Mamoru tried not to be that annoying knocker, but he couldn't help it. There was too much concern pulsing through his veins right now for him to grace the wood of her door with anything but sharp, loud, and insistent knuckles. As soon as the woman he was calling upon appeared, he began brusquely and without preamble,

"Yumemi-san, good afternoon. I'm sorry but we're going to have to delay our modeling session. You haven't happened to see Usako or..."

Yumemi suddenly threw open the rest of the door, and lo and behold there was Usagi peeking around the corner, laden in apron and plate of cookies, grinning at him with a wave. It was like every bit of built up tension burst out of Mamoru in that millisecond, leaving behind only a sweeping sense of exhaustion. He had been so worried... and after all that...

"Oh. Usako, you've... have you been here this whole time? I went to pick you up but your parents said you went out for a walk hours ago..."

Usagi immediately looked chagrined. "Oh dear. Were they very upset? I guess I forgot-"

"It's my fault," Yumemi stepped in, sheepishly glancing up at him under her lashes. "I ran into her on her walk and invited her in for cookies. I thought maybe she was just here early."

"I didn't even realize I was so close to your home!" Usagi giggled, taking a generous bite of the crumbly homemade creation. She offered one to Mamoru and he politely declined, unloading his dark bomber jacket and shoes off at the door. He tried not to feel to put out, but he couldn't deny... he'd really wanted to walk with her this morning. After yesterday's scare, he was feeling rather more protective of her than usual. Even though he felt better about Yumemi now, they still barely knew the woman. But Usagi was chattering on with her like they'd been friends for years. It was both admirable and frustrating. Every instinct in his body ached to keep her safe, and yet it was impossible to keep the girl safe from herself. She was too darn trusting. He sighed.

At least she hadn't run afoul of trouble. He had managed to keep a reign on his fear by reminding himself that if she were truly in danger, he would've felt it, but that hadn't stopped the creeping doubts.

He listened to Yumemi explaining to a fawning Usagi about how she often painted with a wish in mind for those who viewed her art, that they would find happiness and true love. Usagi was nearly falling over herself with star struck adulation at this point, and while it was a sweet thought, Mamoru also rather felt it a little disingenuous when the woman couldn't even show her real face to these adoring fans. He'd always firmly believed that those who can't make themselves happy couldn't make others happy, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to seem unkind. It wasn't long before the conversation eventually became more business-like.

"Are you guys ready?"

It was with hyper-awareness that Mamoru settled on the couch beside Usagi at Yumemi's prompting, so close their knees were nearly touching. She radiated warmth like a heater.

"What do you want us to do?" Usagi asked, self-consciously shifting and adjusting herself upon the cushion.

"Just relax and look natural," Yumemi smiled encouragingly, getting set up behind her canvas. "I'm just getting a cursory sketch right now. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and ignore me," she waved nonchalantly.

Usagi side-eyed Mamoru, and he quirked his lips at the stiffness with which she still held her body, so abnormal on one so hyperactive as Usagi. She truly had never modeled before, had she?

"You're posing weird," he poked fun slyly.

Usagi frowned, and he also noticed that she was far more blushy around him today than usual.

"YOU'RE being weird," she shot back, cheeks pink as a strawberry.

"How am I being weird?" he demanded, almost petulantly. This was starting to feel like one of their conversations of old, the way it was devolving into fatuous insults. He wondered what had gotten into her; she seemed awfully riled up today! Usagi huffed, struggling to come up with a response, which just made him grin widely in victory. He leaned forward, teasing in a rough whisper,

"Did you know you're cute when you're mad?"

That blush increased tenfold, until she spun her countenance away from him. He decided to take mercy on her and got up to procure himself a cup of the coffee he'd been promised. It was almost pitiful how much he relied on the liquid stimulant to get himself going in the mornings, and thanks to the unexpected search for Usagi he'd all but forgotten to have his first cup. Maybe that's why he couldn't seem to stop needling the girl.

Ah, who was he kidding. She really was quite adorable when she was coming at him, hackles raised. He wasn't sure he could ever stop getting her goat, if only to watch the fiery flush spread across her animated features.

The coffee was waiting in the warmer, and when he took a sip it burned bitter past his lips, black, exactly the way he liked it. He turned to praise Yumemi for her foresight and that was when he saw it.

His stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch, the coffee within roiling.

Yumemi was still at her easel, back to him. But it wasn't her who had caught his attention; filled him with the kind of shock he hadn't felt since learning of Usagi's secret identity.

Across the room, piled against the wall, were a plethora of both finished and unfinished canvases, strewn haphazard as if they were works still in progress. Relics of the slump Yumemi had so famously been in. But one in particular had Mamoru's eye, and he wandered over to it as if in a trance. The piece was clearly more recent than the others, the paint even still drying in places. It depicted a man and a woman, who like the one at the gala, bore a striking resemblance to Mamoru and Usagi. The woman even wore her hair the same way Usagi had that night. This in itself, he supposed, wasn't terribly surprising. It was obvious Yumemi had just worked on this piece, possibly as recently as this morning, and was specifically using them as reference. What did unsettle him, was the fact that in the picture, flower-bedizened "Usagi" was reaching out to the princely looking "Mamoru" with hand outstretched. Offering up what was clearly a locket. A locket that was a near perfect replica of the one that currently sat upon his nightstand. A locket Yumemi should know absolutely nothing about.

And yet here it was, painted as if from memory.

A cold chill raced through him.

"Yumemi-san," Mamoru said, in a strangely tight voice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Usagi cocking her head, visibly aware that he sounded off. Who was this woman? Why the particular interest in them, and how was she able to so accurately duplicate elements of their private life in her art? He was trying not to jump to conclusions, but there were alarm bells going off in his brain. "What is this?"

Yumemi pivoted to see what Mamoru was referring to, and a bright smile lit up her plain features when she observed the portrait he was pointing at. "Oh, that! I started it last night. Do you like it?" she beamed, all pride and no pretext. If there was anything suspicious in her reply, Mamoru could not find it. "I call it, The Lovers Tragic."

"It's us," he said, deadpan, and gestured to the aforementioned figures.

"But... Yumemi-san, we're not..." Usagi started, with the suffering air of one who'd had this conversation already, but she was interrupted by Yumemi's blithe tone.

"Oh, I know!" the mousy-haired woman deflected. "It's not actually you two. But for months now I've been dreaming of this couple and I just can't get them out of my mind. When I saw you guys for the first time... well, it can best be described as a spark of recognition. Like my muse come to life! Your faces are the closest I've come to matching the vision in my head. You really inspired me in a way I haven't been in a long time!" She looked to the painting, and her eyes grew sad. "I don't know why. But whenever I draw these two, I get this ache in my heart. I don't think their story is happy. The woman is giving her lover a present, but it's more in farewell than a mere token of her feelings."

Mamoru didn't say anything. He couldn't - the constriction in his throat prevented it.

Most people would have brushed Yumemi off as eccentric... not quite all there. Who dreamed of ill-fated lovers on a nightly basis? But Mamoru knew all too well the power of dreams, and as he stared at this chiseled rendition of himself and Usagi... he wasn't so quick to discount Yumemi's account of her experience. She hardly seemed like stalker material, and he felt fairly certain she was telling the truth, which meant she had to have had a vision of his locket somehow. But then that raised the question - the eternal question, that had always plagued him - what was the true history of his locket? Where had it come from, and had it actually belonged to his mother, or was that just wishful thinking? Why did the couple she was dreaming about resemble them? Could it be she wasn't having dreams of the past at all... but more of the premonitory variety?

Mamoru was shaken. Yumemi's story didn't sound all that far-fetched. It was just vague enough to seem credible. But he also felt stupid for even entertaining the thought; after all it was just a story. This moony artist was hardly clairvoyant... right?

Then why was he feeling some strange, strange resonance with it?

Yumemi finished her sketch, Usagi squealing all the while about how excited she was to be immortalized within the famous artist's work. Mamoru for his part had gone mostly quiet, sitting beside Usagi daintily sipping at his coffee, seemingly lost in thought. She could already imagine the broody expression on his face, one she'd seen so many times before. Back when every interaction consisted of bodily crashes and cruel insults. He hadn't partaken in such long reflective silence around her for a while now, and she wondered what prompted it. He'd seemed in a jocund enough mood earlier. Maybe this was just his normal reaction to modeling? She didn't after all have much to go off of.

