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

Chapter 8: The Unworthy Knight

It was fairly in the morning as both Minako and Keisuke arrived at the field behind studio lot, and already the film crew was setting up for the next scene. When they arrived, Ace was sitting in a canvas chair going over his copy of the script, though Keisuke felt certain that the former idol star was going to be making some serious departures from what was written on the page. The fight that he and Ace were about to have was going to be a real one, and it was going to be to the death. Meanwhile, Minako was off in another world since before stepping onto the lot. Her nightmare from the previous night had disturbed her deeply, so much so that Artemis felt that he should go with Minako to keep an eye on her.

"Keisuke!" Artemis quietly called. "I need to speak with you!"

Keisuke went over to the metal trash barrel that Artemis was standing behind in order to avoid anyone see him talk. "What is it, feline?"

"Look, the fact is I don't like you, and I still don't trust you a bit. But the fact is I may need your help. Mina's in a pretty bad place right now."

"Why? What's happened?" Keisuke asked, kneeling down so Artemis could whisper.

"Almost ever since the filming for this movie started, Mina's been having nightmares about the King in Yellow. The one from last night was so bad that it's shaken her to the core. I've never seen her this frightened before."

Keisuke peeked around the barrel and noticed that Minako looked totally on edge and as pale as a ghost. It hurt him to see the most beautiful and confident woman he knew reduced to the state of a frightened child.

"These nightmares she's been having… they're some form of attack, aren't they?"

Artemis nodded. "I'm not sure, but it seems like the King himself has been using these dreams to contact Minako and weaken her. I don't think she's in any state to fight right now. I hate to say it, but I need you to help protect her."

"And I will with every last ounce of strength," Keisuke declared as he rose back to his feet. He then looked back in Ace's direction. "But first I have another enemy to deal with."

"Alright everyone! Place please!" Mason called from his director's chair.

Both Keisuke and Minako to their places on the field for the start of the scene. Ace soon after approached them, flashing Minako a roguish smile. The former idol's costume consisted of long brown pants, black boots, and a white long-sleeved shirt over which he wore a black tunic. On the front of his tunic was a yellow glyph exactly like the burn mark on Minako's arm.

"Alright, I'm sure you all know what's to happen in this scene," Mason told the three actors. "This is the part where Altair challenges Lucifer, the envoy of Carcosa to a duel in order to prevent the marriage between Cassilda and the King. And… action!"

"The time of your final destiny has arrived, Princess," Ace spoke as the camera's started rolling. "Now come with me. Dallying here will only prolong your own suffering. I understand that this is a sad event to be leaving the land you love, but it will only be sadder the longer you stay."

"You're not taking the princess anywhere!" Keisuke declared as he held an arm in front of Minako. "I do not care if it would mean war with Carcosa! Better for there to be a war than for her to suffer a life married to that foul beast! If you want to take Cassilda to him, then you will have to step over my dead body to do so!"

Ace chuckled. "That can easily be arranged, Altair. We'll duel to decide Cassilda's fate. If you win, you can take her for yourself. But if I win, then to Carcosa she goes. And of course you won't be able to protest since you'll be dead."

"Fine with me."

"Then let us begin!" Ace declared as he clutched the front of his tunic.

Suddenly Ace became enveloped by a tornado of playing cards that suddenly rose up from the ground around his feet. In moments the cards blew away to reveal Ace in a new form. A white mask covered the top half of his face, and on his forehead was a yellow mark like the glyph that had been on his tunic. He had on a white military style uniform with black trip, along with a white pair of gloves. On the chest of Ace's shirt over his heart was black spade with the Yellow Sign in the center.

In an instant, Keisuke became enveloped in a pillar of black energy and transformed into Kunzite, drawing his sword the moment the energy around him faded. "I knew this wasn't going to be a pretend battle!"

"Should we stop filming?" the cameraman asked Mason.

"It's fine. Keep going," Mason told him, not taking his eyes off the scene.

With a flick of his fingers, the playing card for the Ace of Spades appeared in Ace's right hand. Then with a puff of white smoke, the card turned into a sword with a gold guard in the shape of a spade. Kunzite charged right at Ace and swung his blade down towards the masked man's shoulder. Ace easily parried the blow and slashed back, only for Kunzite to quickly counter. As the two of them began trading blows, Kunzite started to force Ace back.

"You're certainly coming at me hard," Ace remarked with a confident smirk as Kunzite continued to force him back. "Almost as if you're in a hurry to finish me."

