A/N: Okay guys. I made a tumblr. I'm still Lin Lamont.

Just a heads up. Our new house is finally built and we close October 1st! Yay! Except that means that the next couple of weeks are going to be kinda busy while we pack up and move across several states and then unpack everything again. So updates may not come quite so often for a little while. But I'm hoping that once we're in and settled, I'll get back to my usual routine of writing daily. It's good for my sanity. Even if my husband says otherwise.

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon and all characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.

Mamoru

"Please, for the love of God, Usa, don't transform into Sailor Moon."

Her eyes searched mine, scrunched stubbornly as her lip pouted.

"How am I supposed to fight evil if I don't transform into Sailor Moon?"

"I don't know," I said, "but I really don't think I could handle seeing my legs beneath that fuku again."

She had her hands on her hips as she glared at me.

"Well then, what do you suggest, baka?"

The clock ticked loudly on the wall, each passing second driving my sense of urgency--and anxiety--through the roof as I scrambled for an alternative.

"Maybe you can transform into Tuxedo Kamen." It was a reasonable suggestion.

"What?" she roared. "How can you even suggest that?" Well, I thought it had been reasonable.

"Doesn't that make sense? You're becoming more me and I'm becoming more you. We ought to at least give it a shot." I held out my hand. "Let me see your brooch."

Her own hand darted into her pocket, the fabric wrinkling around her clenched fist as it clutched her transformation brooch. She shook her head.

"No way."

My bangs fluttered against my forehead as I released a frustrated puff of air.

"Fine, then you go first. Concentrate on the crisis at hand. Meditate on the source of your power and then, once you've found it, try to visualize a rose in your hand."

She eyed me warily for a moment before she obeyed, her brow slightly furrowed. Within a few seconds, crimson petals began to materialize above her palm, an emerald stalk stretching the distance and connecting the two. A fully formed rose now dangled from her fingertips. Just as soon as the rose appeared, the rest of her visage began to swirl before my eyes. In a flurry of black and red, the form of the young man before me shifted into the caped hero, Tuxedo Kamen. She had done it.

Her penetrating eyes snapped open behind the ivory mask as she exclaimed, "I did it!" with a voice much too bubbly for the man that now stood before me.

The wheels in my brain had been spinning in a downward slope from the formation of the first visible petal. If Usagi could now transform into Tuxedo Kamen, then surely I could transform into Sailor Moon. Which was all fine and dandy, especially for our particular predicament, but it also appeared to signify a shift on a deeper level than our outward personas. As Ami had suggested, we were certainly growing closer, but maybe that wasn't such a good thing, after all. What if we were merely sinking deeper into these bodies as we grew more comfortable with one another?

The ornate, golden brooch came sailing through the air and I caught it at the last second before it could tarnish my perfect nose.

"Your turn," Usagi said with a wink.

"Are we still playing?" The pressing need to depart for battle was still present, but teasing Usagi was always irresistible.

Her lips parted into a toothy grin. "Throw your hand in the air and shout 'moon prism power, make up!' Then you can ask me your question."

I followed her command and marveled at the sparkling colors that misted around me as fuschia ribbons sprang from the brooch, enwrapping me in Sailor Moon's fuku. Next came the gloves, the boots, the bows, and finally the tiara. The transformation complete, the magical aura faded and revealed the Guardian of Love and Justice, as real as ever, only now she was secretly an eighteen year old boy.

"That was actually pretty cool to watch," she assessed, her mouth hanging open slightly. "Although I think I'm going to have a talk with Luna about the modesty of that transformation."

I rolled my eyes. "Only you would be concerned about your modesty in the face of literal monsters."

Her body stiffened at my words as they reminded us of our impending battle. We soared through the window and out into the crisp autumn air, the roar of the wind flying against our ears and drowning out the din of the bustling streets below. From one rooftop to the next we bounded, side by side, across the district toward Juban Park.

"Are you going to ask your question?" The heels of our shoes clicked against the shingles as we sprinted from one end of a roof to the other before leaping across an alleyway.

It was strange, as if running straight into danger had no negative affect on her mood. She actually wanted to keep playing. I debated whether I should try to keep it light or ask something I really wanted to know.

"Do I really ruin everything for you?" I had decided on the latter.

Her glossy dress shoes came skidding to a stop on the flat concrete of an apartment building rooftop and she grasped my arm as I passed her, breaking my stride and pulling me around to face her. Her eyes burrowed deep into mine.

"I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it."

"Didn't you, though?"

