Mars said before turning to him. "Who were you going with?"

He looked skeptical at continuing.

"Oh come on, it's not like we're going to harass her or anything. We probably don't even know her."

"Well, I don't know her that well, but she's gorgeous for one. I just met her recently, but already I know that I really like her. I had wanted to ask her out, had even planned to do it, but then Beryl interrupted and I forgot about it. Besides, right now I'd guess she wouldn't want to date a criminal."

"She doesn't know that you're an Earthen Knight, she doesn't know you're a criminal. And we aren't criminals anyway! Is it a crime to protect the Earth?"

"I would hope not," Jadeite murmured.

"How about the rest of you? What would you be doing tonight if we weren't wanted criminals and looking for Endymion and Serenity?" questioned Jupiter.

"Well, we all kinda hoped to be out on a separate dates," the short blonde said with a sigh.

"What are they like?"

"Like Nephrite said, we don't know them all that well, but that would be partly the reason we wanted to have a date or two with them. They're all gorgeous, but not as gorgeous as—"

"Oh drop that," Zoisite said with annoyance. "She isn't as gorgeous as—"

"What are you all talking about?" Nephrite interrupted, getting into the heat of the argument. "They don't hold a candle to—"

The Senshi watched with raised eyebrows as Kunzite whistled harshly, effectively ending their bickering.

"Stop fighting, this the end of the argument, understand? Besides, they don't even come close to—"

His friends groaned and muttered, ignoring him. Kunzite grinned and chuckled softly.

"What did you girls hope to do this weekend?" Jadeite asked with interest.

"Oddly enough, we had hoped to be going on dates as well," Venus said, a constant presence over Mercury's shoulder.

"Hey, since you were hoping for a date, and so were we, why don't we go out on a date?" joked Jadeite, turning to Mars. "How about seven tonight?"

She laughed a little, that she tried to hide, and attempted to kick him. He dodged, with reflexes born of dodging the thunks he got for his jokes from his friends.

"Do you have any idea when they might finish scanning?" Nephrite asked.

"Not really," was the disappointing answer.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"Wait."

"Damn!" He slammed his fist into his palm. "I hate just sitting here, doing practically nothing! And I can't go out and consult the stars because of all the police out there, looking for us!"

"Calm down, Nephrite," Kunzite told him, a little disturbed to the extent of what his friend was feeling. He had never liked waiting much either, but he had learned to accept it as part of a warrior's job description. It came like a mantle, part of the leadership role, to know when to wait, when to charge, and when to run like hell.

"How can you tell me to calm down, Kunzite?! You should be in even worse shape than me!"

"He probably is, you just can't see it. That's the role of a leader," Sailor Venus responded, accurately describing his feelings and what had to be. She straightened from over Mercury's shoulder and gazed straight into Nephrite's eyes, something not many people could bring themselves to do.

Nephrite's eyes were a strange case. Because of all the time he spent at night staring up at the stars and absorbing all they had to tell him, he was somewhat light sensitive, though not to the point that he lived hindered, or prevented from going out in the daylight. Always, his pupils were wide to allow in the most light, something that only happened when there was little light to the see by and the eyes had to compensate for the lack.

"The role of a leader is a hard one to explain, but easy to understand," that strange but enticing warrior continued. "A leader is one who is always early and always late, someone who stays after all has gone home, someone who still clings onto hope when all have given up and force others to cling onto hope as well. They are the protectors, they are strategists. They don't have the luxury of emotions because they exist partly to bolster their troupes, keep them from losing faith, make them believe again. We think in patterns, in the whole picture and implications of an act. We are the first to go and the last to come back. How else can I explain it other than that?"

But Nephrite was nodding, as if he understood, which Kunzite was glad for as he felt his words failing him when he thought about trying to describe leadership.

"You called out 'Brother' when Endymion was taken," Jupiter murmured curiously, sitting down backwards in a chair next to Mars. "What kind of brother?"

"In the Silver Millennium, we were half-brothers. My mother, the Queen, had a brief but meaningful affair with a Lunarian, which resulted in me. She married a few years later to Endymion's father, a King from another country for alliance purposes."

"Does Endymion know?"

"Yes and no."

"You mean he knew in the Silver Millennium, but not now?" she hazarded a guess.

"No, I mean I never knew if he ever figured it out. Some days he acted like he knew, but then others he seemed completely clueless. Either way, though, we were as close as could be, and whether I was only a half-brother or not didn't matter."

"That's the truth," Jadeite corroborated with a long, heartfelt sigh. "When Nephrite, Zoisite, and I met them, our first impression was that we were intruding upon a sacred universe, they were that close. They shared everything together, no secrets, and it was like we were outsiders for the first part of our acquaintance."

"What happened?" Mercury asked, intrigued despite herself, Kunzite guessed from the reserved but interested look on her face.

Zoisite continued on with the story, his eyes going faraway as he was lost in a memory of a time long past, even in the Silver Millennium. "Well, it was a few months before they learned to trust us, but when they did, it was like opening an ivory gate studded with topazes and sapphires. As soon as we were through, into their 'inner circle', they closed the gate behind us. Within the next few days, we were all the best of friends and inseparable, as well as a nightmare to everyone in the palace with our boyish games. Even when we grew up and our tastes began to differ, we remained together, fighting to have time for just us among our new hobbies and duties."