But his reverie continued well into their late afternoon walk home together, after bidding goodbye to Yumemi who told them she should have the first coat done by nightfall. It was almost starting to become irritating, since it was he who insisted on joining her, and now they weren't even speaking. There came a point she could take it no longer.

"Okay... now you're really being weird," Usagi huffed, partly teasing and partly scolding. "What's up?"

"Er... nothing," Mamoru answered, an evasive maneuver if she ever heard one, particularly because it was prefaced with a pause of consideration. "Just thinking."

"That's a lot of thinking," Usagi commented mildly. "Too much for me."

Mamoru chuckled, but when he didn't immediately clarify Usagi thought about pressing him. Then she remembered what happened with curiosity and the cat, and maybe some topics were better left untouched. She had the sudden thought that what if he was ruminating on the night before, and their almost kiss? The very thing she had been trying (and often failing) to avoid herself. To speak aloud about it would make it... real. More than just a nice shadowy, sleepy recollection. It still felt a bit like a dream. But it had happened, and they hadn't talked about it, and Usagi wasn't sure she was ready to open that can of worms yet.

Not when she was still trying to figure out how she felt about it herself.

Knowing that she was blushing again, Usagi ducked her head. She half expected Mamoru to tease her again too, but his next words surprised her.

"Usako... Do you believe in coincidences?"

It was a weird question, but Usagi didn't need to ponder it overmuch. "No. Definitely not." She could sense Mamoru's eyes on her, piercing in intensity, as if he really cared about her answer. She nodded sagely to herself. "I believe everything is connected. The universe knows what it's doing. If something seems related... it probably is."

Mamoru hummed, and Usagi wasn't sure what that meant, but they had arrived at the front drive to her house now and so she queried,

"See you tomorrow, Mamo-chan?"

"Yeah," Mamoru replied distractedly, "See you tomorrow, Usako." And then his golden glow was off the same way they came, Usagi listening to the retreating footsteps with a frown.

Seriously, what was that all about?

She shook her head, frustrated but fairly certain it wasn't anything she'd done to bring about Mamoru's odd behavior. Asking about 'coincidences' didn't really line up with what transpired yesterday. She wondered just what it was that had made him become so deeply introspective, playing back through their day with Yumemi and coming up blank. Or maybe... was it something to do with that painting he asked Yumemi about? She realized it was right around then that he'd gotten quieter. Why would a drawing of them bother him so, when they were meeting with Yumemi for that exact reason?

Usagi growled, throwing up her hands. It didn't make any sense. She was just about to enter the domicile when she realized... she wasn't wearing her jacket she left the house in.

"Oh shoot," she mumbled, hands patting at her decidedly jacket-less form. "Must have left it at Yumemi-san's." It wasn't too late yet that she couldn't dash back and grab it. She did a one-eighty and was halfway back down the front walk when a cranky voice snapped at her heels,

"U-sa-gi-chan."

Usagi startled like a no-do-good'er exposed, which was ridiculous since to her knowledge she hadn't done anything wrong, but it was impossible not to mistake that tone.

"Luna!"

There was a spitting sound and then a metallic clank! at her feet. She bent over curiously, wondering what Luna had brought for her, when she touched upon the Crescent Moon Wand. Her brow arched.

"Luna, what-?"

"Do you know how long I've been looking for you, carrying that thing around? I found it on the ground. Usagi-chan, how many times have I told you not to keep sticking the wand out the side pocket of your backpack because it could fall out!?"

Usagi was stricken, fully aware of the gravity of the situation, and cursing her stupidity. She really had been careless, and after all her promises to Luna about being a better leader...

"I won't again," she whispered through a contrite frown, holding her weapon against her chest as if she could hug forgiveness out of it. "I swear."

"See that you don't," Luna sniffed, still with that admonishing air, but then she gave a gentler and relenting sigh. "I realize you had a late night last night, so how about we chalk this little err up to sleep deprivation and maybe I won't have to chase you around town again anytime soon?"