She shook her head and lifted her gaze to the clouds. Two sapphires glistened in the midday sun. "No. I was just caught off guard. And it's really hard to deal with emotions in this body. Everything always comes out so angry."

Tell me about it. It had taken me years of self-discipline to learn to bridle my emotions. Poor Usagi had no experience dealing with raging levels of teenage testosterone.

"I understand." Her hand fell from my arm and I caught it in my fingers, glove pressed to glove. I smiled reassuringly. "Your turn."

We resumed our trek.

"Why do you have a boner every morning?"

A hearty laugh exploded from my chest at her choice of words and direct approach to the topic.

"Is that really your question? Don't you know?"

She threw a sideways glance at me as we floated down from the rooftops, landing on the sidewalk a few blocks away from the park.

"I'm a girl. They don't exactly teach us the particulars about your breed during sex ed," she stated flatly.

I chucked again. "It's just a response from the parasympathetic nervous system."

She cocked an eyebrow at me, her pace never faltering.

"It's subconscious and totally normal," I translated. "It has nothing to do with being aroused."

"You could have fooled me," she muttered under her breath.

The welcome sign above the park entrance was growing steadily larger as we approached our target location.

"One last question?" I requested.

"I don't see why it has to be the last."

Playing while we ran was one thing. But she really wanted to play during battle, too? Well, as long as she didn't mind. And as long as we could manage to keep ourselves alive while we did it.

"How has your opinion of Tuxedo Kamen changed now that you know he's me?"

"You mean now that he's me?" she said, a snide grin pulling up one corner of her mouth.

I rolled my eyes again. "You know what I mean."

The smirk continued to tug at her lips as we entered the park, our internal radar directing us toward the west side as Ami had indicated over the communicator.

"Well, I guess at first I was shocked. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made." Dozens of civilians were fleeing in the opposite direction, heading for the exit of the park as we pressed deeper into its paths. Screams and sobbs echoed around us, blending into a discordant cacophony as they mingled with the nearing sounds of battle. "And the more I've gotten to know you, the more I see you in him."

We leaped over a set of benches to avoid an incoming stampede.

"That's comforting, but it doesn't answer my question, exactly," I persisted.

She huffed, the angry hormones reminding us of their presence. "I think knowing that you are Tuxedo Kamen makes him more real. More relatable. If anything, I think I like him even more now than I did when he was just a mysterious, masked hero."

My heart thudded against my ribs. And not from the running.

A groaning creak sounded directly overhead and we looked up just in time to see a tree split in two and begin to topple toward us.

"Look out!" She barrelled sideways at me, knocking us both out of the path of the falling tree before it crashed to the ground, splintering into lethal shards of fractured wood.

We rolled along the ground, limbs bumping and grinding against the dirt as we orbited each other before coming to a stop. Usagi now lay on top of me, the long legs of Tuxedo Kamen scissored between my own bare ones, our chests touching and parting over and over again as they heaved with our breaths. The intimate closeness of our position brought a warmth to my cheeks, despite the looming threat.

"Are you okay?" Intense eyes probed into mine.

"Yep." I squeaked. I squeaked like a girl. Well, I was a girl. So I got a pass.

"Good." She quickly scrambled to her feet, pulling me up with her. "Let's go kick some butt."

Unsurprisingly, we were the last to arrive on the scene. Remnants of a puppet theatre were strewn across a cobblestone path. Heaps of wood panels and velvet curtains lay amongst the unconscious bodies in the wreckage. Children and adults alike lay haphazardly on the ground like empty puppets themselves. Forming a protective barrier between them and the youma were Sailors Mars, Venus, and Jupiter, each looking battered already. Surely we weren't more than a few minutes late, but significant damage had already been done.

"Thank goodness you're here," called Sailor Mercury, joining us from her strategic hiding place behind a bush. "Wait a minute. Have you switched back?" Her eyes raked over our rather normal looking appearances.

"Not exactly," Usagi began to explain, but Ami continued as if she hadn't spoken.

"None of our attacks have worked and the girls don't have much left in them."

Our eyes traveled to the other Senshi's shaking legs and wilting arms. The monster above them laughed maniacally, it's green skin glowing eerily in the sunlight.

"Aw, you're not tired already, are you?" it mocked, flashing a set of sharp, gleaming teeth before hurling a mass of purple energy at the Senshi.

Mars and Venus were knocked to the ground, but Jupiter leapt out of range at the last second.

"Supreme Thunder!" she bellowed, and I watched in shock as the ball of static dissipated through the monster with no effect.

"No way," Usagi breathed beside me. "It didn't even phase him."

Mercury grunted in assent as she studied the data on her blue visor.

