Hey guys sorry for the wait. I had a slight accident with some stairs. Nothing to serious but I had take it easy for awhile. And at last here is the next chapter I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are appreciated and I look forward to seeing what you thought of this chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The Scouts upon seeing Sailormoon apparently unharmed let out sighs of relief. But when the got closer and she still hadn't moved from her spot on the ground their relief turned to worry. She just sat there with her head down not looking at them and not saying a word.

"Sailormoon are you alright?" Venus asked anxiously kneeling down beside her

"Where's the Dark Prince?" Uranus questioned looking around suspiciously. Had Sailormoon defeated him? Or was this simply another trap?

"He's gone." Sailormoon answered quietly surprising them

Mars frowned down at her. What was wrong with her? "Sailormoon What happened?"

Sailormoon didn't answer because she couldn't. Weird emotions were cruising through her and she didn't understand them. When she had first saw her friends all she had felt was relief that they were safe…but now? She wrapped her arms around her knees and began rocking back and forth trying to push down the emotions and urges that were pulling at her. They were so dark and so unlike her. All she could think about was that he left her again and it was all their fault. And how she wished they'd never had come back.

Jupiter knelt down on the other side of her and placed a hand on her arm. "Sailormoon are you ok? Are you hurt?"

Sailormoon looked down at the hand touching her and struggled not to push it away. She was so confused. A part of her wanted to throw herself into her friends arms and rejoice that they were safe but another part wanted to push them away.

Jupiter looked up at the others her gaze worried. "What's wrong with her?"

Mercury took out her mini computer "Let me scan her."

"Maybe the Dark Prince did something to her?"

"Or Zosite don't forget that she was here as well."

"Maybe she's just tired?"

"Oh no" Mercury gasped

"What?" Uranus demanded harshly hearing the horror in Mercury's voice and fearing the worst. Maybe they had arrived to late after all.

Mercury looked at them with horror filled eyes "I'm detecting negative energy in her body and it seems to be getting stronger."

………….

The two of them watched Sailormoon and the Scouts from a safe distance

"It's begun." he sighed, "Maybe I should have let those ice crystals hit their mark."

"Don't say that" she exclaimed "she's strong she wont give in to it."

"And what about the next time" he snapped "we both know the danger she's in. The danger she'll continue to be in unless he's stopped."

"What's the alternative?" she cried "Destroying him? Do you think that's what she would want? What I want?"

"I don't know what else to do."

"You saw how he protected her at the risk of his own life. How can you still say that theirs no hope for them?"

When he remained silent she continued "I know your worried about her. About me. But you have to understand my love that the both of you are worth the risk. We need you as much as you need us."

He sighed and bowed his head in resignation. "You better get going. She needs you."

She felt his pain and his fear for her and longed to stay and comfort him but he was right Sailormoon needed her.

Once she disappeared he turned back to look at the others. He could feel Sailormoon's struggle. He tasted her fear of what was happening to her and wished that their was something he could do. He wanted her suffering to end but at the moment their was nothing he could do. It was all up to her.

"Oh Serenity my love why did it have to come to this?"

………..

Jedite stood facing Nephlite who wore a smug smile on his face. A smile he Jedite wanted to wipe off. Permanently. "What I told you was in confidence Nephlite how dare you threaten to expose me to Beryl?"

"Relax Jedite you know that you can trust me to keep your secret. I wont tell a soul about how you tried to kill Prince Darien. After all what would I have to gain by turning you in?"

"Lets see" Jedite sneered "with Malachite out of the way the only one standing in your way is me."

Nephlite laughed "You actually think that I want to be Beryl's number one man. I don't know if you've become daft because of the hit you took to your head or if you've always been crazy and I'm only just realizing it now."

Jedite looked at him suspiciously "What are you playing at Nephlite? Your as ambitious as any of us. Do you really expect me to believe that you've changed?"

Nephlite shrugged his shoulder looking unconcerned with whether Jedite believed him or not. I've decided to fly below Beryl's radar. At least for the moment." he rubbed the right side of his face suggestively "her wraith seems much harsher than I remember."