"Deal," Usagi said, but even after she had departed from the feline, she was still berating herself. Seriously, what if some average citizen picked it up and the wand was lost to them forever? Or worse... the enemy?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Usagi moaned, bonking the crescent off the big of her forehead. When she felt appropriately disciplined, she took great care in zipping the wand safely away into her backpack. It was rather disheartening to have had this happen when she thought she'd been doing so well. Apparently old habits died hard. Usagi sighed in frustration with herself, but continued on her way to the artist's. She could tell the sky was starting to darken by the very feel of the air; the way it tasted like damp earth as the temperature cooled, and how the sounds of traffic had lessened since rush hour earlier. She picked up the speed of her pace, not scared but not unwary either. She knew the dangers of being out unsupervised like this as cover of night fell. She had half a mind to transform, but then, she couldn't be a hundred percent certain sure she was even alone if she did so, and Usagi the blind girl being outed as Sailor Moon was the last thing she needed right now. No, better not to risk being spotted unless absolutely necessary.

Her paranoia was in full force by the time she finally reached Yumemi's. At this point she had developed the strangest feeling like... she was being followed? But even her heightened hearing had not detected a single footstep and she could only conclude that she was making herself crazy. Mamoru's weird mood must have rubbed off on her. She shook her head, knocking on Yumemi's door, and - hey, was that a quick flash of color out of the corner of her eye? Usagi whipped her head around, staring intensely, but it was gone and oh yeah, she definitely needed to stop thinking about Mamoru so much. Now she was even seeing his glow where he wasn't.

"Usa-chan?" a nasally voice asked.

"Yumemi-san! I'm sorry, left my... hey. Hey, are you crying?" Usagi gasped, immediately forgetting all her forebodings and rushing forward at the sound of sniffling. Her fingers landed on Yumemi's and the soggy, tattered tissue within confirmed her suspicion. "You are! Oh, Yumemi-san! Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"It's- it's nothing. It's silly..."

But she hiccuped rather pathetically and Usagi couldn't in good conscience grab her jacket and go now. She made clucking noises that were alarmingly like her mother's but she supposed she had learned from the best; Ikuko never failed to comfort her daughter when down and Usagi drew upon that spirit as she warmly ushered Yumemi into the living room. "Nonsense! It's not silly and it's definitely not nothing if it's hurting you."

Yumemi allowed herself to be steered onto the couch as Usagi plopped down beside her, keeping one placating hand on the mousy brunette at all times. It seemed that was enough encouragement required for Yumemi to spill the cause of her sorrow.

"It's just... it gets lonely, you know?" Yumemi hiccuped forlornly. "The life of an artist. I didn't always used to mind. But seeing you and Mamoru-san today... I realize what I'm missing out on."

"You don't have friends?" Usagi asked through a jolt of sadness, squeezing Yumemi's hand. The woman gave a bitter laugh.

"Of course not. How could I? Yumeno Yumemi is supposed to be beautiful. Everyone loves the lie. If they knew the real me, it would shatter the illusion. I'd be seen as a fraud!"

Usagi adopted a stern look. "Yumemi-san. That's not true! First of all, you do have one friend. Right here. We may not have known each other long, but you gave me cookies, and anyone who knows me knows that the key to my heart is through my stomach!" Yumemi laughed, a happy one this time, and it was a wonderful sound to hear after how miserable she'd been only moments ago. Usagi softened her voice, now patting Yumemi's hand sweetly. "Secondly, I think you need to give yourself credit and stop being so hard on yourself. You create beautiful art and that makes you a beautiful person. Once you are brave enough to put yourself out there, everyone will see what I see. I promise."

"Usa-chan..."

Yumemi seemed at a loss for words, and Usagi hoped she'd given her new friend the pep talk she needed, because it just killed her to know someone as kind and talented as Yumemi didn't have anyone else to share her life with. She was about to see if the artist wanted her to put on a kettle because nothing else soothed her quite like hot tea when she was down, when Yumemi piped up,

"Hey - do you hear something?"

Usagi frowned, pausing to listen.

"Sounds like... something in your bag beeping?"

Usagi's eyes widened, and suddenly she heard it too, muffled but definitely there, in the background, as it had undoubtedly been the entire time without her even noticing, and oh no oh no oh no, then that meant...

Usagi was spared the thought and having to come up with a shoddy excuse for Yumemi because right then the entire front window blew in, showering glass everywhere. With quick thinking and prodigious use of the skills she'd been honing for the past few weeks, Usagi dove for Yumemi and took her down, preventing either of them from serious injury. But Usagi knew the danger was far from over.

In fact, if Yumemi was the final Rainbow Crystal host, then the danger was only just beginning.

