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 9: Amongst Heroes

Venus wanted to scream, cry, something to let out the emotions welling inside of her. She missed Usagi terribly; it hurt so bad that she was afraid the pain would consume her. She didn't know if anyone had ever felt this way about anyone, but it wasn't just emotional pain. Her absence was like someone was ripping shreds of her body, delighting in her torment. How could she have allowed this to happen? As the leader of Serenity's guard, she should have protected her better! She should have kept her from Beryl's grasp!

Kunzite touched her shoulder and she turned to him. He motioned towards the stairs and she followed him, listening to the debating voices of where to go next now that they were sure that the princess and prince were not in Japan anymore.

They entered the dark arcade, lit only by passing cars' headlights. Venus wished she could be in one of those cars and drive away from any danger with her friends seated next to her. She just wanted to have the princess and her Senshi in a car, so she could drive them away to a secluded place where the five of them could live their lives without ever having to worry about if someone was going to die in the next battle.

"Tormenting isn't it?" he commented quietly.

"Yes."

"Does it do any good to dwell on it?"

"No."

"But we can't stop."

"Yes."

His grin was a little rueful. "That's what I keep telling myself, but I can't stop beating myself up about my failure to protect him. I just wish he wasn't involved in this. I wish…that we could just leave here, go to a place that Beryl and Metallia could never find us."

She was a bit startled to hear her nearly exact thoughts coming out of his mouth. "I know, I thought it too."

"What would happen if we did?"

Venus turned to him, unsure what he was asking. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what would happen if we got the Prince and Princess back and then we left, hiding somewhere where we could never be found?"

One look at his face and she knew he was serious. He was not asking in jest, or in a wistful fashion. He was looking as if he was seriously considering taking his Prince and friends and high-tailing himself out of there. "Where would you go? Beryl would find you."

"There is a place I know of that even she cannot reach. It would be easy enough to go there."

"Kunzite, what are you saying? You would abandon the people of the Earth to Beryl and Metallia's mercy? You know that Endymion would never leave."

"It would not matter if he would leave or not. Four against one can easily overcome. We would drag him away."

She slapped him hard. He barely flinched, not even turning his head to soften the blow. "Earthen Knight Kunzite, I have never heard something that hateful come out of any mouth yet and if you ever say that again, I will run you through with my sword!"

"Why? You just said yourself that that's what you want to do with Serenity and your friends!" he demanded, getting angry.

"Yes, that's what I want to do, but not what I need to do! Just because I want something doesn't make it right! It doesn't make it okay to leave the people of the Earth defenseless against Beryl and Metallia's might. And nowhere you can take Endymion will be forever untainted or unfound by her once she had control of the Earth! My princess would never be happy if I just secreted her away and she knew we were running! She would demand that we return and help the people! And I can deny her nothing. Think about Endymion. Would he not say the same? And would you not follow him to the depths of hell and back simply because he asked?"

His mouth fell into a grim line and he closed his eyes, as if in pain. "You're right. I was being foolish."

She softened at his defeated tone and touched his cheek with her gloved hand. "Kunzite, just because you wanted to save Endymion and your friends doesn't mean you were foolish. It shows how much you care about them," she told him quietly. Slowly his eyes met hers, the pained look gradually receding. "I cannot tell you how many times I seriously thought about that myself, but never once had I found a way to go through with it that would not leave the Earth defenseless or my Princess unhappy. Her happiness is all that matters to me right now, as Endymion's matters to you."

He smiled at her a little. "No wonder your Senshi look up to you."

Venus blushed.

Kunzite traced a slow finger along her jaw and over her lips. "So beautiful, so full of wisdom. You are what I could never hope to be."

Her entire face was turning red, something that hadn't happened in a long while. She tried to find something to say, but nothing came to mind, not with the way he was touching her face and his compliments. She just wished that he would kiss her already.

His hand ran through her hair, softly that she barely felt it. She finally looked up at him and saw some indefinable emotion in his eyes. Not one boy that she had dated ever looked at her like that and she found herself wanting to be always looked at like that.

