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, Mamoru has the Golden Crystal.

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 13: Every Moment

Jadeite floated in a sea of blissfulness, his consciousness fading. Nothing hurt anymore; he felt naught but a contentedness at heart. Vaguely, someone was calling his name, shaking him. He wanted to shove the person away, they were interfering with his peacefulness, but no amount of movement would come to his limbs.

What had happened to put him into this peacefulness? He was almost sure that pain had caused it, but he couldn't be positive. What was pain, anymore?

Screaming.

Pain.

Fear.

Mars.

Rage.

Loyalty.

Love.

Endymion…

His eyes snapped open and he shrieked as claws raked across his body. Jupiter thrown next to him, she herself looking three times as worse than what he felt. She must have been protecting him when he had gone down, he realized. Friendly affection and gratefulness for this girl filled him when he thought of her using her body as a shield for him.

"Jadeite," she whispered, her voice broken up with exhaustion and pain.

Wrath made his blue eyes darker and cleared his head faster than fresh air would have done. He lifted his head slowly, glaring at the youma slowly approaching them, Beryl behind them and smiling down at the warriors with malicious intent.

At a thought, he was up and in front of Jupiter, a Senshi that had earned his respect a hundred-fold. His hands glowed red, for himself, and gold, for Endymion. The ground shook a little, surprising the youma so they stopped a moment. Steam rose from cracks under their feet, a burning heat seared their various kinds of hides.

"Molten…FIRE!" he screamed, the ground bursting upward in a red flow of lava, engulfing the youma.

The few that were water tried to put it out, as he had counted on, but it only created a steamy fog so thick they couldn't see anything. He took the opportunity, picked up Jupiter, and ran for all he was worth.

Behind him, Beryl frowned heavily and cursed.

"Where's the portal?" he demanded into his communicator when he forced himself to stop running in blind directions. Jupiter was still out cold and he worried about her, with the sheer amount of injuries she had sustained. Some of them looked to be very deep and some almost life-threatening.

"Jadeite? You're both alive?" came a very relieved, and shocked, voice. It sounded like Venus.

"Yes, but now we need to get out of here. Beryl's youma will find us soon if we don't."

"How is Jupiter? We lost contact with her near twenty minutes ago."

He glanced at the Soldier at his side. "Not good. You'll have to see for yourself."

"Mercury says go to your left and run until the hallway splits. Then you take the center path until it forks again. To your right will be a set of stairs. Go up them. When you reach the top, you'll be in a large room with nothing in it except the portal."

Jadeite stowed the directions in his head and picked up Jupiter. She stirred briefly, but didn't wake. He sighed in worry and ran down the left corridor.

Each hallway seemed twice as long as the last one and he was constantly looking over his shoulder, waiting for a youma to jump out of the shadows and attack, which wasn't inconceivable.

He had just reached the stairs when he heard the sound of a number of feet, or something akin to it, coming down the corridor. He didn't think they saw him, but to make absolutely sure, as quietly as he could, he ran up the stairs.

The portal itself wasn't special in any regard except that it was closing, and closing rapidly. With a dash, he threw himself and the green Senshi through only to fall on snow piled thick. Hands helped him stand up, as he couldn't move himself.

"My gods, what happened?" Mars demanded.

"Explain later, must leave. Youma behind."

Jadeite could barely managed to even keep his eyes open long enough to see Tuxedo Kamen and rejoice silently. He felt bad, but only slightly, as the other Senshi and Knights were forced to add more power to cover the two injured ones.

He was out cold as soon as they landed.

Their voices woke Jayden from his sound sleep. He opened his clear blue eyes to meet Mamoru's, as he looked down on his friend, glad that he was no longer so badly injured. With a leap that took the other man by complete surprise, he had his arms wrapped around his neck and dragging him on top of him as he fell back in bed.

Mamoru flailed a little, but no amount of moving would dislodge the death grip Jayden had on his neck.

"Jayden, I'm all right," he managed to say. His friend didn't reply and he stilled as he heard it. A low sniffling. Mamoru managed to turn his head and saw that Jayden, who he had never once seen in tears, was crying into his shoulder.

Alarmed, he asked, "Jayden, are you all right?"

"I'm…I'm so happy that you're all right," he whispered brokenly.

He had no idea, none at all that Jayden had felt that strongly about him before. With a soft smile, he returned the embrace. "I'm happy that you're all right. You had me really worried."

Jayden laughed, a little choppily. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize."

The blonde's grip loosened enough so he could at least lever himself onto his elbows and look into the pale blue eyes. They were still very moist and tears were still at the corners of his eyes.

His soft smile still on his face, he wiped the tears away in a brotherly fashion. "We're safe now."

"I…I was so scared, Mamoru," he confessed, tears of fear slowly leaking down his cheeks. "I thought I was going to die, that I'd never get to see you, Kail, Neil, or Zayn again. I…was just so scared."

