Title: A Lifetime Of Regret
Author: Princess Destiny
Email: In Profile
URL: In Profile
Couple: Usagi And Mamoru
Rating: M 15+
Summary: 'One Hour Challenge' #649: Response Fanfic. Tuxedo Kamen is injured in battle and then Usagi come across a bleeding Mamoru. While trying to help him Zoisite turns up to finish off the job and the blonde finds herself the protector this time.
Chapters: 2/2
Status: Completed
Year Completed: 2005

Comments: Hi everyone! Here is the Chapter Two as promised, even though I wanted to post over a week ago because it was completed about two months ago. LOL.

For those of you who did not look to my Profile for the reason I didn't post earlier, I was banned till today by FF .net Admin for posting explicit content in my other Fanfic 'Lost in Your Eyes'. I accidentally uploaded the full version that I had intended for Adultfanfiction .net. The Fanfic was deleted and all the reviews with it. :( But as soon as I can, I'll reupload it and hopefully everyone who reviewed will leave me a kind review to remind me of who liked my Fanfic.

I hope you like it because there will be a Sequel. In fact, there are three or four Sequels planned for this Series, each based around a General. There will most probably, in that case, be some Senshi/General romance on top of the Usagi/Mamoru romance going on.

The Sequel is in the works, but Efiction is about to go up, so I'll be spending all my time moving the current Archives over to the new one.

Efiction: The Archives are going automated with a program called Efiction, which will allow you to upload your Fanfics like It will be completed tonight or tomorrow and I'd be delighted if anyone would like to Submit their Fanfiction for Sailor Moon or other fandoms. All ratings are accepted. I'll let you know when it's open to everyone.

Please review me! You don't know how much it means to an Author to get a review on their Fanfic and to know that you're enjoying it. Believe me, it makes us want to write more for you. LOL.

I thought I'd just mention my Personal Fanfiction Mailing List. I post everything there before anywhere else, including the Archives. :) If you'd like to join, please look under my Profile for the URL.

This Fanfic is a result of a Fanfiction Round Robin being organized on the Message Board. You are issued a Challenge, in which you have a week to write a Fanfic about. We do this every week, taking turns to issue Challenges. Anyone is more than welcome to join. Just go to the Message Board and leave your name there, or contact me. Also look at my Profile for the Message Board.

Please come and join The Moonlight Sonata Romance Fanfiction List. This is a Sailor Moon List for Usagi and Mamoru, all Seasons and ratings! We have 271 Members and climbing daily. Or if you'd like to submit a Fanfic to their Archives, please contact me. The Sailor Moon Romance Fanfiction Archives for the 'Moonlight Sonata' List have over 18 different pairings from the Anime and 267. Go to my Profile for link details.

PS: See Archive link in the Profile for 'One Hour Challenge' sentences.

Enjoy the Fanfic!

Hugs,
Princess Destiny

A LIFETIME OF REGRET

By Princess Destiny

Chapter Two

"Untie me!" Zoisite snarled at the blonde, fighting her bonds.

"Shut the hell up, you bitch, or I'll do it myself." Usagi startled both of them by snarling at the woman, her hand protectively on Mamoru's chest.

Where on earth had that come from, the blonde wondered, flabeghasted. She had never sworn in her entire life. But an unbelievably protective surge had come over her and she truly would have killed the woman if she had tried to hurt Mamoru.

Just when had she developed such deep feelings for the jerk she constantly ran into? He seemed to always be there for her...

She brushed the hair from his pale face tenderly. "I won't let you die."

"You're Sailor Moon, aren't you?" The Dark Kingdom General said slowly. "I've seen that expression on your face before when you look at him."

Usagi looked at her sharply, heart sinking in her chest. Was she so very transparent? "I meant what I said." She warned. "Keep silent."

"Do you want him to die?" Came the ominous answer. "Because if you don't let me removed the crystal fragments and dark energy, he'll be dead in twenty minutes."

The golden-haired beauty blanched, eyes huge on Zoisite face. "Are you serious?" She whispered, feeling torn. She couldn't let the same woman who had injured him near him again-but what if Zoisite was right and only she could remove the foreign bodies inside Mamoru?

"I wouldn't be lying to you at a time like this!" The General said in exasperation. She got onto her knees and inched over the floor to Usagi, who was sitting as if turned to stone.

The two met face to face, the blonde not flinching when her enemy was so close. How could she when the only man she had ever cared for was dying before her. "I can call Mercury." Her voice was a mere thread, words choking in her throat.

"She won't make it." The flaxen-haired woman nodded towards the pale man on the bed. "Look, Sailor Moon, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I don't want to hurt him." Her green eyes flitted over Mamoru's still form and distress filled her gaze. "I can't let him die!"