"I don't understand," she murmured, pressing her earrings, the flickering data shifting with each tap. "I've analyzed every square inch of this thing. No weak zones, no element sensitivities. Each of our attacks go through it like nothing. Like he isn't even real." She gasped. "That's it!"

"What?" we asked the strategist in unison.

"It's not real. It's a projection." Indecipherable characters sped across her visor as she spoke. "The attacks, its power source, they're coming from something else."

We followed her gaze up a tree that loomed over the youma. Halfway along a branch, an odd configuration of leaves were gathered, jutting up into the sky in an unnatural shape.

"There he is." She whipped out her miniature, aqua computer and with a million taps of the keyboard, the mirage of leaves vanished, revealing a sinister man with long, white hair, clad in a recognizable general's uniform.

"Kunzite." Venus spat with a spray of blood, struggling to her feet and helping Mars up beside her.

"It appears you've discovered my little trick." His voice trickled over the rubble and bodies like water over stones.

The Senshi were obviously familiar with this particular lord of darkness, but I hadn't yet had the pleasure. Though, something about him was strangely familiar, as it had been when I encountered each of the previous generals.

"Why don't we drop this farce, then?"

Suddenly, the youma disappeared and Kunzite was in his place. Before the Senshi could react, a dark cloud of pure negative energy radiated from his gloves fingers and engulfed them, the black mist writhing around each of their forms as it crackled. All three cried out before falling to the ground, unconscious.

"No!" came the shout from beside me as Usagi witnessed her friends succumbing to the negative energy. Unfortunately, this drew the dark general's attention to us.

Instinctively, I stepped in front of Usagi, my arm outstretched as I usually shielded her with my cape. But when my hand came up empty, I realized my mistake.

"Baka!" she scolded, shoving me behind her. "You're Sailor Moon now. I have to protect you!"

She pushed off of the ground with one foot and sailed courageously toward the enemy as I stood rooted to the spot, silently praying that Mercury would tell me what to do. Instead, we both stared after our heroine, now engaged in hand to hand combat with Kunzite.

"She can't," lamented Mercury. "Usagi doesn't have the skill to beat him in a battle of fists."

"Don't worry," I reassured her. If Usagi could transform into Tuxedo Kamen, she undoubtedly had access to my own wheelhouse. Not to mention the undaunted courage that had overcome her. "She's got this."

A long, narrow cane extended from Tuxedo Kamen's gloved hand and he swung it at Kunzite. The general, however, dodged it with ease, barely inching to the left or the right as he evaded every one of the attacks. Tuxedo Kamen pressed on, unphased, with fists flying in every direction with impressive speed. Again, I found myself marveling at my usual appearance, this time with a growing sense of pride.

Kunzite must have grown tired of fighting with Usagi as he suddenly switched to the offense. He landed a powerful blow to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her, and sending her staggering back. Now her guard was down. His fist connected with her stomach again, then her jaw, as he landed hit after hit.

The agony of watching Usagi being beaten to a pulp in front of me had frozen me in place. Each of my muscles were clenched, aching with each blow from the general as if I was feeling them in my own flesh. And I just stood there, staring, helpless, barely breathing. The light was beginning to leave Usagi and likewise beginning to leave my world, and eclipse of my mind and my senses.

"You have to do something." Ami was pulling on my arm, shaking me, trying to call me back to the present. But I couldn't tear my eyes away from the scene before me.

With a final shattering uppercut, Kunzite sent Usagi flying through the air to land at my feet, her head slamming against the ground with a devastating thump.

"Usako!"

The life sprang back into my limbs and I dropped to her, lifting her head into my lap. Thick, black lashes that usually framed deep ocean eyes now lay still across her high cheekbones. Blood was trickling from the corner of her open mouth, dripping across her skin and pooling on my fuku. She was frightfully still.

"Usako?"

The sinister laughter was muffled in my ears. I was under water. I was drowning. There was no air. I couldn't breathe. My lungs were burning and fighting against the water pouring down my face.

She couldn't be dead. I would know. I would feel it. She was just unconscious. The thought rang true. But how could I do this without her?

"Now, Mamoru! You have to use your attack!"

But her words were meaningless. They floated around me in the water, rushing by in the current before they could enter my mind.

"Usako. Usako, wake up." My hands were shaking her violently even though I couldn't feel the movement. "Usako, I need you! Please!"

There was no response. She was still motionless in my arms, no detectable sign of life. The water was growing thicker, threatening to crush me under its weight. The light had gone out of the world.