So slowly that she wanted to scream, his lips descended until they were just hovering above hers. Their breath mingled, their eyes unable to leave each others. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, tilting her head up to him. It was the final offer.

He took it. It felt like sunshine, and hot like fire. She couldn't help but compare this kiss to the last one she had had, with her latest ex-boyfriend. His had been like ice, cold and shivering with no warmth in his heart for her. But this…!

His arms circled her waist, pulling her closer to him. There was nothing in the world that made her want to move from the safety that those arms promised her. They promised her love, safety, hope. All those things that she had never envisioned could come for her from any arms except her Princess'.

The smallest of noises drew them apart, gasping for breath. Kunzite's eyes were molten silver and green, swirling forever in her depths. She would never forget those eyes, not if she was stripped of everything that made her different from another human being.

"Venus, I—"

She held up her hand, listening intently. There was still something there that had made that small noise. He noticed too and stood up straight, his eyes roving through all the game machines as if they weren't even there.

They split and melted into the shadows, waiting to see if their disappearance would draw the thing that had made the noise out into the open. It slowly came out, forming into a human shape. Hesitantly, the human shape stepped forward into the light and she nearly gasped. Motoki! She went through the entire conversation, wondering if she had let slip who they were. Coming to the conclusion that she hadn't, she moved stealthily behind him. What was he doing here so late anyway?

The arcade boy walked a little further into the center of the room, his eyes trying to find where they were. Even she didn't know where Kunzite was exactly. She pounced, hoping Kunzite would follow her lead.

Effortlessly twisting his arm up behind him, she brought him to his knees. She didn't like doing this to someone who was basically her friend, but it was necessary to keep that hidden and act like she didn't know who he was.

The leader of the Earthen Kings shed the shadows with the ease of someone shedding a jacket, he was that good at it. She gave him silent approval with her eyes, something he caught and responded to with the slightest of smiles.

Motoki whimpered a bit in pain and that brought her attention back to him. "Who are you?"

"My name's Motoki; I work here."

"It's rather late, Motoki-san," Kunzite said, his tone icy. "What are you doing here, spying on the Sailor Senshi and Earthen Knights? Were you going to turn us into the police?"

"Absolutely not! You guys protect the Earth! Without you those strange creatures would overrun us! And I don't believe you killed those police officers. Many people I know feel the same way about you. There was a lot of unrest among the citizens when they charged you with murder and tried to convict you."

She let him up. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"Some of the machines needed work and I stayed to fix them. I was just about to leave when I saw the Sailor V video game move and slide out, and seeing a Senshi and Knight come out." He looked rather sheepish. "I guess I was just curious, so I stayed hidden."

Kunzite and Venus walked a little away from him to confer.

"What do you think?"

"Well I do know him," she whispered back, "but not in this form. I doubt he would have turned us in anyway. He does work here and his story is probably legit. As long as we tell him to never mention us, I don't think there will be a problem."

"But what if he mentions by accident?"

"That's just a chance we have to take. We can't exactly wipe his memory, though I wish we could."

"Yeah, but that would be convenient for us and Fate doesn't work that way."

She smiled and giggled a little before getting serious and returning to Motoki. "We will allow you to leave, but you must never under any circumstances mention to anyone what you saw tonight or that we're even here."

He nodded and left the building, always keeping his eyes on them as if he was afraid they weren't  there and he was crazy.

"Takes care of that," Kunzite murmured.

"So what were you saying before?"

"Huh?" He thought and then smiled, taking her face in one of his hands. "Venus,  you were right. If we beat Beryl, then Endymion and my friends will be safe again. I wasn't thinking things through." He paused. "I know we haven't known each other all that long, but I know that I've never felt that way before when I kissed you. When this is all over, do you think there's a chance for 'us'?"

Venus had never once seen or heard anything like it before. She held him tightly to her. "I think there's a chance for 'us' right now, even though the Prince and Princess are in danger. I think this will work."

"Venus…"

"Have you two worked out whatever it is you went to work out?" Mars asked as they returned to the control center.

They shared a secret glance. "Yes," Venus told her as she walked up behind Mercury.