"Yumemi-san, run! We have to get out of here!" Usagi grit out, shaking shards from her clothes. She ignored the unpleasant pinches here and there as pieces scattered and she pushed up onto hands and knees. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and shoved impatiently at the frozen form beside her. "Now!"

The fierce demand snapped Yumemi to action at last. She stumbled up, whimpering, and dragged Usagi up with her as she did so.

"What's happening? Tornado?"

"I don't think so. Do you have a back door? Anywhere we can escape from?"

"This way," Yumemi gasped, the fear nearly overtaking her voice, and rightfully so, because just as they exited out the back into an alleyway, a new voice joined the fray. The exclamation was as bone-chillingly cold as it was mockingly playful.

"Yumemi, Yumemi, where are you, little mouse? You can run, but you can't hide!"

So Zoisite was tracking them with the black crystal. Usagi knew it was true; they could not hide and were only running on borrowed time. Now that Yumemi's magical signature been discovered, the Dark Kingdom would not rest until they had her in a corner and could force out her green Crystal.

She knew what had to happen, if they were to have any hope of surviving that encounter.

"We need somewhere no one will be," Usagi urged, still clinging to Yumemi for guidance, but she would not need another's assistance for much longer. Well, maybe one other...

He must feel that I'm in danger by now. He'll be on his way. I know it, Usagi thought with confidence she wished would extend to her trembling knees. Yumemi's voice was just as unsteady as she answered, "The construction site around the block. They'll all have left for the night!"

"Let's go!"

Usagi chased the sound of Yumemi's racing footsteps. She grabbed hold of her brooch, feeling safer already with it in her palm.

She could do this. She could protect Yumemi alone, until Mamoru got here.

It might have been a rash decision, not to call for back up - and perhaps they would still come, if Ami's computer got wind - but Usagi knew that their best chance of acquiring the Crystal for Mamoru would be if there was no interference from the misguided Senshi.

She wasn't ready for that conversation, if she was found to be helping 'the enemy'.

Usagi sensed when they entered into the building zone; it had a disturbingly open feel juxtaposed by the knowledge that large looming construction vehicles such as cranes, excavators and bulldozers had to be hanging over their heads. Yumemi stopped to pant, leaning over to catch her breath.

"Usa-chan, what's... what's going on? W-who was that man?"

"A very bad person. Who is after something only you have," Usagi replied, no way to lighten the darkness of that statement. "But I won't let him. I'll protect you, Yumemi-san. You just have to promise to protect me too, okay? No one else can know."

"I don't..."

"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!"

Yumemi cried out as the familiar lights and ribbons enveloped Usagi, and with them, the return of sight. She could see clearly now the pure shock on Yumemi's artificially gray face; the way she clutched at her chest as if she wanted to faint.

"No... no way... Usa-chan, you're...?"

The revelation spoken aloud did not come to fruition, because Yumemi was suddenly struck with a beam of light and she screamed. Usagi startled and whipped around to encounter none other than Zoisite, crystal raised and emitting sonic beams that throbbed and pulsed as they honed in on Yumemi. Her howls of pain increased, as did his wretched cat-who-caught-the-mouse smile. Usagi let out an incensed roar.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!"

"Or what?" the nefarious blonde cackled. Usagi let her actions speak for themselves; she charged at the Dark Kingdom General with fury as her fuel. The roundhouse kick fell short however as Zoisite surged into the sky. Yumemi's chest was starting to blur, green already sparkling within, while her body fell into unconsciousness. "You're too late, Sailor Moon! Veena, my seventh and greatest monster! Arise!"

"NO! Yumemi-san!" Usagi wailed, even as the gentle artist transformed into a winged demon before her very eyes.

After all the false alarms, Mamoru would have thought he'd have better control over his panic by now.

Apparently not, if the way he was speeding and weaving through traffic was any indication. Honks blared and a few even went so far as to irately shake their fists out the window at him, but Mamoru could have cared less. He pressed even harder on the accelerator, forcing his Ferrari into velocities only those looking for a day in court dared to achieve.

Usagi was in danger, for real this time. He'd subdue any cop who tried to block his path and slow his rescue.