Jedite flushed bright with anger. "Once I get my hands on that Crystal my face will be restored" he snarled

"If" Nephlite smirked "Prince Darien doesn't beat you to it"

"I wouldn't count on that" Jedite jeered "He doesn't stand a chance on getting that Crystal."

"Oh really" Darien drawled form the doorway "do you know something that I don't Jedite?"

Jedite and Nephlite swung around. Prince Darien stood in the doorway watching them with an odd little smile.

Nephlite stared at him he couldn't help it. The prince of the Earth. As those blue eyes locked with his Nephlite felt a chill run down his spine.

"I believe your expected in the dungeon"

Nephlite didn't respond. The vibes he was receiving from Prince Darien were strange to say the least. But their was no doubt of his power it clung to him like a second skin. He hadn't been wrong it seemed when he told Jedite he had made himself a powerful enemy. This man was dangerous. And now after looking into those cold blue eyes he knew that whatever this Prince Darien had up his sleeve for Jedite it wasn't going to be pleasant. With a slight nod to him and without a backward glance he left them alone.

Nervous put trying not to let it show Jedite barked "What do you want?"

Darien stepped further into the room "I think that's it's time we had a little chat."

………

Sailormoon felt torn in two. She loved her friends. She couldn't stand them. She was happy that they were here. She was furious that they were here. She wanted to embrace them. She wanted to punish them for interfering.

"Dark energy?" Venus cried staring at Sailormoon in wide-eyed alarm.

Mercury nodded grimly. She felt so helpless. Their was nothing she could do. And everyone would be looking at her for answers but she had none. She had no way of removing the negative energy from Sailormoon's body and it seemed that Sailormoon wouldn't be able to heal herself either. She hadn't said another word since she informed them that the dark prince had left and now she just sat their rocking back and forth seemingly lost in her own little world. Unreachable it seemed.

"What can we do?" Neptune asked as she knelt down in front of Sailormoon who was flanked by Venus and Jupiter. "She doesn't even seem to know that where here."

"We need to get her to Luna and Artemis. They'll know what to do" Jupiter stated hopefully. They had to.

"We should have gotten here sooner" Mars cried angrily. It was all their fault. It was because of them that Sailormoon had been left here alone with the Dark Prince and Zosite in the first place. The Dark Prince had taken them by surprise yet again. They fell for his trap and now Sailormoon was paying for their mistake.

"Wait" Mercury cried looking down at her mini computer "something's happening."

Sailormoon relaxed as her mind began to clear. The part of her that had been dark and alien began to fade and all she felt now was relief. She hadn't liked having those dark thought and feelings about her friends and she hoped she never felt anything like that again. Shaking her head she looked up to see her friends looking down at her with worried expression. Trying to reassure them she put on a bright smile if somewhat false smile "Hi guys"

The scouts looked down at her than at Sailor Mercury who was shaking her head at them in confusion. "I don't know what happened but their isn't a trace of dark energy in her body."

"How can that be?" Uranus asked suspiciously

Sailormoon looked at them in confusion "Guys?" What was wrong? Did they know what she had been feeling about them? Did they know that a part of her wanted to strike out at them? To punish them? She had blamed them for the Dark Prince leaving and that blame had led to stronger darker feelings. Just reliving it caused her to shiver. She rubbed her arms briskly trying to ward off the chill.

"Sailormoon did you feel strange a moment ago?"

Sailormoon frowned "Yeah it was really weird and I didn't like it at all"

"Your body had dark energy in it." Venus gushed out rapidly wanting to be the one to tell her.

"Dark energy" Sailormoon paled "but how?"

"We were hoping that you could tell us." Neptune remarked "Did the Dark Prince or Zosite do something to you."

Sailormoon flushed when she thought about what happened. He had come so close to kissing her again. And she had wanted him to so badly even now her lips trembled just thinking about it. The kiss in the cave seemed so long ago but the memory of it kept her longing for another one.

Avoiding everyone's eyes she said "No nothing we were fighting when Zosite attacked him. He managed to destroy all her ice crystals and than he attack her. The attack left her unconscious and before we could resume our battle he heard you guys coming. That's when he grabbed Zosite and left" suddenly her head shot up around to look at them. "Hey how did you guys get back? Where did you go?"

