It was days before his final battle with the Sailor Senshi.
Kunzite had been busy for weeks, preparing for this ultimate confrontation. Planting a new entrance in the Senshi's beloved Crown Parlour. Crafting a tunnel to lead them into the darkest part of the Kingdom. Engineering his environment, to benefit his magic and strategies alone - in that space, his own space, they would stand no chance. He would not kill them - because the Princess ultimately controlled the crystal, and Kunzite suspected it would not work without her life energy - but he could send them away and deflect their attack with just a breath. If he was successful, then the Dark Kingdom would finally reign, wholly and completely.
And perhaps, the Princess's crystal could then be of more personal use. After all, Kunzite had not mistaken its potential to raise the dead…
After finishing the remaining touches of his plan, Kunzite teleported away from the inside of Crown Parlour. He rarely fully materialized whenever he was on Earth - he preferred to remain unseen as much as possible. Perhaps it was also be because he never identified himself as an Earth man to begin with...Jadeite, Nephrite, and Zoisite had all felt somewhat comfortable in their mortal flesh, perhaps enjoyed the senses one experiences with the physicality of a body. But Kunzite had never felt any particular need for such experiences...thus he preferred to remain a spectre, ghosting over the city like a shadow.
His shadow flitted across the slumbering buildings, darting from wall to wall, until finally, it rested before his final destination. Starlight Tower.
This time, Kunzite did take the rare opportunity to fully manifest himself, and his boots landed on the grass softly. He arched his head high, catching the glimmer of the balcony, dark and solemn in the moonless night. In its monumental silence and beauty, it marked the sky like a gravestone.
Lowering his head back to the ground, Kunzite focused on the matter at hand. He opened up his palms, and after an evocation of magic, a familiar frame dropped into his hands.
It was the photo of himself and Zoisite, preciously preserved in gold.
Taking a deep breath, Kunzite closed his eyes. Within a heartbeat, the frame had disappeared from his hands, and reappeared deep in the earth before him. The only indication that it had been buried was the pulse of black magic that flickered above the space Kunzite had buried it.
Should he pass, Kunzite had a suspicion that all his magic would be obliterated along with his soul as well. But, in the event that he was wrong...he sincerely hoped the photo would remain. Perhaps one day, in a new life, he could happen upon it again.
With that done, Kunzite readied himself for his last battle. One way or another, he would find his answers shortly.
Within a blink of an eye, he teleported back to the Kingdom.
When his own blade struck his heart, Kunzite could not believe it.
So this is the power of the Ginzuishou , he realized. Even in his own space, with his own physics and rules - it could defy them all.
As he stood dying, Kunzite threw his hand skyward to bellow out his last request.
"Zoisite, the plane where your soul resides... guide me there! "
As he began to lose consciousness, the lights turned blinding and blurry, like the last burst of fireworks.
And if I cannot be guided , Kunzite thought, as he felt his body disintegrating...no longer a shadow, no longer a spectre...just colors and light and air...
I will keep searching for you.
The lights extinguished, and the world turned black.