((Nephrite))

-up.. come on Zoi."

It was light out.. not very, but bright enough to see the others. To see them in all of their tattered, broken glory. Kunzite slouched over a few yards away, his head on his knees, Jadeite kneeling down with Zoi's head resting on his lap trying to wake the poor boy up.

And me?

I was leaning against a tree.

I think it was some kind of maple by the smell.. But that's where we were. Surrounded by trees, dozens of them.. and brightly colored flowers too. Granted, they were few in number but they were there none the less.

Funny how after you die, everything gets so romanticized..

One minute you're floating around in a black nothingness, the next you're in a little cove in a nice forest with flowers and trees and little birdies singing and flying around, and you glance over your shoulder and see a bunny hopping and nibbling on clover with little fucking periwinkle flowers on it..

And then you look down and you're still covered in blood.

Only there's more than normal. And some of it you can't even see, but you know it's there because you can feel it. And it wont come off, no matter how much you rub.

The blood on my hands.. our hands, all of ours..

She offered to take it away, to make it disappear.. but it's back. It's god-damn back and it wont leave us (me) alone. And it brought the memories back with it. The knowledge that it had gone too far.. too far and we had let it take us. One of us had been dying, yes.. but our prince was alive, and we had betrayed him damn-it!

And we'd left him hung out to dry like the fucking cowards we were.

A faint cough.

Looks like sleeping beauty finally decided to join us.

((Kunzite))

Have you ever woken up with your head feeling like it's going to explode? Not just a headache, or even a migraine.. I mean like it's really going to explode? Like you got hit with a lightening bolt while asleep and the electricity didn't have the decency to kill you. I heard Jadeite complaining about this a few times before, or at least something like it.. I've never been one to drink much, but dear God, if a hangover is anything like this I will never touch a wine glass again.

You know, if you sat and thought about it, this would be remarkably amusing. Seeing me sitting here like this.Me.

The leader of the Shitennou.

The highest king.

Beryl's favorite general, blessed by Metella herself.

I was the best damn-it. I lead the attack on the Moon Kingdom.

Christ..

Lotta fucking good that did me now..

.. Sitting here in the mud, caked in it and God knows what else. Sitting in the middle of nowhere with my three other partners in crime waiting for whatever brought us back in the first place to make itself known and tell us why we're here when we're supposed to be dead.

What I wouldn't give to be back in that oblivion right now. Away from all the bad decisions.

Away from the consequences..

"Oh God,"

Jadeite, I think, he's the only one of us so far to bother verbalizing something. If the rest of them got the same kind of memory-bomb I did, then we all feel like total shit. There was a brief coughing fit which I assumed ment Zoisite had woken up. My assumption was confirmed when I saw him try to move, a drop of blood rolling down his chin from the corner of his mouth.

".. help him roll over.." Lord.. my throat was sore. ".. he'll choke on it." Jadeite, for once, complied without comment. Zoi coughed again, a light splatter of blood. Nephrite seemed to gain interest in the conversation and decided to throw out his two cents.

"Does any one know where we are?"

There was a moment of silence. Jadeite rubbed Zoisite's back as the coughing subsided again. "Earth, I guess.. it's sure as hell not the Dark Kingdom.."

Nephrite pushed himself up, wincing. His uniform muddy and ripped, straight through at the shoulder and still stained with dark green blood even though his shoulder was healed. I'm sure I looked just as bad.

"We need a place to go." he said blatantly. His legs almost gave out. Gripping the bark of a tree next to him, he took a shaky step forward. Jadeite looked up at him. Angry, maybe.. frustrated, probably so.

"I don't understand.." he put his arm under Zoi's shoulder to support him. "Why aren't we dead? Why are we here?" Regaining his balance, Nephrite took a more confident step and let go of the tree.

"The ginzuishou maybe.. Metella could have been reborn.." Jadeite tried to lever Zoisite up more. He adjusted his hold and forced himself up so he was kneeling. The smallest king, still leaning heavily on Jadeite, began to glance around him.

Maybe it was just my pride, but standing up seemed like a good idea.

"If we've been reborn then why do I feel half dead.." To this Nephrite had no reply. He looked over at me. The other followed his gaze. Like I had the answer. I was just as confused about what had happened as they were.

"I think.." eh, felt something pop.. pushing myself up was easier said then done. ".. our bodies are regenerating.." Nephrite rubbed his shoulder.

((Jadeite))

In one's life there will be comedies, there will be tragedies, and there will be coincidences. Life is a brilliant mix of literature. Something so perfect not even Shakespeare himself could write anything that would accurately portray it.

Of course if you ask the actors then it just sucks royal monkey butt.

For example, you wake up one morning in bed absolutely content. It's bright out, you have food in your stomach, and you had sex the night before. Life's just peachy kean for you.

But think about what you put the hooker through.

I mean, God.. you sick fuck..

Or in my case. You're walking around doing your job, zapping energy, you know the deal. Suddenly, out of no where, this girl in a mini skirt pops up, yells something about the moon, and before you know it you've been run over by a plane.

Then your employer decides you weren't doing your job well enough and freezes you in solitary confinment for a few billion years (okay, so not that long) and replaces you with some one who, in the long run, does a much crappier job then you did.

And then the universe collapses.

Well not the universe, but yours. So then you techniclly cease to exist, but since you were never really died your concious of everything. Which, trust me, is worse then the solitary confinment and is really really boring.

But it gets better.

Then you sit up and find yourself, along with some friends, lying in some kind of parky-woods thing.. and one of them is coughing up blood. Added to that, you get a brand spanking new wave of memories.

Oh yeah..

Life's great, isn't it.

In closing, let me just say that I have absolutely no idea what's going on right now.

"How can we be regenerating if we've been reborn under Metella.."

"We can think about that later.." Nephrite closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Doing one of his 'let's consult the stars' dealys. For all I know he could be asking for directions, plotting ways to kill us, or just plain mentally jacking off.

Not that I want to know or anything.

He turned to his left, facing me actually, and began to walk. Kunzite was standing now and talking a few more catious steps of his own. Meanwhile lil'old me is kneeling on the ground supporting the last member of our team who is currently incapable of transporting himself.

"I feel something.. it's.. familier, I've been here before." He paused. It was a long pause, even for him. Like he was waiting for something. He could have turned to me and said 'run with it' for all it mattered. It would have had the same effect.

"Did the 'all-knowing' stars tell you this or did you figure it out yourself.."

He glared at me, but more relaxed then normal. Green light, we may now proceed. The resident jack-ass has given permisson to go. Nephrite took another step before I cleared my throat.

"What about-" Kunzite wordlessly leaned over and picked Zoisite up. Seeing as he'd been re-learning how to walk less than five minutes ago I really can't see how this was a good idea, but when you're superior officer does something it's not your place to question it. Then I get to thinking about one important factor..

It's never stopped me before.

Why break tradition?

"Don't fall."

And with that we left.

We left the protection of our trees and mud. Even better, we're following the lead of a hunch and the guidence of stars.

We are so screwed.