Disclaimer: I own no part of the Sailor Moon universe but this story idea.
"Endymion!"
Jolting awake, Chiba Mamoru heard the echo of a sweet voice ringing in his head. He looked around wildly for a moment, a name on the tip of his tongue. He caught himself just before he cried out, "Serenity!"
The bus continued on its way through nighttime Tokyo. The rest of the passengers seemed unaware of his sudden waking, for which he was grateful. He let his head fall back against the seat and sighed.
Just another dream, Chiba. Relax.
After the dream of the night before, Mamoru felt anything but relaxed. He enjoyed the summer study trip to an Ancient Temple with one of his favorite professors immensely. It lasted only one week, just long enough for him to really begin missing his Usako. While he feared whatever baked treats his beloved odango atama might have ready to spring on him, he had been eager to see her again as the trip drew to a close.
But when he had lay himself down to sleep in his hotel room for the last time, the nightmare came.
The sound of crying led him at a run down the long hall. When he reached a corner, he paused to listen. The weeping seemed to come from both directions. He chose at random, and raced along until he came to a solid wall barring his path.
Turning, he tried the other way. He skidded through more corridors, finding more dead ends. The crying grew louder.
"What's wrong?" he shouted. "Where are you?"
No answer came but the sobs.
Mamoru turned another corner, and suddenly before him hung two heavy black curtains. Certain the crying came from the other side, he rushed to throw them open. He came out onto a balcony bathed in silver moonlight, and froze with horror.
"Endymion!" Neo-Queen Serenity knelt on the stone, her white dress stained with red. "Where were you? Oh, my Small Lady!"
The blood on her dress was not her own. Clasped in her arms, the limp body of Chibiusa did not stir as her mother rocked her and wailed. Her little head fell back, and wide, empty eyes stared accusingly at her father.
"No," Mamoru gasped in horror.
"You did not protect her!" Serenity railed against him. "Where were you when our daughter needed you? How could you abandon her?"
"NO!"
Even warm and safe on the bus, Mamoru could not shake off the terrifying sight of his child dead in his beloved's arms. The entire day, meant to be spent in one last tour of the Temple, all he wanted to do was run home, seize up Usagi in his arms, and know everything was alright.
I should have called her. He nearly had at least a dozen times, but he did not want his fear to carry over to her. She could be very excitable.
Now, woken suddenly with her voice calling out to him in fear, he wished he hadn't been so sensible.
She has Luna and the Senshi to keep her safe, he reminded himself, watching the street lights go by. They protected her just fine while you were in America. As long as she's got the other girls, she'll be safe.
With these thoughts as his only comfort, and not doing a very good job soothing his nerves, Mamoru leapt off the bus at the college with great relief. He gave a hurried goodbye to his classmates and professor, slung his duffle bag across his shoulders, and went to the bike that stood waiting for him. His fellow trip goers watched in wonder as he peeled out at a reckless speed entirely unlike the mature, rational Chiba they all knew.
He gunned the engine for more speed, happy for the strangely empty roads. It might be well after midnight, but Tokyo rarely passed so quiet a night. As it made his journey easier, he did not think much about it.
Instead of heading for his own apartment, he took a sharp corner, flying through a residential area. Happy family homes sped past, and he slowed to a halt in front of the Tsukino house. No lights shone from the windows, and he heard no sounds to make him believe anyone was still awake.
I'll just peek through the window and see her. I won't wake her.
He leapt up onto the windowsill of Usagi's bedroom, as he had done occasionally in the past, carefully peeking through the curtains. If, for some strange reason, she still sat up awake, he did not want to scare her. His eyes fell onto her bed, and froze.
Empty.
Calm down! She's staying over with one of the other girls! She's a teenager, they do things like that!
Mamoru dropped back to the ground, putting his hand over his heart and willing it to slow. There could be a million reasons she wasn't sleeping there. Luna, also, appeared to be gone, so wherever they went, they probably went together.
Crossing the street to his bike again, he wildly considered going by each and every girl's house until he found them all. While he loved Usagi more than anything else in the universe, except Chibiusa, each of the Senshi held a special place in his heart. He wanted to know all of them were safe.
