Author's Note: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter up. I had planned to post it about a week ago, but then not long after I posted the previous chapter I ended up getting really slammed at my job. Plus I had holiday stuff with the family going on. Then on top of all that, I ended up catching a pretty bad cold that sapped what little energy I had to work on this chapter. I'm better now though, and thankfully things seem to be calming back down at my job. It seemed like several months had gone by though since I put the last chapter up, so I was pretty worried that I'd have a hard time getting back to this story. Of course it turned out that returning to work on this next chapter was easier than I thought it'd be, though I apologize if it turns out to not be my best work.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon (or The King in Yellow).

Chapter 4: Comrades in Arms, Part 1

Minako was once again at the masquerade ball, standing in the middle of the room. Clutched in her hand was a wine glass filled with a noxious-smelling liquid too toxic for anyone living to drink. Once again, Minako had no idea how she had wound up at the ball, but knowing how she had arrived wouldn't have changed the simple fact that she was there. All around her were the same undead party guests that were always there, talking and laughing amongst themselves when they should be moldering in their graves. It seemed to Minako that many of the guests had become more decayed than the last time she had seen them, as if years had passed since the last time she had attended the ball.

Not wanting to stay there a second longer, Minako tossed her glass to the floor, causing the crystal to shatter and its contents to spill out into a sickly yellow puddle. Pulling up her skirt, the blond made a run for the door, occasionally bumping past one or more of the talking corpses that were the other guests. In moments Minako made it to the heavy door that led out of the room, but when she tried to pull it open it wouldn't budge. Of course this did not surprise Minako. This had all happened to her before, and no matter what she did there was no way for her to leave the room. Yet she had to try anyway. She needed to be out of that room and out of that castle before that other door opened.

"Why Princess! Surly you can't be intending to leave us so soon," a familiar voice spoke. Minako slowly turned around to see One-Eyed Pete standing before her with his hands folded behind his back and his large mouth curved into a gigantic grin. "I can understand you being nervous, since this is after all a big night for you. But you can't possibly leave now! His Majesty will be here at any moment."

"That's exactly why I'm getting the hell out of here!" Minako told him. "I don't know who this king of yours is, but I want nothing to do with him! Now let me out of this room, or else I'm going to beat you into the ground!"

Suddenly Minako's right upper arm began to burn. The yellow mark that the worm had left on her was glowing through the sleeve of her dress like a beacon.

Pete chuckled. "It won't be long now. His Majesty is about to arrive."

Suddenly the large doors atop the steps at the other side of the room creaked open and a sinister mist poured out. As the mist covered the floor, Minako could hear footsteps coming from the foggy entrance. Someone… or something… was coming through. Minako held her breath, watching to see what would come out. She wanted to turn away and try escaping again, but she was frozen in fear. The footsteps seemed to go on for an eternity until at last she saw what appeared to be a shape of a human figure coming through the mist.

Minako shot up in bed with a startled cry. All the color had drained from her face and her whole body was covered in a cold sweat. It took her a few moments to realize that she was once more back in her hotel room. Minako let out a sigh of relief when she finally did, but she didn't feel totally at ease. This was the fifth night in a row where she dreamed of that undead masquerade ball, and each time the nightmare was starting to feel more and more real.

Artemis woke up and raised his head to look at Minako. "Mina, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Art. Just another bad dream."

"I don't like this," Artemis declared as he sat all the way up. "This is the fifth bad dream in a row. Not only that, you haven't been looking well."

"I'm sure I'm just feeling some stress from filming this movie. It's been a little tougher than I thought it'd be. That director of ours is pretty demanding."

"I think you should drop out of the movie. Clearly it's affecting your health."

"Are you kidding? This movie's my big break. Besides, we still haven't found this enemy that's been acting behind the scenes."

"I say let Kunzite and Hilda handle that. This was never our problem to begin with."

"Like hell! I'm not gonna let who or whatever sent that damn worm get away with attacking me. Besides, this enemy could turn out to be a threat to Usagi. We need to find and stop it before it comes after her."

Artemis let out a defeated sigh. "I guess you're right."

"Damn straight. Now let's get back to bed. I have another long day ahead of me."

With that, Artemis curled back up on the bed and closed his eyes. The white feline was out like a light in a second. Sleep would not come as easily to Minako though. In fact she wanted to stay awake out of fear if being back in that masquerade ball again. Sleep did come again to Minako regardless however, though it was thankfully a lite and dreamless sleep.