Nephrite nodded stared at the wall, as if he wasn't seeing it, picking up the last part of the story as Zoisite stopped. "When we were thirteen or so, the Queen told us that we were chosen to be Endymion's personal guard, as she was afraid that he would be targeted by assassins since he was the crown prince. It was no big thing. The five of us had been training together since we were old enough to hold a sword, and though it involved a bit more rigorous physical schedule, nothing had changed. If anything, it worked for us since it would mean we would all be together, until one of us died that is. Endymion was thrilled with the idea, and the Monarchs liked it because there was no chance of any of us being spies or assassins after their son's throat."

"How did Kunzite become the leader? Or was he chosen just because he knew Endymion the longest?" questioned Mars, a curious glint in her eyes.

"He's the leader because…It's like what Venus said," Jadeite struggled with words, "He's the leader because he is one. He was just that hair better than us at everything, so that's what he was. Besides, we'd always had him as the unofficial leader of our group next to Endymion. It went like this: Endymion got us in trouble, Kunzite got us out of trouble."

The Senshi giggled a bit at that. "That's basically the opposite here," Jupiter said with a smile on her face. "Venus and Serenity used to get us into trouble and Mercury would have to bail us out."

"I remember."

Mercury's dry voice only set them laughing. A moment later, the stern look capitulated and she laughed with them.

Smiles disappeared, though, as they recalled that they really had no reason to be happy when Serenity and Endymion were trapped somewhere, enduring only the gods knew what.

In the silence, they heard the clattering of the bars rising up above them. Footsteps sounded and whistling. Then a voice.

"Hello, kitty. Where's Usagi-chan? She's usually with you. Oh well, I'll get you some milk. You seem to have brought a friend. Who is the white cat? Your boyfriend?" he laughed at his own joke, for the voice was undeniably male.

Kunzite glanced at the other warriors in the room. His Knights were alert, wary and waiting. The Senshi seemed slightly nervous, but a lot more relaxed than they were. He frowned a little at that, but reasoned that this must not be a new development.

Quietly, after the man had said a few more words to the cats, the video game door slid open a slight crack and two entered. It was back in place in the next moment and the felines trotted down the steep stairs.

"Senshi, this is a grave situation," the black one said without preamble. Kunzite barely twitched an eyebrow at a talking cat. The cats of Mau found themselves to be highly valued as wise and great advisors, also having the ability to change between feline and human form. Also well known was that the Moon Kingdom had had two of the wisest ambassadors, skilled in fencing in battle and the courtrooms. It was not a surprise to see them assisting the Senshi. But why would this girl, Usagi, be a guardian of one of them? Should they not be with one of the Senshi?

"We must retrieve the Prince and Princess from Beryl's clutches at all costs," said the white one, barely giving the black one a chance to breathe before he had interrupted. "We have no idea how long it will take her to figure out that she had the Ginzuishou and Golden Crystal in her grasp already. We can only hope that she will assume that for safe keeping, another has it in case of this eventuality."

"You seem just as concerned about the Prince, but I'm given to understand that Lunarians and other planet members of the Silver System Alliance don't care all that much about Terrans," Zoisite murmured.

"That was a long time ago, one that has passed and with it, old prejudices," Venus whispered. "We were wrong then, to not allow Earth into the SSA. Now the planets of the SSA ruined utterly, my home among them. We Senshi were reborn on Earth and now we're fighting to save this planet from our blind-sighted mistake that cost us more than we could pay. Do you doubt that?"

"No," Kunzite told her, "but I do wonder why this extends to the Prince and his contingent."

"Because he may be the only one that can save the Earth," Mercury said from her quiet position behind Venus.

"What do you mean?" prompted Jadeite, confusion written on his face as clear as day.

It was the black cat who answered. "Even Serenity, even with the Ginzuishou, it is not a certainty that she can save the Earth. She wasn't originally Terran, but Lunarian. That blood must still be born strong in her again; otherwise she wouldn't be able to use the Crystal at all. Since Endymion is Terran, then and now, with his Golden Crystal he may be the only hope we have to force Beryl out of the Earth and destroy her and Metallia."

"Put like that, I can see your point," Nephrite murmured. "But even that isn't a certainty. Endymion, in this new life, knows practically nothing about the Golden Crystal. His memories, like ours, are very sketchy when it comes to the Silver Millennium. The only thing that isn't just a vague fog is the memories of us, together. He may not be able to use the full powers of the Golden Crystal, and in that case, us and the Earth is screwed."

"You must understand something about the Golden Crystal," Zoisite said urgently, "Many of the Terran Kings studied it over the years and came to one solid conclusion: there is a safe-guard in the magic, built when it was created, however that was. It isn't like the Ginzuishou, where you can use the full power anyway, but the user might die. If you don't have the full knowledge of how it works, you can't access the full powers that it has. It's a safeguard to keep the user alive. Endymion can't remember the Silver Millennium, so he can't remember all that he was taught about it. In this life, he's going to have to fumble around and figure out as he goes, throughout the years."

"That's unfortunate," the white cat muttered.

"Do you think that with Endymion's half control with his close connection to Earth and Serenity with a little more than half control of the Ginzuishou could combine and shove Beryl from the Earth?" Mars asked half wistfully, as if she didn't really expect it could work.

"It could, but they would need to be on much better terms than almost total strangers," Mercury told her. "There has to be a close connection between them for the magic to even begin to bond between the two. And that would only be half the work."

The computer began to beep behind Mercury and they turned toward it, instantly alert.

In big flashing letters, the words "NOT FOUND" stifled any hopes they had.

End Chapter 7