The year? Crystal Tokyo.

The place? Far underground.

The people? Sailor Mercury, Soldier of Wisdom and Guardian of Neo-Queen Serenity, and Zoisite, Marquess of the Spring and General under High King Endymion.

They sat back-to-back in a small underground chamber. The chamber walls were carved of bluish-gray stone in fascinating geometric patterns. Crystals glowed, set into the ceiling. Altogether it was quite an aesthetically pleasing space. However, it would have been a great deal more pleasing if there were an exit.

Sailor Mercury had her visor activated and was entering data onto her wrist-mounted Mercury tablet. She muttered under her breath; the computer emitted soft chimes and beeps.

Zoisite was sulking. There was nothing to do but listen to the computer's chimes and Mercury's soft monologue. He fidgeted, tapped his fingers on his chin, crossed and uncrossed his arms.

After some time, silence fell, except for a distant drip-drip-drip.

"Anything wrong?" Zoisite asked.

"I've run out of data," Mercury said. "And I've sent multiple messages through every channel I can think of. Now, there's nothing to do but wait."

Zoisite glanced to his left, almost but not quite over his shoulder. "How long do you think it will take? For them to reach us?"

"You know, my computer has a chess program," she said. "Do you play?"

"That's not an encouraging answer."

"It will take long enough for a good chess game, if," she said, "you're a decent player."

His mouth twisted into a piqued frown. "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"Now, why would I be mad?"

"You've got your back to me."

"And you've got your back to me. Do you play chess?"

"Of course I play chess," he bristled. "Do you have a chess set hidden in your uniform?"

Tap-tap, tap tap.

"… do you?"

"Turn around, Zoisite."

Now, the tricky thing was how to turn around in a none-too-tall chamber, and still retain his dignity. But he forgot to be dignified when he saw what was shining in front of Sailor Mercury.

"I— I'll be damned," he said.

Her tablet projected a small hologram of a chess set, navy blue against powder blue. "I should have known," he said. "It even looks sixteen-bit— early twenty-first century style."

"Well-spotted. Do you want to play white?" she asked. Her tone was mild, but suggested a certain challenge. It had been a long, long time since Mercury had played a really good chess game.

"Sure," he said.

The hologram reoriented itself, and Zander sat cross-legged on the ground. He considered for a moment, then made his first move. He didn't worry too much about strategy; if he lost he could always ask for a rematch.

It's not like they were going anywhere.

Mercury made a move without speaking. A silent indictment. Zoisite grew nervous. "You must be mad at me," he said. He sent another pawn out into the front lines. "If it weren't for me, we wouldn't even be here."

"Now, you can't say that. There's too much we don't know."

He was just beginning to relax when she added…

"Just because you taunted the Other's high priestess to her face, and she sent her sea serpent to ram against the walls, causing a cave-in, it doesn't necessarily follow that we're trapped down here, three hundred feet below sea level. There are a lot of ways we could have gotten trapped down here." After a moment, she added, "I presume."

She made her move. It was a good move, Zoisite admitted to himself. Well, that first pawn was already acquainted with the horrors of war; he sent it a little closer to doom.

"I'm sorry," he said at last. "This isn't how I wanted to spend my weekend."

"We won't be here all weekend."

"You sound awfully confident."

"You don't know the Sailor Guardians like I do. For that matter," she added, "High King Endymion just got you back. He will stop at nothing to free you. To free us."

Zoisite didn't answer. He played a new pawn, after a long time.

Sailor Mercury contemplated the new little pawn. "How did you want to spend your weekend?"

"Cherry blossom festival," said Zoisite.

"You know," said Sailor Mercury, "Jupiter hosts a yearly cherry blossom picnic. I believe it's next week."

"Yeah, but I wanted to play hooky. Sneak into Tokyo proper, get a bento box, sit in a park. In the, you know, commoner style."

A soft "ha" from Sailor Mercury.

"Something funny about that?"

"No, no, not in the least." She paused. "I… suppose there's no harm in you knowing. On my last birthday… that was before Helios brought you and the others to the Palace… Sailor Jupiter and I went out to the beach. It was a nice, warm day, but the water was cold. We swam for hours, just feeling the waves. Afterwards, we were exhausted. I wanted American food; we got hamburgers." She laughed a little. "It was nice. I just wish all my sisters could have joined us." She selected a knight, sent him into battle.

"That…" Zoisite paused. "That sounds like a lovely day. I wondered," he added, "if you missed the world."

Quietly, her bishop entered play. "There are things I miss about my life before—but I have good work with the people I love. I don't have any regrets."

"Wow." After a pause, "And here I thought everyone had regrets."

"I suppose I do," she said with finality.

Zoisite upped his game, and Mercury's eyes brightened. They played in silence for twenty minutes. Then Mercury spoke again.

"Do you remember," she said, "when we first met? In this lifetime?"

He looked up at her. In the light from the console, he looked very pale, wide-eyed. "Why would you say that?"

"I just wondered," she said.

"Of course I remember," and a smile broke across his face, but it wasn't a happy one, "The city mayor calls me up and asks me to be the cultural liaison for a Sailor Guardian coming to our city. Me! Liaison for a Sailor Guardian! But it was my home turf. I was proud to show you my home."

"Geneva."

"God, I miss Geneva," he said suddenly. "The air—do you remember how clear the air was? And the bells ringing over the lake… and the food," he added in a less elevated tone.

Her voice was soft. "You love the city, and you shared that with me. It was the best sabbatical I've ever taken."

Zoisite cleared his throat. "I was happy… to show you," he said. "I hoped we would meet again. I just—I didn't imagine that some white-haired colt of a boy would walk into my gallery one day and say, 'Bonjour, now let's go to Tokyo.'"

