Chapter 18

Venus Rising and the General of Heart Part I

"She's here!"

"Who is?"

"VENUS!"

Watching as their planetary symbols continued to glow upon their forehead, the Professor observed them could see the smiles upon each of the young women's faces. Infectious to say the least, the generals joined them. It wouldn't be too long now before their last and final comrade was found as well.

Kunzite….The General of Heart….

About to speak his mind, the professor stiffened, as did Luna and Artemis as a dark, evil kind of feeling began to seep into the room. "Did you feel that, Artemis?" Luna asked softly. Her blue eyes were looking at the white haired man with in confusion and fear. Seeing him nod gave the professor and Luna some comfort, but that too disappeared as only seconds later…

The three generals began to scream.

"Jadeite!" Raye shouted as she tried to approach him. She was knocked clear across the room and against the wall seconds later as a dark aura manifested itself around the blond haired youth. She slumped forward into unconsciousness. His eyes were were pained as he tried to reach for her, nearly buckling under the sheer agony as he struggled to come to her aid.

"Firebrand…." he managed to whisper before he was dragged into black oblivion. Logan, seeing that he was about to collapse to the floor, managed to catch the youth, and Zoisite, gritting his teeth in agony as the pain began to tear through his skin. He held onto them, even as the dark energy attempted to drag him into their nightmare.

Witnessing this from behind his desk, Professor Xavier wheeled out as Lita managed to just barely catch a fallen Nephlyte. Much like Logan, she struggled not to scream and let go of him as the pain tried to take her as well.

Amy, trying not to rip Zoisite away from Logan, typed rapidly upon her handheld computer as she attempted to scan the dark energy. As she did so, she felt a tentative bond, one that she had just begun to reforge with Zoisite, flare deep inside her mind. Of the four generals who had served under Endymion, Zoisie's mind had always been the stronger and he was more capable of breaking free when it came to attacks on the mind that the others.

:Amy…My Ice Princess….: he moaned in her head, explaining what was happening in the only way he could….through long forgotten memories of Beryl and her torture.

"Zoisite…," she whispered. Her voice was soft and clear enough that Charles could still manage to hear her. Gesturing for Eric to lend Logan his strength, through the metal I his skeleton, he turned to the now transformed Princess of Mercury. A small crown of sapphires encircled her forehead, seeming to glow with a power all their own as they shone. Her words with each passing seconds seemed to be important.

There was a pause as the pictures changed to show what she needed to do. "Zoisite….I don't know if we can...," another pause and she begged, "But we need Mina or the Princes." Another pause and apparently he'd convinced her. Nodding her head once more, she turned to Lita who was still struggling to keep the man she loved from falling as Raye started to come around as well. "We need to combine our energies. Zoisite says this energy….this hate….it's a part of Chaos. It's attacking them. Trying to turn them back to how they were under Beryl." She stopped and suddenly starts to get steely, her determination as indestructible as Logan's adamantiam skeleton. "I won't let them take you again! I lost you once! Never again! I won't Zoisite! I won't!"

Her words heard, the X-Men watched as the other two shimmer into the formal gowns of their respective planets. Raye was in red with Lita in a the darkest green. And then they began to glow.

"I call upon the powers of Mars…," Raye murmured her eyes fixed on Jadeite. Amy picked up from there, murmuring, "Mercury."

"Jupiter…," Lita was almost sobbing, feeling Nephlyte's weight start to drag on her.

"Please….help us save them," the three whispered in unison, the glow around their bodies beginning to intensify. Bright and unyielding, their energy moved to combat the darkness. Both Logan and Lita felt the ease of the generals weight as the planets lend the Senshi their strength.

The others simply watched in awe as the trio battled the energy. Soon, however, the awe turned to fear as they saw the sweat beading at their brows and the wrenching cries of pain coming from the three men who were fighting for their souls and their second chance. About to come forward and help them, the X-Men are stilled again as a wave of brilliant golden light floods in with a vengeance. Adding its strength to the others, these four powers merge, fighting off the energy, allowing the three to struggle again to their feet. That is when the fight truly begins.

Somehow the darkness only grew darker in its malevolence, causing the girls to scream in intense suffering, their power reflected back at them. Logan felt the weight of Jadeite and Zoisite oce again drag on him, as Lita struggles to stay in control. The others rushe to Amy and Raye's sides, attempting to assist them somehow.

Then something odd enters the room. Glowing a dark and vibrant orange in color, another combatant entered the fray, lending its strength to the flailing generals. The three women shake off those that are assisting them and try again, assisted these two great powers as well.

The support of this new power was lifting away some of the battle, taking the pain onto itself as it fought the darkness.

As the battle continued, a blast of copper detached itself from the dark orange light, brushing across the generals' inert forms, returning strength to their failing struggles. Formidable and unbeatable; the spectators in the room could only watch as the copper light, along with the aid of the generals, assisted the young scouts, their bodies shining with the exertion of their fight. "What is going on?" Storm inquired quietly, a confused look resting uneasily on her pretty features.

The two cats had shimmered to their human form, and were watching in awe as the events unfolded before them. Slowly but surely, the answer to their own questions came to them. The black mist fled from the combined power, unable to beat their intense strength.

As the copper fades with the black, the dark orange light from which it sprung pulsed with concern above the sweat slick features of the Senshi's young men as they are laid carefully on the floor. Each was covered in sweat, their bodies trembling uncontrollably as they tried to recover from the battle for their souls.

Mercury's first desire is to return to Zoisite's side. She dashed forward, followed by the other two Senshi, only to be thrown back as the gentle golden light, previously identified as Venus, lunged forward to attack the dark orange mist.

A ghostly cry of, "Kunzite! Traitor!" reverberates throughout the room.

Love, hate, betrayal, rejection, pain and fear are all evident in that voice. All over the world, people begin to cry for no reason.

Instead of the influx of love that the light had initially spread at its appearance, there was now only pain….such intense heartbreak that most crumpled under the weight of it.