"You've changed." Usagi's voice was hushed and amazed. She could hardly credit what her eyes were seeing, but the General before her seemed a completely different person. She had from the moment Mamoru collapsed. Something in her expression had seemed to shatter, and she did not seem to see them. Zoisite had then followed Usagi home, seeming to watch everything carefully as if concerned. No one had been more astonished than the blonde Senshi when the General had not resisted being bound.

"We don't have time for you to sort your moral issues." Zoisite's hard voice brought Usagi out of her thoughts like a douse of icy water.

"I know!" The blonde shouted in her face, eyes filling with tears. "I feel so helpless. I'm all alone." She fought back the moisture in her eyes, realising she was showing her weakness in front of the very enemy that had wounded Tuxedo Kamen. She shoved Zoisite roughly away from her, uncaring as the woman sprawled harshly onto the carpet. "Keep away from him, Zoisite!"

"You're letting your feelings get in the way," The woman whispered sternly, managing to gain her balance and kneel again near Usagi. "Don't you think that's rather selfish of you, Sailor Moon?"

Usagi gazed at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Are you serious? You're a Dark Kingdom General who has tried to kill us several times and has almost succeeded with Tuxedo Kamen." Blue eyes blazed into green with loathing. "I won't let you within a meter of him."

"Stupid girl." Zoisite blazed back, infuriated. "I won't let you kill my Prince because you can't trust me!"

There was a pregnant silence, the blonde stunned mute. Her mouth fell open, then closed, eyes huge in her face as she gawked at the General. "You're mad. He's not your Prince." She breathed, more certain than ever that Zoisite had lost her mind. She had a mad-woman tied up in her room and her family would be home soon. She needed backup. Now.

Usagi gestured and her communicator fell deftly into her palm from her sub-space pocket. "I'm calling the Senshi in to deal with you." She said coldly.

"You don't remember, do you? But I do. When I saw him fall like that, blood pouring down his back, I knew it was him." Zoisite's voice was far away, threaded with real fear and anxiety.

"Remember what?" Usagi snapped at her, losing her patience completely. She was strung to snapping point over the situation. Zoisite had gone raving mad and Tuxedo Kamen might be breathing his last breath. "Never mind! I don't care!"

A finger pressed on the symbol for Mars an instant before a body crashed into her, sending them both into her dresser violently. It rocked on it's weight and then settled, Zoisite and Usagi mashed up against it painfully.

The blonde groaned and put a hand to her head, feeling the blood rush out of it. It hurt like hell and she wondered if she'd gotten a concussion. It then occurred to her that she had Zoisite in her arms, having unconsciously cradled the woman safely from harm, even as they'd fallen. She shoved Zoisite away in disgust, mouth twisting. "You are trying to kill him." She exclaimed, touching her head and feeling a bump swelling there. Luckily, there was no blood on her hand. She looked about swiftly for her communicator and spotted it across the room.

"You fool, you'll kill him at this rate!" Zoisite shouted at her, tears running down her face in anguish. She hunched there, face slightly lowered to hide her shameful emotion.

Usagi stared at her wordlessly, horrified by Zoisite's reaction. The woman looked as if her heart had been wrenched out! Surely this was a trick, for wasn't the General even now delaying the help the blonde could call for Mamoru? "Crocodile tears." She said flatly.

"You stupid little bitch. If Endymion dies, I will personally make sure that you do not live to see sunrise!" Zoisite shouted at her in fury, green eyes glowing.

"Endymion." Usagi said dumbly, a chime echoing in her mind. Everything faded as memories flooded her mind, making her oblivious to all else.

'Daughter, you have to stay away from the Prince of Earth. He is an enemy.'

'Princess, may I ask for this dance?'

'Well, if it isn't little Princess Serenity!'

'Endymion...please do not leave me! I cannot live without you. I won't..."

"Sailor Moon?" The Dark General's perturbed tone broke through Usagi's trance.

The blonde looked at the General with a clear blue gaze, a strange expression in her eyes. "General Zoisite." She murmured in a daze, picturing the woman in a blue and gold uniform. The garb of the Royal Guard of the Terran Prince, Endymion.

"Zoisite, halt!" She said authoritatively. She was Serenity. Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom and this was her love, Endymion laying there.

Zoisite froze in her assention to the bed to look at Mamoru, her gaze swinging back to Usagi. "Wha-what?" She said halting against her will. It had been the tone of command in Sailor Moon's voice that had made her halt in her tracks.