……………

Luna stopped abruptly causing Artemis to run past her.

When he noticed she was no longer beside him he turned to see what was wrong.

"Luna what is it?" Now that they had finally found the girls he didn't understand why she had suddenly stopped. He padded over to her and looked in the direction she was starring in but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Luna?"

She didn't look at him as she answered "I thought I saw…" she shook her head in bemusement "Never mind it couldn't have been him."

"Couldn't have been who Luna? Who did you see?"

Luan turned her head to look at him. "It's crazy but for a moment I thought I saw Prince Darien standing over their watching the Sailor Scouts."

Artemis sucked in a sharp breath. "You saw the Dark Prince? We have to hurry and inform the others."

"No Artemis I didn't see the Dark Prince. I saw Darien just as he looked on the Moon. He was dressed in his armor and standing right over there observing the Scouts." She shook her head "like I said I must have been seeing things."

Artemis looked at her with sympathy and understanding "It's alright Luna lets go talk with the others and find out what's been going on."

Luna nodded and they were off. But Luna couldn't help looking back one last time.

…………….

Jedite fidgeting nervously than caught himself when he saw a gleam of humor in Prince Darien's eyes.

"What do we have to talk about? Does it have anything to do with Malachite?" He went completely still as a thought suddenly occurred to him "Did you have something to do with what's happened to him?"

"Malachite let his feelings for Zosite cloud his judgment. He made a costly mistake. As you did."

Jedite knew what he was referring to but tried to bluff all the same "What do you mean? I haven't done anything to bring Beryl's wraith down on me."

Darien looked at him coldly "It's not Beryl you should be worried about."

Jedite gave a false laugh "I really have no idea what you mean."

"Enough with the games Jedite. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The only question now is what should I do with you."

……….

"Well that's the interesting part" Venus stated in bewilderment "we all fell through the black holes and we all arrived at different destinations."

"It seemed we were going to have to fight the yoma's whether we wanted to or not" Jupiter grunted

"Huh?" Sailormoon gasped

Jupiter shrugged her shoulders "I know we don't get it either. He had us theirs no doubt about that but he let us go"

"Not exactly" Mars interrupted "don't forget we still had those yoma's to deal with and they were no pushovers especially the last one.

"Yeah it took all of us to rid our selves of that one."

Venus smiled down at her "That's why it took us so long to get back to you"

"Girls are you alright?

They all turned to see Luna and Artemis running straight for them.

"Where fine." Mercury assured them once they had come to a stop in front of them.

"How did the battle go? Was it the dark prince?" Luna looked at them anxiously "It was him. Wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was him" Uranus bit out angrily. She was really tired of coming out on the losing end every time they faced off with him. Next time things were going to turn out differently.

"Sailormoon are you alright your looking a little pale" Artemis observed

"Oh let me tell" Venus squealed

………..

"What do you mean?" Jedite gulped "I haven't done anything to you."

"I've thought about this for awhile now Jedite and I've determined that I'm going to let you live for the moment." Darien almost smiled at his obvious relief although he tried hard to hide it. But little did he know that he had something else in mind for him. Death was to easy for him he wanted him to suffer greatly before he finally met his end. He wanted him to know pain like he's never known before. The destruction of his face was just part of what he had in stored for him.

"But do try and behave yourself Jedite" he cautioned "or I just might change my mind and unlike you when I bury someone they stay buried." with that last shot he vanished.

Jedite sat down abruptly. That was close. He didn't have a choice now. He had to find someway to get rid of Prince Darien. Because their was no doubt in his mind that Prince Darien already had some hideous fate planned for him.

………

When Zosite was done giving her report to she shuddered at the look in Beryl's eyes.

"Are you sure of what you saw Zosite?"

"Yes my Queen"

"I warn you Zosite if your lying to me their will be no mercy."

"I stand by all that I've said my Queen. Retrieving the Crystal was the last thing on his mind. He was about to kiss her before I intervened."

Beryl was seething with jealousy. How dare he betray her again. This time he was going to pay. They both were. Him and his precious Serena. "Bring him to me Zosite. Bring him to me now and if he resists kill him."