Author's Notes: Here's number two. The title is taken from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy, it's an amazing work and I highly recommend it if you're ever in need a dose of dark magic. If you have read the books you should recognize the title immediately.

Immortal Habit

Chapter Two: For Rememberance, As a Reminder

Wind rustled through the Phoenix Memorial Park carrying the unique scent of night and spring cherry blossoms. The moon shown down turning midnight into noon and stars twinkled in the heavens. The breeze rustled the cherry grove and a shower of petals floated through the air like pink rain. The scene was picturesque. No one would believe this had been the site of the senshi's last, and bloodiest, battle.

After the destruction of Juuban it had taken years to clear away all the rubble and years more to rebuild. In memory of all the ones that had died, including the senshi, the land surrounding the area where Zylstra had been beheaded had been turned into a park. The cherry blossom grove was dedicated to all the children that'd been killed in the battle, in the middle was a pole with the children's names inscribed on it. Phoenix Memorial Park was filled with the names of the dead; from the pillar in the grove to the lists on the onyx carved benches. It could take you weeks to look at them all.

Serenity was only interested in one.

Tsukino Shingo.

She stood at the center of the grove in front of the memorial, dressed completely in black with her hair tied up in a knot. Running a manicured finger across the weathered stone, she mentally tallied up the years she'd spent away from Japan just to avoid this moment. Avoiding her failure. In the thousand years since the last battle she'd never once set foot in the memorial or any other part of Japan for that matter. There'd been too many memories.

Now, here she was breaking one of her habits just because Setsuna had wanted to see her at a Crystal Point. Ironic that the Crystal Point happened to be in the same place they'd all died. Serenity could still feel the concrete dust in her lungs and the metallic smell of blood lingered in the air. That same loneliness she felt that day engulfed her, making her feel like she was the last person in the universe and it was all her fault. The only thing keeping her anchored was the cold stone beneath her hand.

"I'm sorry, Shingo," Serenity whispered, pressing her forehead to the pillar. "I was supposed to protect you"

Shingo had been Sailor Moon's number one fan. The champion of love and justice could do no wrong in his eyes. He was convinced she'd always save the world. Shingo was sure Sailor Moon was invincible.

Unfortunately, being invincible didn't mean you couldn't be defeated. And no matter what history said about Zylstra's death, Sailor Moon had most definitely been beaten that day. Zylstra had taken away everything she'd loved. What's a champion of love and justice without love?

What a surprise Shingo would've had if he'd ever found out that his own sister was his hero. Usagi had wondered what would happen if she'd told him. Would he be happy? Disappointed? Would his opinion of his sister go up or would his opinion of Sailor Moon go down?

She had never told him because she had wanted to protect him. If he'd known he would've become a target. Usagi would never admit it aloud but keeping her brother safe had been important to her. Her whole family had been important. She would have done anything to keep them safe. It was her job, her destiny.

'But it doesn't matter now, now does it?' Serenity thought bitterly. 'I screwed up. They're dead.'

"You must have loved him very much."

Serenity sighed, not moving from her place on the pillar, "We were horrible to each other. I called him a spore and he made fun of my grades. We were young and stupid."

Selenity's eyes sparkled in the darkness, "Reminds me of another sister-brother set."

"I keep telling people I was meant to be an only child," Serenity replied and straightened, mentally pulling herself back behind her wall.

Selenity nodded and approached the pillar, pretending not to notice Serenity's face harden and her eyes settled on that void gray color they always were when Serenity was caught acting human.

Coming into the light illuminated the girl's features. Her long brown pleated skirt and white linen shirt were reminiscent of a schoolgirl's, the outfit was completed with black Mary Janes and socks. Her face was pretty but nothing to talk about with wheat-gold hair and green eyes. It was a face she rarely wore anymore but was still most comfortable with.

"You better hope no one sees you like that, Lena. It'll be all over the news," Serenity warned as she took in the woman.

Selenity shrugged, "They'll think they've seen a ghost like all the other times. Besides, you told me I needed to live a little. Here I am. Living."

"I meant get a boyfriend, not start urban legends."

Selenity snorted. Five years had gone by since Selenity had first experienced the change and it had been five years since she'd 'died'. The world thought little of Relena Peacecraft anymore. She was safe.