Mamoru knew when he had reached his destination, because the ache inside him had become nearly unbearable, like a moth that was dancing just upon the edge of the flame. She was so close he could almost feel her, their strange unexplained connection thrumming and alive and urging him into his tuxedo and top hat before he'd even yanked the keys out of the ignition. He parked practically on top of the curb, and as he sprinted out of the sports car and headlong into a construction site he heard the telltale sounds of a battle already fiercely underway.

Usagi was hollering, writhing in the grip of ropes that were wrapped so tightly around her legs, arms and sailor suit, she was starting to develop black-and-blues. Zoisite was holding the green Rainbow Crystal, watching with glee as a youma in a pink toga dress and angel wings made complicated motions towards the entrapped Moon soldier. The ropes shimmered, warping into hissing coral snakes. Usagi screamed in terrified desperation as one of the heads reared up and bared its pointy fangs.

Mamoru wasted no time, sending a veritable barrage of roses and they did not miss their mark. Every snake screeched and disappeared into puffs of smoke.

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"

"You again!" Zoisite exclaimed, like a dirty oath. His eyes flashed with disgust, no doubt recalling the umbrage against his hand. Confirmed when he spat out, "No more tricks from you this time, cape boy! Zoi!"

Mamoru's vision was suddenly obscured by a swirling mass of rose petals. He chopped and swung at them with his cane, trying to clear the air but it was no use. They inched closer, cloying at him, and he began to feel as though he might drown within the whirling dervish of flowers. The irony was not lost on him.

And then they ceased, as if never having existed in the first place, and Mamoru saw that Sailor Moon had acted where he had not. With a swelling burst of pride he observed that Zoisite was now struggling within the bonds of Usagi's Moon Tiara, that had stretched to encircle the general's midriff, pinning his arms to his side. Usagi had leapt up and was now plucking the green Crystal directly from his slack fingertips.

"I will take that, thank you!"

Murder was written all across Zoisite's features, and he struggled intensely for a moment before realizing the tiara was not going to give. What he said next was accompanied by a judicious amount of spit sent flying by his angry, near frothing mouth. "You think you're so clever, don't you! Sailor Moon. Enjoy your little victory today... we will be back for that Rainbow Crystal, and every other you Senshi have stolen from us. Retribution is coming! Next time, I will not be alone!" And with that his eyes flashed, seeming to pierce Usagi with their intimation of vengeful horrors to come, and something in that stare made Mamoru want to shiver. But Usagi stood her ground, glaring determinedly - courageously - right back, and Mamoru marveled at the way she would shriek over minor inconveniences, but remain utterly unfazed in the face of true evil.

Zoisite abandoned his post, and Usagi's tiara resumed its former shape as it spun with a clatter to the ground. She swiped it up and back onto her forehead, turning to Mamoru with a baiting quirk on her lips and tucking the Crystal into her space pocket at the same instant.

"Took you long enough!"

"We need a better way to communicate with each other that there's a battle on than just relying on the 'Usagi's in danger' bat signal," Mamoru grimaced, simultaneously catching a flash of - feathers? - out of the corner of his eye. "But maybe now's not the time!" He exclaimed, lunging out of the way of a massive boulder as it appeared and dropped exactly where he'd been standing before. The almost forgotten youma was already 'drawing' more boulders into the sky above, directing them to attack the warriors below.

Usagi danced nimbly out of the rocks' paths. He could definitely see her training paying off, motions smoother and more intentional than they ever would have been before. "We have to weaken Veena before I can return her to human form. Don't hurt her if you can avoid it, Mamo-chan! That creature is actually Yumemi-san!"

"You're kidding," Mamoru gaped. His momentary hesitation when he looked back to more closely examine Veena would ultimately prove to be his undoing.

He never saw the boulder that had materialized over his head, but he sure felt when it came careening down and collided with his back. He also felt when all the wind was knocked out of him, and when one of his ribs snapped, leaving the man briefly breathless. When he did manage to suck in a gulp of oxygen again, it was like white hot fire in his lungs. Between the horrible pain and the unyielding rock, he was pinned helplessly against the ground.

"MAMO-CHAN!!!"

"Usa... ko..."

He saw her running towards him, scared and sickly pale with worry, and he didn't even have the strength to warn her when Yumemi-turned-Veena struck again.

