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 23: Under An Alien Sky

"I sincerely hope you had a plan before charging in here." Tomi's voice clattered through the stone walls and cells.

"Shut up," Mars muttered irritably.

"Are you with Tomi, Mars?" questioned Tuxedo Kamen, trying to place where his friends were in relation to the cells.

"Yeah; definitely a lose-lose situation for me."

"What does that mean?!"

"Either you end up killing me or I end up killing you, out of sheer irritation," the warrior shot back.

He interrupted before it could degenerate into a fight. "Mars, where is everyone else?"

"Well…I don't know. Mercury, where are you?"

"I'm with Tuxedo Kamen."

"There's that answer. How about you, Sailor Moon?"

"Kunzite."

"Speaking of that, how's my second-in-command?"

There was a deep grunt.

"I don't think he's all that great," responded his girlfriend carefully, after a long pause.

"What's he doing?" he asked, sitting up.

"Um…he's staring at the ceiling."

"Kunzite?" Mamoru prompted cautiously. "What are you doing?"

"I'm counting the mold on the ceiling. Got to 120 now."

"Oh." Silence. "How about you, Nephrite? Who're you with?"

"Zoisite."

Nothing.

"Something wrong?" asked Mercury.

"I think he's going into Wisdom Senshi-withdrawal. He's twitching a bit. I'd bet in an hour he'll either begin climbing the walls or making out with me."

Mercury blushed bright red, and at that exact moment there was a thump from down the hall.

"Shut up!"

"Stop acting like children," Venus commanded. "We have to figure out a way of getting out of here."

"Love to see that happen," Tomi commented dryly.

"Who's with you, V?" questioned Moon curiously.

"Jadeite."

His brow furrowed in thought. "So, Mercury's with me. Tomi is with Mars, Nephrite is with Zoisite, Kunzite is with Sailor Moon, and Jadeite is with Venus. Aren't we missing someone? Where's Jupiter?"

Heaving clunking and by peering through the bars in the cell door, he could see Nephrite doing the same, yelling, "Jupiter? Jupiter!"

A chorus of voices began shouting as well.

Where was Jupiter?

It was more comfortable than anything he had ever slept in and Shingo seriously debated about actually leaving the bed. He was so comfy that he really didn't want to move; not at all.

But he sighed all the same. He knew he had to get up, at the very least to get food because of the loud growling his stomach was doing.

"Are you going to lie in bed all day?" called a mildly irritated voice from below.

That certainly clinched it. Luna would never give him a moment's peace until he got up and he didn't want that angry cat following him around everywhere. Finally he managed to pry his unresponsive body out of the wonderful bed, which felt as if it was made of millions of feathers, and get to his feet.

He stepped out of the room and easily located the stairs to his left. As he descended, the unaccustomed weight around his neck made him pause. Grabbing at the front of his shirt, he felt the lumpy shapes just underneath without pulling them into the light. There was the inverted pyramid, with a rounded bottom, that was his sister's. And then the one next to it, the perfect diamond shape that almost seemed to have another smaller duplicate in the center, was Mamoru's. Somehow in the short glance he had given them, the images of them had impressed themselves in his brain.

"They didn't take it away when I slept?" he wondered aloud.

"No, Shingo, we did not."

Shingo looked down from his vantage point in the middle of the stairs. Two adults stood staring up at him. The female had the most incredible mane of black hair he'd ever seen and he included the spirit Terra in that. Four ball shaped lumps of locks, much like his sister's, adorned her head. She wore a pale yellow vest over a white shirt with hunter green slacks.

The man next to her had white hair that trailed almost down to his knees. At his waist was a buckled sword with an actual diamond embedded in the hilt. He wore full out white on white, a long jacket over pants.

But the most remarkable thing about them were their ears: they were pointed.

Not like an elf's, like all those ideas of elves in the stories, but more like…more like a cat's.

"Who are you?"

They seemed affronted that he asked. "What do you mean, 'who are you?'" demanded the woman. "It's Luna and Artemis!"