Selenity turned and started walking away. "Setsuna is waiting for you at the Angel Memorial. Follow me."

With a last glance at her brother's name, Serenity turned and hurried to catch up with Selenity.

The Angel Memorial was at the very center of the park in the middle of a cobblestone patio where eight paths met. A marble statue of an angel with wings spread stood at the very center of the patio. The statue's face was blank with no eyes or nose, just an embedded eight-pointed gold star. Surrounding it, in between the paths, were eight other angel statues with blank faces. Each had a different colored stone embedded in its forehead that corresponded to a senshi that had died that day.

Serenity stopped when she saw it. It was a beautiful memorial butâ€it was wrong. She didn't deserve to be in the middle. What had she done? Had she given up her life while fighting for mankind? No but they had. And they surrounded her.

"They honored you, your highness. They remembered you long after they'd forgotten Zylstra," the shadowed form of Setsuna detached herself from the shadows.

Setsuna was as timeless as ever. Her garnet eyes were centuries old and her dark hair flowed down her back just like it always had. The only new addition was the white lab coat. Just looking at her made Serenity feel fourteen again.

Serenity shook her head, "I shouldn't be the one honored. My sacrifice was nothing to theirs."

"They are honored also," Setsuna pointed out and motioned towards all the statues but she already knew what Serenity would say.

"But never enough. They should be in the center, not me," Serenity proclaimed as she traced the star on the center angel's face.

Setsuna watched her queen with sad garnet eyes. The familiar feeling of guilt gnawed at her stomach like it did every time she saw Serenity. As the Time Guardian she could take glimpses into the future and often knew things the other senshi didn't. With Zylstra she'd been just as blind as the rest of them. She'd been so sure that Chaos was the last threat that she'd stopped looking forward. If only she'd looked one more time Serenity wouldn't be like this. It was all her fault.

And what she had to say wasn't going to help.

"Serenity, this is not why I asked to meet you here. I have bad news," Setsuna said slowly, breaking the stretched silence.

"You never bring any other type, Miss Setsuna," Selenity replied lightly from her seat on the onyx benches surrounding the angel.

Setsuna chose to ignore this comment and focused on her queen, "Serenity, Endymion and Zylstra are not dead."

Serenity stiffened and whirled on Setsuna, her face equal parts anger and fear, "If this is some kind of sick joke, Pluto-"

"It's not. They're alive and they've been that way for fifteen years."

The world tilted under Serenity's feet and for a moment she was overcome by a deep primal fear. Images of what Endymion and Zylstra had done swirled like a whirlpool in her mind pulling her down into darkness. All the blood those two had spilled and all the blood the senshi taken in return flooded her vision. The seas of blood roared in her ears.

They were back. They couldn't be back. She had killed them with her own hands. She'd knelt in Zylstra's blood. She'd cleaved Endymion in two. They were dead. Couldn't possibly be any deader.

Like that meant anything.

Taking deep breaths Serenity fought back the darkness at the edges of her vision and shook off the last of the initial panic. She could do this. No big deal. Just another evil villain back from the dead.

"How?" Serenity asked once she regained control of herself.

Setsuna eyed Serenity with concern and wondered if telling her had been such a good idea. "They are bound so that if one lives the other cannot die."

"I could remedy that with a few swipes of my claws," Selenity proclaimed confidently, "It'd be ironic. Zylstra dying by her own spell turned back on her."

Serenity shook her head, "No, if I can't kill them by separating body parts then disemboweling them is useless."

Setsuna nodded gravely in agreement, "Either would work but it would happen at the same moment. It's very doubtful you could get that close."

"Why not? I'm Artemis. There's no one I can't kill. What makes Endymion special?" Serenity smirked at the truth in her words. She'd been an assassin for a long time, long enough to become the best.

"Endymion and Zylstra are very public figures. They own one of the most prominent peace corp. organizations in the Earth-Sphere, they've bought off anyone that would want to take a contract out on them. The Shepherd Org is also being closely watched by the Preventors, if you try to kill those two you'll be caught within an hour." Setsuna explained, "I believe there are more viable options."

"What?"