The rope whipped around Usagi's boot at the ankle, and she yelped in surprise as she tripped, slamming flat on her face. Through the dizzying spots in his vision Mamoru saw that she came back up wincing, blood spouting from a nasty splice to her chin. The kind the aspiring doctor knew would surely require stitches in a normal human. He groaned, bucking and fighting at the heavy, so heavy, weight upon his back.

Usagi rolled over, kicking at the chain ensnaring her, but the ropes were expanding faster than she could move and it was only seconds before they had crept to cover her completely. Veena loomed over the recumbent girl.

"Yumemi-san!" she cried. "Yumemi-san, please! Remember your kind heart!"

Veena blinked, as if the words truly had struck a chord, deep down. But then a vapid smile overtook her inhuman features, and she summoned feathers again, the instrument of her destruction. Usagi ducked her head, having been unable to shake off her bonds, and braced for impact.

Mamoru wasn't quite sure how it happened.

One minute he was trapped beneath the boulder. The next he was shrugging it off as if it had been nothing.

There was... power racing through his veins, that goldeny warmth that always preceded his healing abilities, but it was acting differently. There was no other way to explain it, except that seeing Usagi about to be dealt a fatal blow had awakened that part of him in a way it had never awakened before. It was stronger and it was... mad.

He didn't even feel his broken rib as he threw himself at the youma. She screamed the second his hands touched her, and somehow that magic inside him was sapping at her evil energy, muting it, persuading it, and like bowing to his will the ropes around Usagi snapped before disappearing entirely in glittery golden sparks that Usagi gaped at, and he wondered if she saw them too, in color, the way she saw his glow.

"Now, Sailor Moon!"

"R-right!" Usagi nodded, clearly a bit rattled but still leaping up, scrubbing at her chin as she went. Mamoru couldn't stop staring at the red smear it left on her glove as she summoned her Crescent Wand, nor did he even pay much mind to Yumemi as she returned to human form and toppled boneless to the ground. No, he only had eyes for Usagi and her busted chin, and it was disconcerting the ferocity of emotion it evoked in him to see her bloody; beaten. His own personal golden beast was still rearing, and now that it was uncaged it was almost impossible not to bend to its bidding.

He reached for her.

"Mamo-chan! Mamo-chan, are you alright!?"

He had to heal her. He had to. It was not a question in his mind, only an urge so immense it could have been a directive from Kami-sama himself.

Usagi clutched at the lapels of his jacket as he sunk to his knees, but where his legs were weak his hands burned with raw power, and they did not falter as he placed them over her weeping wound. Usagi inhaled sharply, closing her eyes.

"M-Mamo-chan..." she murmured, almost rapturously. He let the gold flow past his obliging fingertips and into her, a more conscious effort than it had ever been; never before had he felt so in control of it. But he didn't stop to analyze, he simply let his healing abilities do their job and once Usagi opened her eyes, pulling away ever so slightly to reveal nothing more than a thin hairline scratch, he knew his work was done. The gold was beginning to ebb away, like the tide retreating, back into himself and wherever cavernous recesses it usually lurked while in wait.

But Usagi grabbed him, mid-slump. She gave him a little shake, and he grit his teeth, because as the mysterious new power waned his old pains were waxing. And it was like she knew, such was their symbiosis. Their connection.

"Don't, Mamo-chan! Don't stop now! Direct it inward... direct it onto you! You're very hurt but you can heal yourself, I know it! Focus! It's there if you just reach for it!"

Heal... himself?

"You can do it! Mamo-chan! I believe in you!"

The gold... paused.

Like it was actually listening now, and maybe Mamoru did still have a hold over it, however tempestuous and uncertain. He contorted with renewed effort, calling it, coaxing it back out, and though it did not flow as readily as before it was returning, surging up and then down, down through his chest and to his ribs, knitting and mending as it went, and while the pain was drifting away... so was Usagi's solicitous countenance.

"I... I did it," he gasped, fighting through the murk to fully express his awe.

And then he fainted.

"So?" the voice demanded, with barely restrained impatience. "Were you successful in your mission?"

"Oh yes," the reply issued, all gleefulness and triumph.

"And?"

"I saw her. I saw her transform."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note: *shyly peeks out* Well now. It's been a minute, hasn't it? *looks at the nearly year long absence and cringes* So yeah... A LOT has happened. And maybe you guys care and maybe you don't (if not I sincerely apologize for the lengthy explanation to follow, please skip ahead to the bottom for the less angsty version!), but it's cathartic for me to talk about it in a mostly anonymous forum so I hope you don't mind if I (over)share...