There was only darkness now. A gruesome, palpable darkness that twisted through the waves like a sickening snake, its venom seeping through my skin. It was just Usagi's lifeless body and me.

Somewhere above the water was a scream. It barely registered. Along with the rich laughter rippling through the waves.

I gasped for air.

"Usako, I don't know how to do this without you. Please."

He was getting closer. I could feel the evil pressing in with the water and the snakes and the weight of Usagi's limp body. The weight was unbearable and my body buckled. Her face drew closer. It had been my face, but it was her face. Usagi was in there. She still was. I could sense it. The tether that had pulled me to her every time she transformed, that was holding me here and preventing me from sinking into the abyss, was tightening, shortening, pulling me into her.

My lips met hers.

Usagi

It was that same voice. The one that had comforted me in the nothingness. That had said he was coming for me.

Yet, here I was, again. Alone again. In the darkness again. Why hadn't he come for me? How many times had I found myself here? How long had I been waiting for him to reveal himself?

How much time had passed since I arrived? Seconds? Years? Time, like me, no longer existed. Yet it seemed to speed up as I felt the rope grow shorter. The rope that had always been there, but I never noticed.

"Usako. Usako, wake up."

Was I asleep? Was this a dream like before?

I looked to examine my body, but there was nothing there. Just a limitless expanse of black and emptiness.

"Usako, I need you! Please!"

The voice was desperate. It was breaking, ripping apart at the seams. Why was he begging me? Wasn't he the one that was supposed to come for me? He had always saved me before. How did I know that?

How could I ever reach him here?

I was trapped. My body was nonexistent. I was an ethereal consciousness suspended in the void. What could I possibly do to find him?

Ignoring the futility, determined, just as desperate, I reached for him. Imagined hands groping uselessly, swimming, searching, pulling.

No, I wasn't pulling. I was being pulled.

"Usako, I don't know how to do this without you. Please."

He was closer. He was the other end of the rope.

'I'm coming,' I wanted to scream. But my throat was welded shut and the words were thick and stuck in my dry mouth like peanut butter. The rope continued to pull me. 'I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming,' I thought.

And then, all at once, he was there.

Something soft on my lips. Warm. Breathing life into my marble skin.

A heart beat in my chest. Air filled my lungs. Blood coursed through my veins.

"Mamo-chan?"

Tentatively, I opened my eyes.

His forehead was pressed to mine, his blonde bangs mingling with my dark strands. Tears flowed from his tragic eyes and crashed to my face. They were hot and melted the ice that encased me. But he was smiling.

"Usako. I thought you were leaving me."

I tried to reach for his perfect face, to remove the sting from his words, wipe the anguish from his cheeks. But the nothing that had consumed me still lingered, wrapped around the two of us together, and the pain was inescapable. Indescribable.

"Never." My arms remained lifeless across my ribs.

His hands found my face and cradled me. I marvelled at his strength in the venomous current.

"It's just you and me now, Usako. I don't know how to beat him. You have to help me."

"Give me your hands," I croaked.

His tiny, gloved fingers found their way into mine. Almost instantly, the Moon Stick Materialized into our hands. I lifted my gaze to him.

"Isn't it my turn?"

His long lashes blinked against his surprise.

"What?"

"It's my turn to ask a question," I clarified.

A small smile cracked beneath the salty rivers drying on his beautiful face.

"Okay. But we don't have much--"

"Do you love me?"

A beat of my heart.

"Yes."

At first it was small, subtle. A flickering candle under the blanket of night. But as it grew, the warmth returned and the pressure receded. Light was coming back into the world. And it was coming from the Moon Stick clasped between our hands. It expanded until it encircled us in a glowing orb of silver refuge. We were the full moon in the midnight sky. My pain was gone. And as he held me, life began to flow within my limbs.

Just as the universe was beginning to click into place, I was wrenched from it again. Instead of blackness, like before, a myriad of vibrant colors swirled before my eyes. Infinite shades and hues flowing one into the next as gravity disappeared and I was reeling in the cyclone. The only sense of security I found was in the ever present tether which bound me to something solid yet also spinning, bound me to him, sucked into each other's orbit like the Earth and the moon.

After a possible eternity, the colors began to settle into place, taking on the shape and form of the familiar world around us. The light was fading and the only remaining evidence of the darkness that had swallowed us whole was a malevolent cry echoing through the trees.

"This isn't over, Sailor Moon!"

But as far as I was concerned, it was.

Because as I followed the large hands held inside my own up the long, jacketed arms of their owner, I found the stunning, chiseled visage of my hero: Tuxedo Kamen. He was back where he belonged. And so was I.