Disclaimer: If you don't know which parts of this are mine and which parts aren't, then you obviously aren't one of the people who would have a right to sue me over it anyway.

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Night Of The Killer Bunny Slippers

By Jessyca Thornbrook

Chapter 9

If a sudden arctic wind had swept through and turned everyone's blood to ice in their veins, they could not have been any more thoroughly frozen. Tuxedo Kamen stood like a statue with Gorai's sword through his shoulder. Behind him, Sailor Moon stared at the blade without moving. The Senshi looked on, transfixed with horror, and Rei lay still on the stony ground. Nitha watched Gorai, motionless, and Gorai's crimson gaze remained locked on her victim's face. Even the patchwork monsters and bunny slippers were still, as if the whole world held its breath.

Slowly, a single drop of blood made its way along the bottom edge of the sword blade. It hung there for a moment, then fell, staining the strands of golden hair that had been severed by the sword. Usagi followed it with her eyes, unable to think, move, or breathe.

Then all hell broke loose. Jupiter lunged at Gorai with an enraged yell and was blocked by one of the patchwork monsters. Gorai stepped back, pulling her sword with her, and Tuxedo Kamen's knees immediately buckled. Sailor Moon instinctively threw her arms around his waist, but wasn't able to hold him up. She dropped to the ground with him, scraping her knees on the paving stones. Venus tripped Nitha with her love-me-chain, but went down a moment later under a sudden onslaught of bunny slippers. Mercury, who had been glancing from Rei to Tuxedo Kamen, as if trying to decide who to go to first, turned back to help Venus.

As chaos raged around them, Usagi supported Mamoru's much larger frame as best she could, cradling his head against her shoulder. The hat and mask had been knocked off when he fell, and for a moment as he looked up at her, his face was that of a scared little boy.

Usagi had no idea where she summoned a smile from, but she forced it onto her face. "You're going to be okay," she stated firmly, surprised at the confidence in her own voice.

"I don't think so," he replied weakly, reaching up a hand to touch her face. "I'm sorry I teased you so much. You really are beautiful. Like a princess. My princess. . . ."

Usagi's eyes widened, even as they filled with tears. Princess? The fingers stroking her cheek began to tremble, and she quickly covered them with her own. Mamoru's breathing grew more labored, his eyes glassy. "No," she whispered. The tension seemed to go out of his muscles, and his hand would have dropped if she hadn't held onto it. "No! Mamoru! Mamoru!" Her voice rose, and Jupiter, who had fallen a few feet away as she jumped to avoid a blow from one of the monsters, heard it.

"Mamoru-san?" she gaped. "What the—" Her next words were cut off, as she rolled quickly out of the way of a huge claw.

Hot tears rose in Usagi's eyes, blinding her, and as they overflowed, another feeling that had been building inside her broke free, as if her heart were being ripped in half from the inside out.

"Endymion!"

All heads turned at her desperate cry, and were met with a surge of blinding light. A strange melody filled their ears, and a sudden wind carried the scent of some flower which the Senshi recognized as familiar, but could not identify. When the light faded, a person stood before them that was definitely Usagi, and Sailor Moon, and yet was completely different from both of them.

Gorai laughed triumphantly as the Senshi just stared at the Princess—for this was most certainly the princess they had been searching for. If the long white gown and the wing-shaped jewels in her hair had not told them so, the look in her blue eyes would have made it clear: this was royalty. This was the daughter of Queen Serenity, heir to the throne of the Moon Kingdom. This was the reason they fought.

"This is victory!" crowed Gorai, tossing the black sword carelessly aside and drawing the knife from her belt. "Now I shall finally attain true power! The heart of the Moon Princess will be mine!" She lunged forward.

"NO!" cried the Senshii, realizing too late that none of them stood close enough to intervene. There was a sudden flash of movement, and then the clash of metal on metal, as a black-gauntleted arm knocked the knife aside. A tall man in black armor faced Gorai with defiance in his eyes, though his face was pale and his legs seemed barely able to hold him up. His voice, however, rang out strong and clear.

"You will not touch her!" Gorai merely snarled in response, as she tore her wrist from his grasp. He dodged the knife, but wasn't quick enough to evade the punch directed at his still-wounded shoulder. Gorai's knuckles clanged against his armor and sent him flying back several yards to land in a heap, groaning in pain. She moved in to finish him off, but found her way blocked by the small figure of the Princess.

"So, Your Highness," Gorai sneered, "you've decided to give yourself up? A wise decision, though it will not save your lover, or your friends!"

The Princess merely looked at her with the same calm, determined gaze. Then she raised the object she held in her right hand: a crescent moon on a stick, with a silver crystal set in the base. Comprehension dawned on Gorai's face, and she raised her knife for a final charge, but before she had taken half a step she was caught in a blast of power emanating from the wand. She gave a strangled, incredulous cry, and disintegrated. The patchwork monsters were swallowed up as they rushed to aid her. Nitha cowered on the ground at a distance, and the Senshi watched in astonishment.

Finally, the light faded, and the Princess let her arm drop back to her side, wavering slightly on her feet. As if responding to some silent signal, the three Senshi dropped to one knee before her. She smiled wanly at them, then turned toward the fallen Prince. They rose to followe, but at a sudden noise all three spun around into defensive positions. Nitha stood behind them, a murderous expression on his face. He was holding Gorai's knife by the blade, as if about to throw it, but even as they watched, it slipped from his fingers, and his gaze dropped to the much larger blade protruding from his chest.

He fell forward with a gurgling cry and lay still. Behind him, pale and shaky but very much alive, Rei dropped the black sword and gave the others a half-smile.

"So, what did I miss?" She glanced over to where Princess Serenity knelt beside Prince Endymion. "Apparently a whole bunch."

"Are you all right?" demanded Mercury, pulling a first aid kit out of thin air.

"I'll live. Don't worry about me. I think you're needed more over there," Rei spoke quietly, nodding toward the legendary lovers.

The Princess appeared to have taken no notice of Nitha's demise. "Endymion," she called softly, "Endymion, my love. Please wake up!"

With a muffled groan, the Prince slowly opened his eyes. "Serenity!" he breathed, once he managed to focus on her.

"Endymion," she smiled through her tears, "will you do something for me? Something important?" He smiled weakly.

"Anything, my love."

"Promise?" The smile came more easily this time.

"Anything. I am yours to command, while I have breath in my body." The way he gasped out the last few words suggested this might not be very long. Mercury, as she inconspicuously scanned him with her computer, looked grave.

"Then do this for me, my prince: live!" The words were half a plea, half a command. The Prince hesitated a moment, then nodded—almost imperceptibly, but it seemed to satisfy the Princess. She bent down and kissed his forehead gently, and it was only when she detransformed back to Sailor Moon, and then to Usagi, that the Senshi realized she had fallen asleep.