Usagi reached behind the woman and hastily tugged at the knots, cursing under her breath when they did not budge. "Jupiter trained me too well." She muttered under her breath, smiling slightly when Zoisite turned her back towards her to give her freer leverage.

"You spoke as if you knew me, just then, Sailor Moon," Zoisite's voice was soft, yet penetrating. Her eyes went to her Prince, apprehension darkening them when she saw that his head had slumped limply to the side. His back was almost off the pillow, which was stained bright red. There wasn't much time! "Hurry!" She urged.

"I am!" The girl hissed back, her finger rubbing raw from struggling with the ropes.

"Then use your magic, girl! There's a reason I haven't freed myself, you know." The General's tone was scornful.

Usagi glared at her heatedly, then the words sank in. "What do you mean?"

"I can feel your magic on the ropes. When you bound me, it flowed through the cords and nulled my powers." The woman sounded frankly baffled by the fact that anything could have dampened her powers.

The golden-haired girl stood up quickly, her hand on her broach. If only she had her mother's Silver Crystal, she could heal Endymion! "Right." She ground out. "Moon Prism Power, Makeup!"

Zoisite watched in awe as the girl transformed, her mouth falling open in utter shock as she briefly saw a golden crescent moon shining on Sailor Moon's forehead before it was replaced with the tiara. It couldn't be... "Princess Serenity?" She whispered respectfully when the blonde stood before her finally in her warrior's garb.

Sailor Moon's gaze was steely. "Yes, I am Serenity." She said simply, sinking to her knees. She ripped the tiara from her forehead and summoned it's powers, then cut deftly through the ropes. They fell to the floor and Zoisite swiftly got to her feet. She would trust the General, who had appeared to have regained her memories. The girl thought back to the fall of the Moon Kingdom and remembered seeing Endymion's four Generals at the last stand, too wounded or dead to aid them as they faced Beryl. Her Senshi were already dead, laying nearby.

Only Zoisite had remained conscious, but gravely wounded as her Prince had been stabbed through the chest with his own sword.

The golden-haired girl nodded, recalling that in her anguish of seeing her love die, she had barely spared anyone else a glance. But she had heard Zoisite call out in devastation, knowing she had failed to protect her Prince.

"The wound is deep and the poison has seeped through his system." Zoisite said, snapping Sailor Moon out of her memories.

The blonde cursed her returning memories, heart wrenching in her chest at the General's words. She went to stand beside Zoisite, then sank to her knees bonelessly and took Mamoru's hand. His face was so still, as if already in death. "Do not leave me." She whispered, a tear tracking down her cheek. She couldn't lose him again. Not again!

"Regain your composure Princess!" Zoisite said sharply, a rebuke.

"Yes," Sailor Moon said, straightening and drawing on all her old knowledge as Princess Serenity. Her mother had been training her to become Queen one day. "What can we do?"

"I'll try and stop the bleeding first, then repair whatever damage the poison has done to his system." The General said grimly. Her hands began to glow brightly a deep blue and she touched them to Mamoru's chest lightly. He jumped as if stuck by a shock to the system.

Sailor Moon gripped his hand tightly in her gloved ones, her teeth biting down on her lower lip. "Please be alright, Mamoru." She whispered to him, willing him to be better.

Zoisite's teeth gritted as she struggled to use powers that had not been tapped in over a thousand years. Not the power of the Dark Queen, but that of the pure energy of the Earth that only Endymion's General's had been bestowed with.

"Well?" The girl said impatiently, eyes going to Zoisite's face. Sweat was rolling down her forehead and she looked as if she were in acute agony. "Can I help?" She asked urgently, seised with an unconscious urge to do something. Something she did not quite understand.

"I think...Princess, I can do no more...forgive me." Zoisite murmured, before pitching forward in a dead-faint onto Mamoru's bloodied chest.

Sailor Moon gasped and pulled her back by the shoulders, as concerned for the Generals as she was for Mamoru. Zoisite had been poisoned by Beryl and had regained her memories, trying to heal Mamoru. For that, she could be grateful.

Pressing her fingers to Zoisite's throat, she detected a steady pulse and sighed in relief, laying the woman down on her on the carpet.

Sailor Moon bent over Mamoru and did the same to his throat. A steady beat greeted her, though it was faint. She carefully rolled Mamoru onto his side and poked a gloved finger through the hole made by Zoisite's crystal. To her everlasting relief, she saw pure unblemished skin. "Oh, thank god." She gasped in happiness. He was healed!

"Princess, he's still poisoned." Zoisite's weak voice cut through Sailor Moon's relieved state like a knife. "Oh no!" She shook her head in denial. "You healed him, Zoisite."