"I have bigger enemies to deal with than the likes of you!" Kunzite declared as he tried to stab Ace in the stomach.

Ace quickly jumped back and avoided the thrust of Kunzite's sword. He then dashed around to Kunzite's right and suddenly threw out five playing cards that he produced from his sleeve. "Deadly Five-Card Straight!"

All five cards suddenly ignited with puffs of white smoke and turned into swords as they flew through the air. Though surprised, Kunzite managed to knock all five weapons with his own sword. Right after doing so, Ace came straight at him with his sword aimed right at Kunzite's chest. Kunzite managed to block the attack at the last second, but suddenly he was the one being forced back as Ace started a brutal assault.

"What a joke you are!" Ace declared as he continued to strike at Kunzite. "And to think that a former general of the Dark Kingdom could've grown so weak! You're far less worthier of Minako's heart than I am!"

"Perhaps, but I will not let you or this king you serve have her!"

Ace chuckled. "Oh, but His Majesty has already claimed her! One of his servants has already branded her with the Yellow Sign! The very same mark that is upon my brow! From what I was told, Minako's mark should be on her arm."

Here the fight paused, and Kunzite suddenly remembered the incident with the larva monster, and how its acid attack had burned Minako's arm. Kunzite thought that Minako had recovered, but now it occurred to him that the attack might've had some lasting effect. Perhaps whatever scar the attack left was the reason why Minako was being plagued by nightmares.

"If you were truly worthy of Minako's heart, you wouldn't have let her be branded," Ace continued.

"I didn't expect that attack to be anything serious. But if I made an error, than I will correct it by killing both you and your precious King! I will not let her fall into your hands!"

At this, Ace burst out laughing. "That's funny coming from you. You consider yourself to be Minako's protector, but the fact is you're one of the worst men to ever come into her life. All you do is cause her and her friend to suffer! Perhaps I need to remind you of how you failed her so badly in your first life!"

Kunzite ignored Ace and began to charge towards him. The silver-haired night had only gotten a couple steps though when Ace suddenly touched the side of his mask and fired two beams of yellow light from his mask's eyes. The beams struck Kunzite in the face, and his vision went totally white as his mind was pulled back into the past.

Once more Kunzite was back in the time of the Silver Millennium. It was only weeks after Venus had rejected him during their visit to his kingdom. In that short time, tension had flared up all over the planet, largely because of the monster attacks that had been happening. Things had taken a surprising turn when people began to blame the Moon Kingdom for the attacks. The accusers were claiming that what was causing people to turn into the rampaging carnivorous monsters Kunzite and Venus had been fighting was some new experimental weapon that the Moon Kingdom was testing out.

The first to make this accusation was the princess of a small kingdom named Beryl. Kunzite had been familiar with the princess due to the king and queen having once tried getting Endymion to marry Beryl, but of course Endymion had not been at all interested in her. While Kunzite didn't know what proof Beryl had that the Moon Kingdom was behind the monster attacks, it was clear that people were taking her seriously. Beryl's supporters had been growing by the day, and there was even talk that Earth might go to war with the people of the Moon. At that moment, Kunzite was in his office with his fellow Shitennou, Nephrite, Jadeite and Zoisite to discuss what to do.

Jadeite and Zoisite were both sitting in the chairs in front of Kunzite's large desk, while Nephrite was leaning against his usual spot on the office wall with his arms crossed. The other three Shitennou had been reporting the most recent developments with the anti-Moon movement, but Kunzite had been finding it hard to listen. His thoughts kept going back to Venus. Kunzite hadn't seen the blond ever since the end of their failed date at his family castle. He wished very much that Venus would return, not so much for his own sake, but so she could help to perhaps dispel or at least make sense of this madness that had befallen his people.

"To be honest, I don't think the question is how we stop a war with the Moon Kingdom," Zoisite spoke thoughtfully. "The real question it, should we go to war with them? And honestly, I think perhaps we should."

Zoisite's comment caused Nephrite to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Surly you can't be serious! For these last few months we've been working side by side with the members of Princess Serenity's royal guard, and now you're suddenly saying that they're our enemies?"

"I'm simply saying that we've perhaps been a little too trusting of them. I will admit that I've found some of Sailor Mercury's recent actions to be a bit suspicious."

"In what way?" Kunzite asked.