Back when I left you guys, I was about to enter the second trimester and soon to find out boy or girl. Well, my little inkling was right... it was a boy! Bradley Michael :) The pregnancy progressed normally for a long time, but there were a few stressors along the way. I work at a hospital and their system got hacked. My department, medical records, got hit HARD. This was back in October, and we're STILL recovering, if that helps illustrate the scope of it. Everything I used to do changed in a single day. There was a lot of overtime and lemme tell you, being in the third trimester working OT is *not* a fun experience. On top of that, right around the same time, my hubby and I purchased our first house! That was exciting, but closing was a LONG drawn out process, and we did not end up moving in until January. (Know what also isn't fun? Moving while you're in the late third trimester!) Around this time is when my otherwise perfect pregnancy (seriously, I never even had morning sickness) took a turn. I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes, then found out my baby was IUGR and had a heart defect, and would need both heart surgery in Boston and to be delivered early via scheduled C-section (something I never wanted and was TERRIFIED of). Not even three weeks after we started moving into our new home, Bradley decided to come *earlier* than planned, and thanks to how quickly it happened my husband's COVID test did not come back in time, so the hospital wouldn't let him into the OR, and I delivered my son alone via emergency C-section. It was the hardest, bravest, saddest moment of my life. I'm still upset when I think about it. I didn't even get to hold my new baby afterward, he was whisked to the NICU. Oh, and GET THIS. My husband got shingles in his EYE about a week before this thanks to all the stress we were under, and because of that the NICU wouldn't let him in, so during the week Bradley was there I had to visit him alone. We didn't get our moment to meet as a family until the day he was discharged. Because of all this, I was pretty traumatized. Postpartum is a monster in its own right, with all the messed up hormones and lack of sleep, so for MONTHS I was... a shell of a person. I hated being a mom, I went from complete freedom to utterly NONE, just a slave to this baby I was STRUGGLING to connect with who cried ALL the time (colic is a bitch, yo), and the guilt BROKE MY HEART because for much of my life I desperately dreamed of being a mom, and when it happened it fell so, SO short of all my expectations. There was also the fact that we (still) never fully moved in yet, I couldn't breastfeed like I wanted, and my mom announced she has significantly advanced kidney disease... I was truly broken, guys. I thought about writing constantly, the hobby that was often my escape, and I never had an opportunity. I missed being ME. Well... you'll be glad to know the fog of misery is finally lifting, four months later. It did "get better", like everyone always told me. I'm still not whole. I will probably always grieve my old carefree life, and some hurts like my mom are not going away anytime soon, but motherhood itself has become easier - even enjoyable - and that helps with the mental load immensely. It took longer than I expected it to, but this beautiful quirky kid has crept into my heart and I love him fiercely (the crying less and sleeping more certainly helped, lol). I'm also back to working (part-time, now) which I never thought I'd be so happy about, but it provides a healthy dose of ME time to combat the still exhausting MOMMY time. And although I may still make you poor readers wait longer than you used to have to, I'M BACK :) And terribly terribly proud of how I kept chipping away at this for months, not letting depression get the best of me even when all the odds felt stacked against ever seeing the chapter come to fruition. (You don't really know until you KNOW, just how all time-consuming the newborn stage is!) I want to THANK YOU, dear readers, for your patience and especially the kind reviews which helped keep me afloat during those long dark months.

It meant more than you'll ever know.

BIG HUGS to the following: chastityjk, RogueAlly, karseneau1, lolopptt, Astraearose-silvermoon, moonotter, marya114, Zanahana, Ruk, merendinoemiliano, smoon4409, Jwalla1986, doctorsgirl262, Tina Century, Daire123, Guest (x6), GraphicsChyk, Oreo596, chimichurri, Sanda07, Rufael, TinkStar87, Mevneriel, Jenbunny, ShadowQueenGalactica, Serenity Red Eclipse, LoverGurrl411, Redmonkey3, and Ldsprincess! I hope you enjoyed the hefty chapter as penance! It only gets meatier from here!

Best,

AngelMoon Girl

P.S. Say a little prayer for Bradley, will you? That heart surgery is in a little over a week and a half now...