"But…but…but Luna and Artemis are cats!"

"We're from the planet Mau, where we have the ability to morph between cat and human forms," explained Artemis tiredly. "We can only do this here though because all the magic has nearly gone from above. Only when it has returned will we be able to choose between human and feline form on the surface. I must say it is a relief to be out of cat form though. I can actually stretch muscles that I haven't used at all in this life."

Shingo managed his way down the stairs, still staring at the…couple. "Why did you leave the crystals with me?"

"It's rather hard to explain," answered Luna as they left the building. "You see, if we touched it or held it, it would give off a magical alert so that Beryl would feel it. Then she would find this place, though it would take her awhile. Besides, Usagi and Mamoru trust you to take care of them, know that you will take care of them."

"And we trust them," Artemis added.

He looked around at him, the scenery just as breathtaking as before. Smiling, he strolled up to the rose bushes and touched the soft petals, being wary of the barbs. But as he straightened, the corner of his eye wandered to that walkway. What was at the other end of it?

Glancing behind him to see where Luna and Artemis were, safely enough away that they would not notice him gone immediately, he carefully walked slowly toward the outdoor corridor. When he had reached it unscathed and unobserved, he let out a silent sigh of relief. He didn't know why he felt the need to be secretive, exploring this walkway, but something, instinct perhaps, wanted him to be the first to see it, alone.

The rose bushes, so thickly grown together that he marveled they were able to grow at all competing for all that soil space, glittered and almost seemed to wink at him as he passed.

It wasn't all that long of a path, but as he reached the end of it he realized that at some point, there was a stone roof that followed to the end. Once again, he looked behind him. Luna and Artemis weren't there.

Turning ahead, he took the last few steps forward to see what was beyond. What he saw though, surpassed anything he had ever once imagined and he found himself thinking he would love to spend the rest of his life there. Nothing was a beautiful as this place.

"Stop yelling; your friend will be back shortly," commanded a youma crossly as it came down the stairs.

The youma struck him as a bit odd. It seemed to be intelligent to say the least, and had a good grasp of Japanese. And there was no sound accompanying the 'words', no hissing, clinking, or otherwise. With it, was the other youma guard from before when he and Sailor Moon had been captured.

"Where is Jupiter?" demanded Nephrite, unconscious of his rather vulnerable position of being imprisoned.

"She's with Queen Beryl." The gangly youma, a decent pass at a human shape, sat in a 'chair' in the center of the room, on one side of a 'table'. Its companion sat down opposite and from its slimy tentacle dropped a multitude of small stones. Shifting them and splitting in some order, they began a game of…something. From what Mamoru could tell, he thought it might be there version of chess or perhaps checkers.

"You seem to be very well informed," commented Kunzite, draping his arms through the bars and giving a picture of relaxed conversational attitude. But he could read the tense lines of his friend's posture all too well. He knew that Kail was digging for information, but if the youma was smart enough as it seemed to be…

"Well you're not very subtle," it responded rudely. "I know exactly what you're doing and what you're going for."

"Are you going to tell us, then?" questioned Venus.

It tilted its head and actually seemed to think about the request. "I certainly don't see why I shouldn't. It isn't like you can do anything with the information. All right. What do you want to know?"

"What is Jupiter doing in the throne room?" cut in Sailor Moon immediately.

With its beady little eyes, looking almost like buttons, it studied the tabletop. Mamoru took a moment to really analyze the thing. There was an air about it that almost screamed 'him' and he began to notice features that resembled human anatomy. It was remarkably like a human being, in physical form at any rate. It had bluish black skin that looked to be made of granite, but didn't make any sort of noise as if it was stone. Oddly enough, 'he' wore clothes that were well manufactured but seemed to have been put through a bit of wear and tear. 'He' had no mouth, but it did have 'eyes' and a 'nose', such as they were. No ears and no hair, but other than that, very similar to a human being.

"She's being interrogated. Queen Beryl is hoping to find a lever to use against him," And 'he' pointed toward Nephrite without ever letting 'his' eyes leave the tabletop, "so that he will be more apt to give leverage against him," And he finished pointing at Mamoru.