Suspicious glances sent their way by their comrades, but both affected not to notice. "Mercury, I have an idea."

"What?"

"Okay, it is unlikely that Beryl has taken them to another country, but entirely plausible that she took them to her dimension, right?"

"Right."

"Well, instead of searching for them, can you search for an anomaly on the Earth? Something that could be a dormant portal. I doubt she can hide them completely without staying in her sealed dimension forever, not if she didn't want to come back to Earth."

"Good idea, Venus," Artemis said, mulling it over. "It gives us a better grasp, and a better chance since Beryl could be blocking the scanning power easily or without even knowing about it."

"Supposing we find this portal," Jadeite began, "what do we do about it? I mean, it's all well and good to say we just go in and rescue them, but we're going to need a plan."

"Jadeite is right," Venus murmured, thinking. "We should probably pair off."

"Yeah, but if each of us picks who we want to pair off with, it leaves us one-sided," Zoisite said unhappily. "If I had my choice, for example, I would go with Mercury, but that is a hindrance since you wouldn't want your best technicians in one group. You'd want to spread out the special abilities that people have."

"Zoisite's right about that," Jupiter said matter-of-factly. "I mean, I would probably need to go with someone like Mercury to protect her, be the muscle of the team."

"We're going to put one Knight and one Senshi in a group," Kunzite told them, thinking aloud. "It makes it more efficient that way. Besides, if a group of two Senshi find them, Endymion might thing twice about joining them. He may not be in a position to trust them."

"Agreed," Nephrite said at last. "That is more economical."

"This is all assuming that we find an anomaly and that it turns out to be a portal," Luna said, dampening their spirits somewhat.

"What are we going to tell our parents?" whispered Mercury to Venus. "We've been gone for nearly four days without so much as a word. And what about Serenity's parents? What do we tell them?"

"Yes, parents are a problem," Kunzite said grimly. "If we do find an anomaly, then we'll be leaving and may not return for the next few days or perhaps even weeks. And not only parents, but school as well."

Mercury gasped. "School! I hadn't thought of that! I might get so behind!"

"Are you worried about your grades or Serenity?" Mars snapped.

"How can you ask her that?" Jadeite rebuffed her, surprised. "I would think you would trust your teammates more to know who they care about."

She looked down in shame. "I know, but I feel so frustrated. I didn't mean that, Mercury."

"I know."

A beeping sounded behind the blue Senshi and she turned. "YES!" she crowed and nearly hugged the computer. "It found something!"

She tapped on the keys, bringing up a number of maps and zooming in on various places, most in Japan. They crowded around her. She pointed to illustrate her words better and switched often to type or give a command to the computer. "You see these ones in Japan? Those are all the locations that Beryl has sent youma through before. I've recorded the areas in my computer."

Mercury typed again for a moment. "There is only one other location on Earth that has an anomaly like we're looking for. Up in the North Pole, right over that huge crater that scientists assumed a meteor made hundreds and thousands of years ago, is the anomaly."

"It certainly has all the earmarks of Beryl," Nephrite muttered. "I'm going to have to take a risk and consult the stars."

Venus locked eyes with Mars. She nodded. "We'll let Mars meditate; she might be able to see something."

"You psychic or something?" Jadeite asked, a smile on his face.

"Yes."

He blinked. "Really? Neat. That must be an incredible asset to the team. All we got is Nephy here and he only reads the stars. From the information we get from, we can guess that they aren't all that forthcoming with info."

She gave him a small smile. "Well, other forces aren't as forthcoming with info either."

"Look, Jupiter you go with Nephrite when he checks the stars," Venus said at last. "You can watch out for cops and people and whatnot and let him know if the two of you need to leave pronto. Jadeite you can go with Mars since you have good, sharp vision to use a bow and can easily spot incoming threats. The rest of us will wait in the control center for them and try to think up an excuse for our parents and the school system."

Mars nodded and left the room, Jadeite following and chattering every now and then. Nephrite closed his eyes briefly, obviously centering himself and quietly slipped from the arcade center, Jupiter alertly trailing behind.

End Chapter 9