"I only healed his wound, not his blood. There is dark energy flowing through it, poisoning him." The flaxen-haired woman leant up upon her arms, which were shaking. She was very pale, but her eyes were determined. "You must use your power to heal him completely."

"My power?" Sailor Moon said numbly. "I have no power, Zoisite, other than this tiara." Her face was bitter. "The other Senshi were given all the good powers."

"That is because you were not meant to be a Senshi, but the Princess of the Moon and heir to the Silver Crystal." Zoisite crawled to her side, leaning on the quilt beneath Mamoru's body. She stared for a long moment into his face, then gave a longing look. "I remembered things, sometimes. But I thought I was going mad, dreaming of a place where I was not a bitter, evil woman. A peaceful time where we lived to protect our Prince and-" A strange look crossed her face. "Our fiances."

Sailor Moon watched in astonishment as Zoisite flushed deeply. She watched the woman touch her chest, feeling the breasts. And then it clicked. General Zoisite had been a man in the Silver Millennium. "Good god, you were a man." She said in horrified fascination. "Affianced to Mercury!"

"I remember." Zoisite said, looking devastated and embarrassed at once. "Beryl and Metallia put me inside a device which infused me with dark energy. I lost my memory, even as my body was changed to this form."

"Oh, Zoisite." The blonde said, not knowing how to give comfort. What on earth could she say to the man, who was now a woman? She must be in pure hell.

Revulsion crossed the General's face as something occurred to her. "It is worse than that, Sailor Moon. I have developed...feelings...for my fellow General, Kunzite."

Sailor Moon gawked at her. "Are you serious, Zoisite? Kunzite?" She had seen the General with light blue hair and hard eyes, hovering occasionally over a battle. He had seemed partial to Zoisite also, but never overly affectionate. Now remembering that Zoisite was a man inside made it terrible complicated.

"We'll find a way to turn you back," She sworn, laying a companionable hand upon the woman's shoulder. "You can't go back to Beryl, after all, so you will be here with me-or Mamoru."

"Mamoru, such a strange name. He will always be Endymion to me." A fond smile crossed Zoisite's lips, then it faded. "But not if you do not find the strength within you to heal him."

"I do not have my mother's Crystal." Sailor Moon whispered, not knowing what to do.

"Think, Princess." The flaxen-haired woman said harshly. "You must know something."

"Perhaps." The golden-haired girl looked deep inside herself, ignoring all around her for a long moment. And then, as if she had always known it was there, she sensed the wand. Her hand gestured and a pink wand with a large golden crescent moon fell into her palm.

"I know this." Sailor Moon breathed in awe. "It is my mother's Moon Wand and held the Silver Crystal!"

"The Crystal is not there. You do not have it." Zoisite said flatly, despair in her green eyes.

"It is still in pieces!" Sailor Moon said with equal despair.

"The Rainbow Crystal Queen Beryl had us find?" The General said incredulously. "She did not say what they were for." She shook her head. "All this time, we were collecting pieces of the Mystical Silver Crystal that is the key to the universe?"

"My mother told me that the Goddess Artemis, also known as Seline, gave the Silver Crystal to our bloodline to guard. My grandmother, whom I never knew, was the first Selenity. She was named for the goddess." Sailor Moon said, reciting as her memories came more clearer.

"It must be part of the Golden Crystal." Zoisite said curiously.

"The Golden Crystal?" The blonde asked her, again checking Mamoru's pulse rate. It was slowing. Damn it. While they were talking of the past, he was slipping away. And yet-the more she remembered, the more confident she grew that she could save him. She was Princess of the Moon and great grand-daughter of a Goddess. She had power flowing through her veins!

"Surely." Sailor Moon whispered, gazing at the Moon Wand. "Something that held an object so powerful must have power itself."

"You must be right." Zoisite nodded swiftly, eyed on her Prince. "Have you remembered anything Princess?" She asked formally. "If you have not, I will use all of my power to heal my Prince-"

"And die?" The petite girl said softly, looking deep into the General's eyes. The Generals of Endymion would certainly give their lives for their Prince, of that, she knew. Zoisite would use all of her life energy and powers to heal Mamoru, even if it mean that she die in the process. "I can't allow that." She said harshly, chin lifted proudly.

"Will not allow?" Zoisite growled at her, rage filling her.

Sailor Moon could tell what she was thinking, and nodded. "You owe it to Endymion to live. You are the only one remaining of both of our lost kingdoms."

Zoisite sat as if turned to stone, eyes wide and stunned. "Princess?" She gasped, understanding. She was the only one left who remembered the Golden and Silver Kingdoms. The only one who had not been reborn as a human, such as the Senshi. "But-it won't matter if he does not live! I have no purpose then."