The filming of the next scene in the movie was taking place in a wide-open field out behind the studio lot. As the crew was setting up, Keisuke stood in full costume with his arms crossed, waiting for Minako to show up. Keisuke had grown concerned about Minako during the past few days of filming. Artemis had not been the only one to notice the blonde's steady deterioration. Keisuke had to admit that the filming had been a bit stressful, but his instincts told him that Minako's condition might be due to something else, and he again wondered if perhaps she had somehow already fallen into some kind of enemy trap.

At long last Minako showed up in full costume. Instead of the elegant dress she had worn for most of the scenes in the movie, Minako was dressed in a long-sleeved grey shirt along with a pair of long black pants and brown boots. Hanging from Minako's waist was a long sword. Keisuke felt that the look suited Minako quite well. She was after all not only a princess of her own world and the goddess of love incarnate, but also a warrior.

"There you are," Keisuke spoke as Minako approached. "I was starting to worry that you weren't going to show."

"Sorry. I was a little late getting in," Minako explained. "I had kind of a hard time pulling myself out of bed this morning."

"Perhaps you've been pushing yourself too hard. You don't look at all well. In fact I've been starting to worry about you."

"I may seem a little ragged right now, but I'm fine. I already have Artemis fretting over me. I don't need you doing it too."

"I can't help but worry about you," Keisuke declared as he suddenly took Minako's hand. "I know you've made it clear where we stand as far as our relationship, but I still care about you."

Minako blushed and pulled her hand away. "Well… that's real sweet of you, but I told you I'm okay. I may be a little frayed around the edges right now, but I'm no delicate flower."

"I know that quite well. But I don't want you overexerting yourself. After all, the scene we're about to shoot is quite demanding physically."

"What, you think I can't keep up with you in a fight?" Minako asked as a confident smirk formed on her face. "That sounds like a challenge."

"Ah! There you are, Ms. Aino!" Mason spoke as he approached the two with his assistant director in tow. "You've come right on time. We're almost ready to begin filming. Now you both understand the scene we're about to film today, don't you?"

"This is a flashback to when our characters first met, right?" Minako asked.

"Yes. This scene shows the moment when the spark of Cassilda and Altair's forbidden love affair was lit, so I want to see a lot of passion between you two out there. Now, if you'll both take your places, we will begin."

In a few moments, Minako and Keisuke took their marks and Mason called action. The cameras began to roll as the two of them walked into the center of the field.

"I don't see why I have to do this," Minako spoke as they walked, quoting her first line in the scene. "Learning the way of the sword has never been a necessary skill for a princess."

"Our kingdom faces grave enemies right now; enemies that would not hesitate to take your head if chance were to give them the opportunity," Keisuke responded, quoting his line. "Your father wishes for you to be able to defend yourself in the event you get separated from your guards during such an attack. That is why he ordered these lessons."

"That's all well and good, but I fail to see why I need to take these lessons from a commoner such as yourself."

Keisuke stopped and turned to look Minako in the eye. "I may be a commoner, but I am also the best soldier in the kingdom. That is why your father chose me to be your instructor." He drew his sword and pointed the blade at Minako. "Now, draw your weapon so we can begin."

Scowling, Minako drew her own sword and pointed it at Keisuke. The silver-haired swordsman took a swing at Minako, which she dodged by jumping back a step. Keisuke pressed forward and took another swing, which Minako quickly parried. As the sound of their blades colliding rang through the air, Minako suddenly had a flash of déjà vu. Minako stabbed her blade at Keisuke, prompting him to quickly jump back.

Minako then came at him full force, swinging her blade. It was taking all Keisuke had to counter each of her strikes as he was continually forced back. The cameras that had been filming the two of them followed them closely.

"Sir, shouldn't you be yelling cut about now?" the assistant director asked Mason. "They're really breaking from the choreography."

Mason shook his head. "This is fine. I wanted passion, and this is what we're getting."

As Keisuke was forced back to the edge of the field, he finally saw an opening in Minako's defense and took a stab at her. With amazing speed though, Minako dodged the strike by moving to Keisuke's right. In almost the same movement, she swept her leg into Keisuke's, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. Before Keisuke could get up, the blonde got on top of him straddling his waist as she raised her sword high. Minako swiftly moved her sword down towards Keisuke's face only to stop it inches from his eye.

In that moment, Keisuke had a sort of flashback that lasted only a few seconds. He saw Minako in the same position on top of him as Sailor Venus, with a sword poised over his face. Her body was covered in sweat and a triumphant smile was on her face. The flashback ended, and Minako was still on top of him in her regular form. Only rather than smiling, the blonde was catching her breath.