"Well for instance… one time I came back to my office to find Mercury looking through my private files. As you know, my files contain details for key strategic instillations all over the kingdom. Additionally, I looked into Mercury's more recent examinations on our kingdom's central library. She was looking into all the material we had on human anatomy. That's just the type of information the Moon Kingdom might need for a biological weapon that turns humans into monsters."

"But you have no proof that's why Mercury was looking into that information?"

Zoisite shook his head. "I don't, but I do believe that it's reason enough to at least be suspicious of the Moon Kingdom. Plus, you have to admit that Princess Beryl makes some compelling arguments."

"I don't believe this!" Nephrite protested. "Zoisite, I don't know what kind of experiences you've had working with Mercury, but Sailor Jupiter and I have fought alongside one another against those things that our people have been turning into, and she's been even more appalled that we've had to kill innocent civilians than I have been! Kunzite, you've had the same experiences with Sailor Venus, have you not?"

Kunzite tented his hands on his desk and nodded. "I have. And I do find it very difficult to believe that she and her people could be behind whatever's creating these monsters. I also have difficulty believing these claims of Princess Beryl that the Moon Kingdom has been spying on us, or even that they think they're superior to us."

"I don't," Jadeite interjected. "From the way that Sailor Mars has tended to act around me, she definitely thinks superior. More than once she's called me a savage barbarian."

"Maybe you just have a talent for getting on her bad side," Nephrite argued. "That mouth of yours has gotten you into trouble with the ladies more than once."

"Kunzite, you must admit that recent negotiations with the Moon Kingdom have been a little strained as of late," Zoisite interjected as he rose from his chair. "Plus you're all overlooking one simple fact. Technologically, the Moon Kingdom is far superior than we are. It's unfortunately not uncommon for a people to think of those not as advanced as they are as inferior. The rulers of the Moon Kingdom seem to view themselves as the divinely appointed protectors of our world, and thus likely think we're incapable of taking care of ourselves."

"That's why they probably spy on us and think they can tell our rulers what we can and can't do," Jadeite added. "Just as Princess Beryl says."

Kunzite let out a heavy sigh. "What do you think we should do?"

"For now, I say we cut ties with the Moon Kingdom," Zoisite recommended. "At least until we can truly determine whether or not they're our enemy."

"I agree with Zoicite. Until we can figure out we can't trust them, we shouldn't let them near us," Jadeite declared.

"You two do realize what that would mean though. It would mean that our prince would have to end his little fling with Princess Serenity," Nephrite pointed out.

"That relationship had been doomed from the start," Zoisite pointed out. "Even if none of this had happened, a marriage between our Prince and Princess Serenity would never have been allowed."

At last, Kunzite reached a decision and rose from his chair. "Until we truly determine whether or not the Moon Kingdom is actually an enemy, we should cut all ties with them. Come, let's go tell the Prince."

With that, the four of them left Kunzite's office. A few minutes later they found Endymion in the palace garden. The prince noticed the serious expression on each of their faces as they approached.

"Kunzite, everyone, what's wrong?" Endymion asked.

"My prince… I'm afraid we can no longer permit you to see Princess Serenity," Kunzite spoke.

Endymion's expression became just as serious as that of his guards, but the fire of anger burned in his eyes. "And just what is the meaning behind this decision."

"Prince, the fact is the Moon Kingdom now seems to be an enemy," Zoisite explained as he stepped forward. "If that is truly the case, then it would clearly be inappropriate for you and Princess Serenity to keep seeing each other."

"And just what evidence do you have that the Moon Kingdom is our enemy?"

"Sire, it's totally obvious that the Moon Kingdom see us as lower than dogs!" Jadeite cut in. "We're tired of them ordering us around and spying on us!"

"And since when have you been ordered around and spied upon?" Endymion asked forcefully, causing all the Shitennou to flinch. "Just whose words are you speaking? Yours, or that repugnant creature's?"

None of them could bring themselves to respond. It was clear that Endymion wasn't going to listen anything based on Beryl's accusations about the Moon Kingdom, and they all felt a bit foolish for even brining it up.

Endymion turned away from the four and composed himself. "I will not be swayed by Beryl's fear-mongering, and I'm greatly disappointed that the four of you were. I will keep seeing Serenity despite anyone's objectives. If the four of you still have a problem with that, then you're all free to resign as my protectors."

With that, Endymion marched away back into the palace. The four guards remained rooted where they were, feeling rather ashamed of themselves.

"Well that went beautifully," Nephrite sarcastically declared. "I'm so glad I went along with all of you on this."