"The Preventors have found an interesting shipment going to a Shepherd base. They are now on full alert for a potential war," Setsuna continued.

"War? Who would want to have another war?" Selenity gasped incredulously.

Selenity hated the idea of war. She always had. In her mind it was pointless and even childish. She'd been taught that adults talked out their problems, only children resorted to fists.

"We do," the Time Guardian replied sharply. "The shipment was of mobile suits. All mobile suits, even the Gundams, were destroyed. They have to be producing their own. Which means Endymion is up to something and if we don't stop him and his witch many people are going to die."

"So, you want a war but only between us and them. With the Preventors watching them that's not possible, Sets," Serenity pointed out and lowered herself into a bench.

Setsuna straightened and smoothed her lab coat, "I know the way around that. The Preventors want to put the Gundam pilots on the case. With someâ€persuasive speech I got the doctors that created the Gundams to accept another team of professionals."

"You brainwashed them like Chibi-Usa brainwashed my parents, didn't you?" Serenity accused with a wicked grin.

"You need to collect the senshi, Serenity," Setsuna continued like Serenity hadn't spoken at all. "We need them if we want to defeat Endymion and Zylstra."

Serenity opened her mouth to argue but couldn't find the will. The information she'd just been forced fed was still making her woozy. And she'd missed her friends, it would be good to see them again no matter the situation. Even if they didn't remember her.

"Fine."

The noon sun shined through arching picture windows, flooding the cream tinted room with light, making it seem like heaven had come down to earth. It was a room to be awed with its light-wooded floors and gilded furniture that reeked of wealth. The only thing that was out of place was the red. Violent patches of red jumped out at you, making heaven look blood splattered. It wasn't much, just a throw pillow here or a glass vase there but it was enough to unsettle the more sensitively tuned people. And those were the only people Zylstra deemed worthy to know. It made her giggle to see them squirm.

Classical music flowed through the air like a tempest, crescendoing fiercely then suddenly dropping into delicate calms like soft breezes in the eye of the storm. In the middle of it all was Zylstra, twirling and swaying like she'd gotten caught in the madness. Her black skirt and long red streaked raven hair swirled around her as she danced making Zlystra seem like the personification of the music's storm.

The spun and spun and spun about the room like a black whirlwind. Artfully, she dodged the furniture, touching nothing. She was a force of nature both delicate and deadly.

As the last notes dissipated, Zylstra twirled her way to the windows, avoiding a collision by only a few inches. Giggling, she looked down.

The windows looked down over the bustling city of Chicago, giving the casual observer glimpses of the city's high society scurrying from one overpriced shop to the next. They spent money the way they wished they had lived their lives: freely and without constraint. And the saleswomen gladly sucked every penny from them like the cosmetically enhanced leeches they were.

"Watch out, little bugs, a spider watches you," Zylstra giggled, watching the ant sized people scurry about.

Endymion sighed on the couch as he watched and listened to his wife. This was normal behavior and it was beginning to wear on his patience. Couldn't she act sane in front of him like she did in front of their daughter? It'd be a tremendous relief.

"Are you finished?" Endymion asked waspishly and slouched down in his seat.

Zylstra turned and tittered, "Never, darling, but for you I can make time."

"Good, now we can discuss business," Endymion straightened up and flipped open a folder laying on the coffee table. "Our plan has been set in motion. They should all be gathering soon and be ripe for the picking. How are the twins doing?"

"They're being good little lambs. They've been trained well. They'll cause us no problems," Zylstra replied solemnly.

Some of Zlystra's madness seemed to melt away whenever they talked business. It was why Endymion was sure to only talk to her about that and that alone. It was also good for public appearances. Who wanted to follow a man into war who married a raving loony? Zylstra played her part of the meek wife a revolutionary well.

"Good. Eve is doing just as well, she's loyal to our 'cause'," the Earth prince replied with a smirk. "My sisters won't mess up our plans again."

Zylstra giggled and spun around, "Oh, to see the look on that witch's face! When I take her as my own and mold her into a dark queen to be proud of!"

Endymion just smiled slyly. Once he had his rabbit again he wouldn't need Zylstra. He'd finally be free of this insanity. He'd have his rabbit and his honor, what more could a man ask for?