Suddenly Mason began to clap. "Cut! Print! A phenomenal performance, you two!"

"But sir! They went totally off-script!" the assistant director cut in. "Cassilda was the one who was supposed to be overpowered, not Altair! We're going to have to reshoot the whole thing from the beginning."

Mason waved him off and shook his head. "Young man, you have so very much to learn. Some of the greatest scenes in a film come from what happens in the moment, not from what's written on a page! Take the scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc when Indiana Jones shot that swordsman. That scene was originally supposed to be a long drawn-out sword fight like the one we had just filmed, but in that moment the actor simply shot the swordsman because he was tired and because it made more sense! And that scene played far better than any sword fight. No, we shall keep what we've shot as is."

"But the dialogue won't match up!" the assistant director pointed out as he helplessly flipped through his copy of the script.

"A simple matter to correct," Mason declared as he rose from his director's chair. "I shall contact the writer of our script and ask him to make a few revisions. Until then, we shall take a thirty-minute break."

"Sounds good to me," Minako spoke as she rose to her feet and sheathed her sword. "If anyone needs me, I'll be resting in my trailer."

Keisuke watched closely as Minako walked off. As intense as their little sparring match for the cameras had been, it shouldn't have worn her out that much. He was now more convinced than ever that something was wrong with her, and it was more than just the strain of the filming. Rather than go back to his trailer, Keisuke decided to take a long walk to collect his thoughts. It wasn't just Minako that he wanted to think about, but also what he had seen at the very end of the sparring match.

Keisuke felt sure that the image he had seen was the fragment of another memory from his past life, and that the rest of that memory was at the very edge of his brain. He tried hard to get the rest of the memory to come to the surface. Focusing on the memory seemed like a much better use of his energy than worrying about Minako's condition. Unfortunately the more Keisuke tried to force those old memories to come back, the further away they seemed to become.

As Keisuke kept walking, he suddenly found that he had entered the small cluster of trees that was out beyond the field where they had shot the sparring scene. He also noticed that the sky had darkened and that a thick mist was now covering the ground. Quickly realizing that he had fallen into some sort of trap, Keisuke went on red alert. He felt certain that the enemy was about to strike. A pillar of black energy surrounded the silver-haired warrior as he transformed into his alter ego.

A split second after Kunzite's transformation had finished, three skeletal arms suddenly burst from the ground a few feet in front of him. In the few seconds that it took for Kunzite to draw his sword, three mummified grey corpses clad in rusted broken pieces of armor and tattered brown rags had come out of the ground. They stood before him with swords clutched in their boney hands. The eye sockets of their skeletal faces all glowed with balls of a yellow phosphorescent light. Painted on the breastplates covering their chests was a strange yellow glyph-like symbol.

The corpse soldier in the lead roared at Kunzite and charged at him with his sword raised. As the creature came in striking range, it swung his sword down towards Kunzite's head. The silver-haired general easily dodged the attack by stepping to his right and then stabbing the soldier in the side. Kunzite withdrew the blade and then chopped the head of the corpse soldier off. The pieces of the soldier shattered into grey dust before they hit the ground.

The other two soldiers then charged at Kunzite with their weapons raised. Kunzite swiftly cut the soldier on his left with a diagonal slice into its torso, splitting it in two and shattering it into dust. A split second later, he decapitated the remaining soldier and reduced it to dust as well. Just as Kunzite was about to sheath his sword and leave, five more corpse soldiers burst out of the ground a few feet in front of where he was. At the same time, seven more soldiers crawled out of the ground a few feet away behind him, followed closely by two more groups of seven soldiers to his left and right.

At that moment, Kunzite realized that he was going to be in for a very long fight. As three of the corpse soldiers to his front charged into attack followed by five of the ones from behind him, even more of the undead creatures began to burst from the ground.

Minako was awakened from the nap she had been taking by the sound of her trailer door suddenly opening. She sat up and looked to see that Artemis had come in. The doorknob of the trailer was the type that a cat could easily turn.

"Well hi, Art. What brings you here?" Minako asked.

"I just came to see how you were," Artemis explained as he came over and sat before the blonde. "You looked pretty wiped out this morning."

"I'm okay. I was just taking a little nap when you came in."

"I really don't like the way you've been pushing yourself lately. I get why you can't drop out of the movie, but at the very least I think you should see a doctor. He might prescribe something that could help you sleep at night."