"Clearly we underestimated how badly the Prince would react to our decision," Zoisite observed.

Kunzite sighed and nodded. "I myself once said that it would be impossible for us to keep the Prince from seeing Princess Serenity."

"So what do we do now?" Jadeite asked.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some time alone to think," Kunzite decided as he began to walk away. "I'm going to my homeland and shall be back by morning. Keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

The sun had almost entirely set as Kunzite set out on his horse. In the hours it took him to traverse the sea of desert sand between the palace and his homeland, his thoughts were swirling with the question of whether or not the Moon Kingdom was to be trusted. He thought repeatedly of what was said during the meeting with his fellow Shitennou and his confrontation with Endymion. Kunzite still believed that Zoisite had made some very good points during the meeting, points that simply couldn't be dismissed. Yet Endymion in his own way had made a very compelling point too, that their suspicions about the Moon were based on the fear mongering of Princess Beryl.

Kunzite went over the arguments again and again in his head as he rode, and each time he did he kept going back to one thing, his relationship with Sailor Venus. The two of them had fought together side-by-side so much that Kunzite felt as though he truly knew the captain of Princess Serenity's guard, and because of this Kunzite felt sure that neither she nor anyone from her kingdom could be up to anything that would hurt his people. Plus the fact was that even though she had rejected him, he still loved her. Yet at the same time, there was still some doubt in his mind based on what Zoisite had said during the meeting. Kunzite wished very much that Venus would finally return so she could help him make sense of all this madness.

It was the dead of night as Kunzite finally came in sight of his homeland, and what he saw pulling him from his internal debate completely. The obsidian city of his people was completely ablaze. The flames consuming the place were so bright that they turned it into a demonic beacon that lit the night sky. Kunzite drove his horse to go at top speed towards the burning city. At that moment all he could do was think about what might've happened to his parents and the rest of his people.

In another few minutes Kunzite had come to the city's main gate to see a man run out screaming with his arms and back on fire. A second later a green-skinned monster leapt from the gate and tackled the man to the ground, taking a large bite out of his neck. Kunzite knew that it was too late to save the man, but hopefully not too late to save everyone else, or at least those he cared about most. Kunzite rode on left the monster to its horrific meal. Inside the walls of the city Kunzite found nothing but sheer pandemonium, with people fleeing in terror either because of the flames or because another monster was trying to chase them down.

Kunzite rode his steed straight for his family's palace. If he was going to try and save his homeland, the best place to do it was from there. As Kunzite pressed on, he saw more people fleeing in terror, and soldiers trying to fight off the monsters only to be cut down. Every now and then one of the horrid beasts would try and come at him, forcing him to cut and beat them off with the blade of his sword. It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time Kunzite reached the front gate of the palace.

After finding a seemingly safe place to park his horse, Kunzite rushed into the building and headed straight for the throne room. Within a few minutes he made it to the room only to find it a shambles. Tapestries had been torn from the walls and the bodies of dead soldiers were on the ground, blood pooling around them from the massive bite wounds on their neck. One of the bodies was of a young guard Kunzite had known ever since he had first started training as a soldier, and he discovered with a mixture of horror and disgust that half of the man's face had been ripped off. It was an ugly scene, and what troubled Kunzite most was that there was no sign anywhere of his parents.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?" an all too familiar voice spoke. Kunzite looked up to see the back of an instantly recognizable blond with a red bow in her hair facing one of the room's large windows, her hands folded behind her back. "Your city is even more beautiful now that it's on fire."

"Venus… is that you?" Kunzite asked with a look of disbelief.

Venus turned her head back to look at Kunzite. Her eyes were totally cold and her lips were turned in a cruel smile. Kunzite found it impossible to believe that this was the same woman he had been fighting alongside for so long now.

"What… what are you doing here?" Kunzite asked as he managed to compose himself a bit.

"What does it look like?" Venus responded as she turned all the way around to face him. "I'm here to oversee the extermination of this little colony of yours."

"Then… then it's true? All this time… your people have been behind these monster incidents?"

"You Earthlings have started to become more trouble than you're worth. Therefore my superiors have decided that your numbers need to be reduced a bit to keep you all from getting too out of hand."

Kunzite raised his sword against her. "I will not let you get away with this!"

Venus chuckled. "As if you could do anything to stop me."