"Do you regret it?"

An abrupt stare. Mercury was about to repeat her question when he said, "Regret what?"

"Becoming a general," she said. "Moving to the Crystal Palace."

"Why do you ask now?"

"We're three hundred feet below sea level—give or take a few meters— and forced into proximity," she said. "I'm interested in the answer you'll give here, of all places."

"You think I'm dishonest aboveground?"

"I think you would turn ironic," she said, her voice warming as she spoke, "and you would pretend you didn't care, and avoid giving me a straight answer. Do you think I don't observe you, Zoisite?"

"You," he said slowly, "observe everything."

"So. Do you regret that Helios found you?"

"No." He held out his hands, palms-up, a gesture almost of surrender. "He gave me my calling. I have a place by my King's side. That, I don't regret."

Sailor Mercury nodded. In her lap, her hands relaxed their tense grip. "When we first met, in Geneva, you were absolutely in your element. But now, living in the Palace—I see you growing, learning, even when you don't feel in your element."

"Like Silver Millennium," he said.

"I didn't say that," Sailor Mercury said.

"I'm becoming more like who I was in Silver Millennium," his voice was a little faster, now.

"I'm trying to pay you a compliment," Sailor Mercury said, but this was mostly to herself.

"The Golden Kingdom. I think of it constantly. I think of the good that could have been—the art, exploration, peace— if the Golden Kingdom hadn't been destroyed. I, uh," he said, "I get to some dark places."

"Don't go to dark places, Zoisite. It's quite dark enough here already," she said.

"You're right. I—" his green eyes were ablaze with some fierce inner debate. Then he said, "Sailor Mercury, as long as we're three hundred feet underground—"

"Under the sea."

"Yes—and I have your undivided attention—which is a privilege, I'm telling you—I have something to say."

She ducked her chin and widened her eyes. Ready. Listening.

"I am sorry for the end of Silver Millennium. I am sorry for killing you. We never have to talk about this again, you can hate me until the end of time, but I want you to know that, I just didn't have a way to tell you at first—"

"Zoisite—"

"Because at first I didn't remember properly, and you and I had that distance, but by the time I did remember I—"

"Zoisite."

He ran a hand down his face. "There's no good way to say this," he said.

"'I'm sorry' will do," Mercury said. "And Zoisite?"

"Yes?"

"You said that you're becoming more like who you were in the Silver Millennium. That's a gross oversimplification. You are, and always will be, Alexander Hervieux." She lowered her eyes again to the chessboard.

Zoisite's right hand lifted to press against his heart. He tried to make himself look away from Sailor Mercury as she whispered something under her breath. But her small, defiant smile was fascinating, even in this cold light…

"And I will always be Ami Mizuno," she said. "At least a little." She lifted her eyes to him again. Still he was silent. And for the first time in hours, Sailor Mercury smiled, a grin that was sweet but nevertheless a touch mischievous. "Have I actually shocked you speechless?"

He laughed a little, staring at her smile.

"I don't deserve this kindness," he said, "but you ought to trap me underground more often."

"Neo-Queen Serenity would say, you do deserve this kindness."

"After what I did? What I did to you?"

Sailor Mercury considered the chessboard. She opened a new hologram, one that resembled the fire of a comforting hearth. The light played over her face, flickering orange and amber and yellow.

"A good light," she muttered to herself. To Zoisite she said, "Has anyone told you of a woman named Galaxia?"

He paused, making a mental tally. "The last enemy before Crystal Tokyo," he ventured. "Extremely powerful. Uh… The key word for her costume is 'metal,' and 'little dangly diamonds.'"

"We don't discuss Galaxia a great deal," Mercury said.

There was something in the solemnity of her tone that silenced Zoisite.

She went on, "Galaxia's minions disposed of us Inner Guardians with ease. She used our Sailor Crystals to conjure up our bodies and spirits again, but in her service. Galaxia set us on Eternal Sailor Moon, like attack dogs—and we obeyed."

"I didn't know this," with frightened wonder.

"The Queen herself is the only survivor of that time. She doesn't like to revisit it."

"Survivor?" he echoed.

"I said we were disposed of." Spoken coldly, clinically.

"And… resurrected as… what, puppets?"

A tiny shrug, a lift of the eyebrows. Mercury's gloved arms curled around her, a close, protective gesture. "Puppets, playthings, golems. It makes no difference. There is no absolution for us," she said, "except for Serenity's grace."

Zoisite gazed at the little hearth-fire hologram, which floated above the chessboard like a little fiery cloud. "I didn't know."

"Not a lot of people do."

Impulsively, he stretched out his hand.

There was a still moment, and then Mercury slipped her fingers into his. "If I deserve kindness, then so do you."

He swallowed hard. "I—"

"You're freezing," Mercury said suddenly. "We should stand up and stretch, get our blood flowing." The tablet with its holograms she set to one side, an act which skewed the shadows around them. "What's so funny?"

His eyes glinted wryly. "You're very practical, is all."

But no sooner had they gotten to their feet when a deep rumbling shook the chamber. The ceiling cracked, shuddered, and gave in.

"Ah!" Zoisite sprang upward, his hand extended. Around them the stone and water halted in its falling, and was pushed apart from them, as though by two giant hands. A rush of seawater flooded in, to soak them to their knees. But, here—the wave brought Sailor Neptune, and Kunzite was behind, holding a shaded lantern.

"Hello," said Sailor Neptune kindly to Sailor Mercury. "Sorry it took so long."

"It sure is good to see you," said Mercury.

Kunzite studied Zoisite's face for any trace of harm. But Zoisite gave him a reassuring nod and then a dazed, dreamy sort of glance over at Sailor Mercury.