However, running from the house of one young girl to another might get him arrested, which would certainly make finding Usagi more difficult. So he paused while putting on his helmet, took a long breath, and ordered himself to think clearly. He could simply call Makoto and the Outer Senshi, all of whom did not have parents to be angry with late night calls. Someone knew where his Usako had gone.
This is starting to get a little crazy, he reminded himself. You don't have to know where she is every second of the day. You're not that kind of creepy boyfriend. She's with the girls, she's safe, you would know if she wasn't.
Except, he had woken to her screaming his name...
A left over from the nightmare. She called you Endymion, not Mamo-chan. It was just part of the dream.
Mamoru turned back onto the main roads again, heading at a slightly more sedated pace across the city to his own apartment. Still wrapped up in his worries over Usagi, it took him nearly a city block to realize something strange. He paused at a crosswalk, and looked around.
Every light on one side of the street stood dark.
He slowly looked down the street, and his eyebrows began to raise. The darkness went on for several blocks. Nearly a kilometer away, he saw the faint glow of more lights.
"That's odd."
The bike continued much slower, as Mamoru looked about for any sign of life. It finally struck him how silent the city seemed. He heard nothing, not even the faint voices from televisions, or the motor of a taxi, or the bark of a dog. Someone, somewhere, should have been awake, doing something.
Several blocks into the strange electrical blackout, the darkness crossed the street. The sidewalk on either side of Mamoru stood without a single lamp on. Carefully, he, too, changed sides. He parked the bike and dismounted.
Clouds scuttled across the moon, and no silver rays reached the park where Mamoru found himself. He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, hesitating to enter the dark. His eyes began to grow accustomed to the night, and he saw something to still his heart.
Standing with her back to him, hair spilling from two buns on top of her head, a girl in a long dress embraced a slightly taller, masculine figure. He could not see them clearly, but with their shadowed faces so close, he could guess what they did together. A small hand with delicate fingers rose to stroke the strange man's face.
"Usako!"
The anguished cry came from his mouth before he could stop himself. The small figure of the girl stiffened, then stepped away from the man. Mamoru watched as the man fell to a boneless heap on the grass. The girl turned to him, still nothing more than a shadow.
"Usako, what are you doing?" Mamoru called, running several steps closer. The shadowed girl watched for a moment, then began walking slowly to meet him. Her languorous, unhurried movements made him stop. Something was not right. The small figure came into clearer focus, and he reversed his direction quickly.
The girl coming ever closer to him looked like a photographic negative of Usagi at her most beautiful. Black eyes regarded him coldly, instead of warm blue.
"Who are you?" he demanded softly. "What are you?"
She did not answer. Filled with dread, Mamoru looked to the man laying on the ground. He did not move, and Mamoru felt certain he did not breathe.
"What did you do to him?" Mamoru shouted. "What are you?!?"
The black Usagi-like girl reached out her hands in an almost pleading gesture, and his heart softened just a bit. For half a heartbeat, the young face looked at him with terrible longing. The flash of claws from Its fingers brought a swift return to his abhorrence.
"Get back!" he shouted. He took another step away, preparing to transform into the more useful guise of Tuxedo Mask. Before he could, It lunged.
"No!"
Something, or someone, shot from the shadows of the trees. A body crashed into Mamoru's, and they rolled across the grass. The Creature landed and spun towards them, black eyes watching them in eerie silence.
"Prince! Kunzite!"
Two more figures rushed from the shadows. The Creature turned in time to block a kick from one man, but stumbled under a blow from the other. Both golden haired Shitennou surged towards It with shouts of rage.
Their deceptively tiny enemy leapt nearly three meters into the air, straight over their heads. Jadeite and Zoisite crashed to the ground with muffled grunts. It turned to face them, and opened Its jaws.
All four men cried out as It drew a deep breath. The heat of their rage and fear began to ebb from them. Frost seemed to creep up into their hearts, and they gasped for air with lungs that refused to fill.
"N...n...no!" Jadeite managed. "K...Kunzite! Get... the Prince... away!"
Jadeite and Zoisite, closer to the monster than the others, fell to their knees. Their hands went to their throats as they struggled for oxygen. Mamoru felt hands pulling at him, and heard a voice he never expected to hear again.
"Run! My lord... go!"