"He told you to protect me with your life." The blonde reminded her gently, the memory sharp in her mind.

'Zoisite, Kunzite, Jaedite, Nephlyte. If I should perish in the battle, you must lay down your lives to ensure that my Princess lives. She is my soul and the only hope of our worlds.'

"You would hold me to that oath now?" Zoisite drew back, eyes bitter and hard. She grasped her elbows in each hand tightly, seeming to cave in upon herself.

Sailor Moon felt like the worst monster. She was holding Zoisite to a promise made a thousand years ago! Endymion would not die again, but Zoisite must not commit suicide to protect her Prince. The blonde had to make absolutely sure of this. It was important, though she did not understand why at that moment.

"I give you my oath that I will not destroy myself to save my Royal charge." Green icy eyes met burning blue. "But know this, Princess Serenity. If Prince Endymion should die, I will not rest until I see in hades for your deception."

"Agreed." Sailor Moon said politely, hiding a smile. How contradictory the woman was. Swearing one moment to serve her loyally, and the next to see her soul damned to eternal hellfire. She held out a gloved hand. "Swear it, General Zoisite."

The woman held her own for a long moment, face a mask of rage. And then she took the Princess' hand in a hard grip and kissed it lightly. "I swear my allegiance to you, Princess Serenity. May I die honourably in battle serving you."

"It took you so very much to say that." The golden-haired girl said softly, understanding. "May your sword always be bright and keen, warrior."

Sailor Moon turned to Mamoru as if in a trance and bent over his form. "My Prince."She whispered tenderly, lips touching his. She drew back, face saddened. "And I give my oath that I will never let you leave me." Her forehead touched his, the coolness of her tiara pressing between them. A bright light blazed forth, bathing them both in pink-coloured power.

"Princess!" Zoisite exclaimed, stumbling backwards as the room filled with a bright soothing light. She saw the tiara disappear from Sailor Moon's head and a symbol burn brightly on Mamoru's own. The blue symbol for earth.

"Come back to me, Mamoru." Sailor Moon whispered, a tear falling from her eye and leaving a wet trail down his cheek. She felt the power moving through her and the Moon Wand, but it seemed blocked and misdirected. Almost, it overcame her, but she regained control. She directed it to heal the man's blood, every nerve-ending tingling from the suppressed power inside of her. Something was trying to get loose, but she was too distracted with her task to pay it attention.

The blonde felt the poison inside of Mamoru and concentrated on it, burning a path of power through his system. When it finally had all disappeared, she opened her eyes, feeling as weak as a kitten. Darkness threatened to rush in, but she pushed it back. "Is he alright?" She said through dry lips, sinking back onto her heels.

Zoisite swiftly leant past her and reached out her senses to her Prince. A deep sigh of relief filled the air. "We have done it, Sailor Moon." She said gratefully, turning to the girl.

Sailor Moon smiled, then ribbons burst around her as her transformation reversed. "Please look after him." She managed, limbs going fluid. Her eyes shut as the weakness suddenly overcame her and she became to faint. "Thank god, Endymion is well." She knew she had healed him and he would be fine.

Forcing her lids to open, she crawled up to him and kissed his lips tenderly. "My Prince. Endymion. Mamoru." A smile graced her lips as her head felt against his chest limply and she let go.

They had beat death this time.

The End

Write me if you liked! Comments are adored and much appreciated.

Well, there you go. I hope that you enjoyed it even though it was not as descriptive as 'Lost In Your Eyes'. I'm getting all my old Fanfics edited, so I'll be putting them up here as soon as they're in order. Oh and an important note; I'm starting work again for the first time in seven months since I got very ill with blood poisoning and Salmonella. This will mean that for about a month, I'll only be able to come onto the computer on weekends and write and post things. I ask that you please be patient while I adjust to my new job. :) Just so you know I haven't forgotten whatever Fanfic I'm posting by Monday, but I'm just delayed a little.

Efiction is going up at my Archives tonight or tomorrow and this will mean that you can upload your own Fanfiction there such as you do up here at FF .net. I'd be delighted if anyone would like to Submit their Sailor Moon Fanfiction or for any of the other Couples at 'Destiny's Gateway'.

This Fanfic was a Challenge from the 'One Hour Challenges List'. What you do is pick a Challenge-which is posted daily by me-then a 'Couple' from the 'Destiny's Gateway Romance Fanfiction Archives', then you have an hour to write as much Fanfic as you can. Details are in my Profile.

Grin In this case, the 'Couple' I chose was 'Usagi And Mamoru'.

Hugs,
Princess Destiny