Minako was about to argue the idea when a strange feeling suddenly overcame her. A wave of dread seemed to crash into her as an image of Keisuke suddenly flashed briefly in her mind.

Artemis noticed the look of concerned that had formed on Minako's face. "Mina, what's wrong?"

"It's Keisuke. I don't know why, but… I think he's in danger." Minako rose from her chair. "We have to go help him! Now!"

Kunzite had just decapitated two more corpse soldiers when another seven began to charge towards him with rusted spears. As they came near, the blade of Kunzite's sword began to crackle with black energy.

"Obsidian Lance!" Kunzite called out as he thrust his sword at the oncoming soldiers.

The energy that had started to shroud Kunzite's sword blade soon formed into a massive cone that took off towards the soldiers like a missile. The cone grew in size as it flew towards the soldiers into it struck all seven, creating a large explosion of black energy. The attack not only totally vaporized the seven soldiers it had been aimed at; it also shattered three of the soldiers that had been following after them. Four more soldiers started to charge in from the right. As Kunzite turned to face them, he was totally unaware that another had managed to sneak up close behind him with a rusted ax and was about to bring it down onto the top of his head.

"Crescent Beam!" called a familiar voice as a beam of gold light shot across the battlefield and struck the head of the soldier attacking Kunzite from behind, shattering its skull.

Kunzite turned around just in time to see the soldier collapse into a pile of dust. He then saw Sailor Venus standing a few feet away with Artemis standing close at her feet.

Venus quickly came over to Kunzite. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Though I wouldn't have been if you hadn't destroyed that thing just now. Thank you."

Venus smiled and nodded. "I had this bad feeling that you might be in trouble. Glad I decided to trust my instincts."

"Um, maybe you two should save this conversation for later?" Artemis cut in. "Right now we have other things to worry about."

Venus and Kunzite looked to see that the remaining soldiers had formed a tight circle around them. The two quickly turned their attention away from each other and focused totally on the enemy in front of them. Suddenly the corpse soldiers began to charge at them from all directions.

"Venus Wink Chain Sword!" Venus called as she winked, causing a long orange chain with a silver sword attached to appear in her hands.

The blonde swung the chain like a whip, cutting through the first two waves of soldiers coming at her and causing them to shatter to dust. At the same time, Kunzite fired another Obsidian Lance attack that obliterated the three waves of soldiers that had been coming at them from his side. There were still many soldiers left though, and they came at the duo relentlessly. As the battle raged on, both Kunzite and Venus became overwhelmed by a strong sense of déjà vu, as though both of them had been in a similar situation many times before.

The two of them continued to fight against the corpse soldiers with a series of well-coordinated attacks. On some instinctual level Venus and Kunzite seemed to know how to support one another on the battlefield, as if they had fought together for years. Eventually Kunzite took out the very last corpse soldier by taking off its head. When the last soldier shattered to dust, the mist that had been covering the ground finally faded away. With the last enemy destroyed, the two of them changed back to their civilian forms.

Suddenly Minako started to faint. Keisuke managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Soon after though, a grey fog fell across Keisuke's vision and he two started to collapse. Artemis could only watch helplessly as the two of them fell to the ground in a pile.

"What's going on?" a concerned Artemis asked.

"Guess I was a little late to the party," a familiar voice spoke. Artemis turned to see Hilda walking into the clearing. "Seems like I'm just on time to help with the cleanup though."

"Are you responsible for what's happened to them?" Artemis asked her with a suspicious glare.

"Relax, mouse breath. I had nothing to do with this. These two should wake up in a bit. For now, we should get them back to Keisuke's trailer until they wake up."

"What's happened to them?"

"Well if I'm right, these two are going on a trip down memory lane."

Not far away in a tight cluster of trees, Mason was watching the four with one of his cameramen. The cameraman had filmed the whole battle with a small digital camera he had brought with.

"Sir, I got the whole battle. But I don't think we can use any of this footage for the movie," the cameraman spoke.

"It matters not," Mason told him. "This was merely an audition tape of sorts to see what our Mr. Tenju was capable of. I believe that once the Maestro sees it, he will agree with me that our Mr. Tenju should be written out of the film as quickly as possible."

Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed this latest chapter. Incidentally, that story Mason told about that scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc is a true story. Anyway, I apologize if the battle scenes weren't as good as they could've been. I still have a bit of a hard time writing scenes like that sometimes, especially when they involve multiple combatants.

It'll probably be another two weeks before the next chapter goes up. It's going to be mostly flashback, which means it'll probably be pretty long. So until then, please stay tuned. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.