Old hatred for Beryl's henchmen fell before ancient loyalty and friendship. He struggled to his feet, but instead of running, he took a staggering step towards the Creature. His knees shook, but he moved again closer. Kunzite seized his ankle in a desperate last attempt to stop him.
"Leave them! Wh... what do you want?!?"
The face he loved most, contorted with darkness and a fearfully gaping mouth, turned to stare at him without feeling. From between the sweet lips lolled a black tongue. It stretched, impossibly long, towards him.
"My lord!" Kunzite shouted brokenly. "Flee!"
Mamoru stared defiantly at the beast as It stepped closer. He stopped struggling to breathe, determined to face It with dignity. It advanced, that terrible tongue moving closer to his face.
The clouds broke, and silver moonlight cascaded into the darkened park. The tongue retracted instantly, and the Creature cowered under the glow. Cool, sweet oxygen rushed back into the lungs of the four men as It retreated into the shadows of the trees.
"Jadeite! Zoisite!" Mamoru croaked. "Come further into the light!"
They scrambled to obey, joining Kunzite in a protective ring about their Prince. The Creature looked up at the moon again, then back at them. Licking Its lips once with Its terrible tongue, It turned and vanished into the night.
"What... in all the rings... of hell... was that?!?" Jadeite demanded, still gasping for breath.
Mamoru shook his head silently, massaging his own sore throat. He turned to the men he once regarded as his closest companions and confidantes, a million questions on his lips. The first one he asked surprised even him.
"What happened to your face?"
Jadeite scowled, while the other two let out ragged, coughing laughs. Kunzite took it upon himself to answer, patting his friend's shoulder in sympathy.
"Nephrite's 'Emerald Thunder Goddess' took exception to him," he explained.
Mamoru grinned wryly with memory. "I can't believe he calls her that. What did you do?"
"I had the audacity to be alive," Jadeite growled.
This brought Mamoru's mind back to the present. "How is it you are alive? All of you?"
"An excellent question," Zoisite said. "Unfortunately, we don't know."
Mamoru looked uncertainly at the trio. They had just risked their own lives to protect his. They even offered to die so he could make his escape. And yet, they had last met as enemies, something he could not forget.
"How can I trust you?"
Kunzite's smirk melted away. He sank to one knee, taking his master's hand in a ageless sign of fealty. Jadeite and Zoisite both followed him to the ground, head's bowed.
"We are yours to command," his once dearest friend swore. "If you find us unworthy of your trust, we will end our lives, so you may live without fear of us."
"Give me proof," Mamoru told them sharply. "Why should I believe that you are no longer evil?"
Zoisite raised his head first, a tortured expression in his green eyes. "Don't you know us, my lord? Don't you remember us?"
"I remember you under Beryl's command."
"But that wasn't us!" he cried. "Metalia poisoned our minds, brainwashed us against you!"
"We should have fought her harder," Jadeite interrupted, his voice harsh. "We should have died before we turned against our lord. We failed, Zoisite. Be silent, and let our lord decide what is to be done."
Quiet fell over the men, the three humbled before their master, willing to take whatever judgment he chose to pass over them. Mamoru considered, studying their bent heads, the sincere regret on their faces. How could they prove themselves?
"I cannot trust you," he announced at last. "Not only did you hurt the innocent, you threatened the lives of the Senshi, whom you swore to love, and my Princess. I will not let them be harmed by you again."
"What would you have us do?" Kunzite asked, face lowered to the ground.
Mamoru turned a steely countenance on them. "I would have you protect those you once loved from yourselves. Forever."
All three raised their faces to him. Instead of rage, or fear, or even sorrow, they all looked strangely resigned. Kunzite actually smiled.
"We can do that for you, my Prince."
From their belts, they drew their long daggers. Each lifted it in hands unshaken by fear, and rested them against their chests. They took a long, single breath together. Their arms tensed, and their eyes filled with purpose.
"STOP!"
Mamoru's voice rang out with the cool authority of Endymion. All three Shitennou froze, daggers just piercing the flesh of their chests through their uniforms. They regarded him with surprise as he reached over and pulled Kunzite's hand down. Holding his wrist firmly in strong fingers, the Prince of Earth stared across the blood stained blade into the platinum eyes of his friend. He smiled.
"So, you have returned to me at long last."