Mamoru helped him sit up on the bed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, staring into the space in front of him. "I know. I thought the same thing when I first saw Beryl."

"But…"

He looked at the man beside him. "I know how it felt, I know, but we're here now. We'll always be together, remember? Our group was 'meant to be'."

Jayden smiled hesitantly and wiped his face. "How is Jupiter?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Makoto's going to be fine—"

"Makoto?" he interrupted incredulously.

Mamoru laughed. "Apparently you all didn't exchange identities before you rescued us. Usagi and I exchanged names while we were in Beryl's dungeons. There was quite a bit of surprise when they found out. And Makoto was up and about faster than you. It was you we were worried about."

"Where are we?"

"Hikawa Shrine."

Footsteps sounded and the door opened slowly. A blue eye peered in surrounded by a patch of sapphire hair. With a sigh and smile of relief, Mercury-no, Ami stepped into the room. "I'm glad to see that you're up. You look much better."

"You may be glad to know that it was Ami herself that doctored you up."

"Really? Thanks a lot."

She blushed a little. "We warriors against Beryl and Metallia should stick together."

"If you feel up to it, let's join the others," Mamoru suggested.

Jayden nodded and followed Ami out the door. "Do you know about what went on here?"

"That you were arrested? Yes, and I bloody well don't like it," he growled. "I hate Beryl even more."

Relieved faces greeted the three of them as they entered a room with a large table dominating most of it. Makoto sat between Rei and Neil, looking perfectly healthy. She smiled at Jayden as he entered.

"Are you all right?" he asked as he sat down next to Mamoru.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you."

"For what?"

"What else? Getting us out of there. And you were right; we shouldn't have gone left."

"It doesn't matter anymore. What does matter is that we're all back in one piece," Kail interrupted, settling himself on Mamoru's left, always protective, though most likely it was unconscious at this point.

Mamoru caught Usagi's eye and looked pointedly at Kail and Minako. She gazed at the two of them and her eyes widened imperceptibly. She raised her eyebrows at him and he nodded slightly. There was something going on between them, from the way they kept glancing at each other from time to time.

"Our first order of business today, ladies and gents," Zayn drawled, "is what we tell our parents and school."

"Anybody got the slightest clue?" asked Usagi hopefully.

"Not a damn one," Neil commented, putting his chin in his hand and slipping his other one in Makoto's, a fact that Mamoru and Usagi did not miss.

"I wouldn't know what would be plausible at all," Ami admitted, "as I've never been in this kind of situation before."

"We can't exactly plead sleepover," murmured Rei.

Kail sat in silence for some time before he leaned forward. "This may or may not work, and this only works if the school has not called our homes."

"What is it?" questioned Zayn, an interested gleam in his eye.

"We could tell our parents that our schools had a…field trip of sorts that we did not expect and it took a week to get back. We tell the school that our parents had a family emergency and needed us home."

"It's better than anything else we've come up with," stated Minako.

"Which is nothing," quipped Jayden.

"What happens if the school has contacted our homes?" Usagi asked worriedly.

Silence.

"I thought so."

"…Wait a second."

They looked up at Rei. "Do you remember when we went missing that there was that strange kidnapping? Just yesterday, I read that they caught the man and they found so many kids there and most he found at the mall. Couldn't we claim we were one of them?"

"Wouldn't the police escort the kids home?" asked Mamoru skeptically.

"But there was a huge amount of kids. We could just say that they didn't have enough to send with every kid."

"What a stroke of luck, and rather coincidental," Kail commented darkly. "But we have no choice but to use it. It's a little far-fetched, but more plausible than the other one."

"We have to leave and be home, like, right now, for that to work," Neil told them.

They said their goodbyes, but Mamoru paused Usagi on the steps of the Shrine. She turned to him, her eyes so beautiful and full that he had to remind himself to breathe. He suddenly couldn't remember what he was going to say to her.

"I told you we'd get out of there," he said, for lack of anything other to say.

"Yes you did. I'm sorry I doubted you." She turned to go.

He grabbed her arm gently. "That's not what I wanted to say."

Her eyes, full of a mix of emotions, were turbulent as they stared into his.

"I…I want you to know that what happened between us in Beryl's dungeons…it wasn't just because we were the only two that weren't evil. It was because…" He drew in a deep breath. "It was because I've…fallen for you. I love the way you talk, I love your family, the way that you do your hair…everything. I just wanted you to understand that before you left."

She smiled and stepped closer to him so that she was so near they were barely inches apart. "I love you too."

His smile was brilliant, easily eclipsing the sun. Slowly he lowered his head to hers, kissing her gently. "I'll see you tomorrow, Usako," he murmured.

Usagi blushed at the nickname, but nodded happily nonetheless. "I can't wait…Mamo-chan."

They parted ways, each walking on air and never noticing the smiles from the friends that had been covertly watching.

End Chapter 13