"Why would she think that a Senshi would have something to give leverage against a Knight?" asked Mercury cautiously.

Finally 'he' looked up. "Though I am a little irritated with her decision to put me on prison duty, I am still loyal to Beryl. Do not insult Her Majesty's intelligence. It is quite obvious that there are romantic pairs among you, not the least of which, who Beryl particularly loathes, is Serenity and Endymion."

"Speaking of which, what are the likes of you doing down here?" inquired Jadeite curiously. "You don't strike the type."

'He' frowned. "Her Majesty had a normal mood swing. You see, most of the plans set against you to collect energy were made by me."

"Some of them were quite ingenious," Zoisite commented without rancor.

The youma looked pleased at the compliment. "I know, they quite were. A few of them actually succeeded, though no doubt you wouldn't have known about them. Only one succeeded after the Senshi and you popped up, but the ones before did. But of course, you all had something that woke you to the warriors you are. I suppose my operations were the catalyst that started it all." 'He' sighed. "I must admit, though, that your solutions to my more complex plans were in their own right ingenious. Some of them I would not have thought of."

Mercury and Zoisite looked infinitely pleased as well. "Thank you," the Senshi murmured as her boyfriend nodded.

But then 'his' carriage seemed to droop as 'he' made 'his' move. The other youma didn't seem to care at all about their conversation. "But ever since she realized that Tuxedo Kamen was Endymion and Sailor Moon was Serenity, she changed. She became so obsessed with getting Endymion for herself and not only taking the Ginzuishou from Serenity, but killing her as well. Every plan I made that didn't succeed became another against my record. She's ignored all the successes of mine, that numbered many, and all the other flourishing plans of things other than collecting energy and has concentrated on all my failures!"

'He' seemed quite upset and angry, 'his' form shaking with 'his' feelings. "Then, even though my plan to get you here and capture worked, she yells at me, physically yells, when I comment that for all your ingenuity and intelligence you seemed to have walked straight into a trap without second thought. She accuses me of admiring you! How dare she! I must admit to some kind of respect for you and your teamwork, not to mention your successes, and it is mostly because of you warriors that I've done my best work, but that doesn't explain her sudden mood switch and totally unjust accusation! Then she assigns me, her reasoning that it won't be so hard being around people that I admire, to do prison duty! The indignity of it all! I've collected her so much energy, almost enough to release her precious Queen Metallia-sama, and she doesn't take any notice! Every time I sent out a mission, every single time energy came, I kept it stored so that when the Senshi and Knights disrupted the operation, I would still have energy to give her! I made all her plans, commanded nearly all of her forces, and she assigns me to prison duty!"

If 'he' could have breathed like a human, Mamoru would have said 'he' would be gasping in rage.

"Might be careful what you say then," advised Tomi. "She'll think that tongue-lashing you just gave her to be insubordination."

'He' looked up and then at 'his' companion, still trying to decide where to move. Then 'he' laughed. "She won't find out what I said unless you tell her and I sincerely doubt you will. There are no other youma around here and my…'friend' won't tell her anything!"

"Why is that?"

"Because of what she did to him. You see, he was one of a pair of…'twins'. During a mission, they were out and a fight against you all broke out. His 'twin' had the opportunity to take the energy and run or save him. She saved him, but the crystal that had stored the energy was shattered. When they appeared before Queen Beryl, she was livid. She…murdered his 'twin' and when he had defended her, out of sheer anger and grief, she did this to him." 'He' waved 'his' hand at the blob opposite him. "He wasn't always like that. He was actually remarkably human looking except for his eyes. Now, he's this. He's never forgiven Queen Beryl for not only killing his 'twin', but for turning him into what he is now."

End Chapter 23

Look forward to Chapter 24. We'll begin the action there! My estimate would be a Chapter 24, possibly 25, and then epilogue. Anyone that's read my work knows I always have an epilogue.

Thanks for reading this far!