With a snap of the blonde's fingers, two monsters suddenly burst into the room from another door. They both charged at Kunzite with their fangs bared. Kunzite slashed the first one deeply across the chest, killing it. He then quickly stabbed the other beast straight through the heart. Both of the creatures fell to the ground dead and reverted back to their original human forms, and the sight filled Kunzite with horror. The bodies of the people that had once been the monsters that had attacked him were the bodies of his parents.

"Oh dear. Guess I should said something about who my two servants were before you killed them," Venus spoke, still with a cruel smile on her face. "Ah well. Two dead Earthlings are far better than one."

Venus began to let out a cold cruel laugh, the sound of which filled Kunzite with utter rage. It had all become crystal clear to him now. The Sailor Venus he knew was nothing more than a façade. This was the blonde's true face. In his anger, Kunzite cried out and charged towards Venus with his sword aimed right at her heart. Venus merely pointed a finger at him and fired a beam of red light that hit him in the center of the chest. The attack knocked Kunzite onto his back and had burned a hole through his shirt.

Kunzite felt certain that the attack had not damaged any organs, but he was still in a great deal of pain. It was so bad that he was unable to get back up.

"I think I'll spare your life, since I like seeing you so defeated like this," Venus decided as she began to turn back towards the window. "I must be going. There are still so many Earthlings to exterminate and so little time to get rid of them."

With that, Venus jumped into the air through the window and vanished with a flash of crimson light. Kunzite reached for her as vanished, but of course he had been unable to stop her. A split second after Venus disappeared, he blacked out.

Kunzite awoke some time later to find the throne room was still a shambles. The pain from the wound Venus had inflicted on him had lessened quite a bit. As Kunzite sat up, he suddenly recalled everything from his earlier confrontation with Venus, including how she had craftily maneuvered him into killing his own parents. Kunzite looked around and found the bodies of his slain mother and father still on the floor. He managed to get to his feet and staggered over to where his mother lay. Then getting back down on both knees, Kunzite took his mother's hand as tears started to stream down his cheeks.

"General Kunzite," a soft female voice spoke.

Kunzite looked up, and standing over him and his mother's body was a woman with long wavy red hair and red eyes, wearing a black cloak and a long black dress. Her skin was incredibly pale and her ears seemed to have a slight point to them. Kunzite recognized who the woman was in an instant.

"Princess Beryl," Kunzite spoke. "What're you doing here?"

"I heard about the attack on your homeland hours ago and came personally with a small army of troops to assist," Beryl explained. "It seems we have come far too late though."

"Is anyone in this city… left alive?"

Beryl sadly shook her head. "I'm deeply sorry. By the time my men and I arrived, everyone we found was dead. They're still busy trying to put out the fires and slay any monsters that still might be lurking around. General, might you be able to tell us what happened here?"

"It was Sailor Venus! She had come to oversee the destruction of the city. You were right about the Moon Kingdom, Princess. These monsters we've been fighting are their doing. Venus claimed that our people had become more trouble than we're worth. I never imagined I could be so utterly wrong about anyone."

Beryl knelt down and put a hand on Kunzite's shoulder. "I am deeply sorry for your loss, brave general. But if you join with me, together we can make the Moon Kingdom pay for everything they've done this night."

Kunzite chuckled darkly. "As if I could be of any help to you in such a fight. The events of this night showed me that I'm completely powerless against Sailor Venus and her kind."

"That can easily be changed," Beryl told him as she reached into a pocket on the inside of her cloak. Inside the pocket was a test tube of some sort of black liquid, which she presented to Kunzite. "This potion I devised will give you incredible power, enough power to crush Sailor Venus into dust under your heel. Drink it, and you shall have a power that you've never known."

After a few moments of hesitation, Kunzite took the vial of black liquid from her and uncorked it. He drank the foul-tasting liquid down in one gulp, and a split second later his body was wracked by incredible pain. The wound he had sustained to his chest has healed in an instant, but at the same time he suddenly felt completely wrong, like he was no longer human anymore. Suddenly his earlier confrontation with Venus replayed before his eyes, but with Beryl in the blonde's place. It was in that moment that Kunzite realized what had really happened, Beryl had taken Venus's form, and it had been Beryl who had unleashed the monsters on his homeland.

Kunzite rose back to his feet and glared at Beryl. "You witch! You deceived me! You tricked me into killing my own parents and into thinking that a woman I deeply trusted was an enemy!"

"That I did," Beryl admitted with a triumphant grin. "But it's far too late for you to do anything about it now. From the moment you drank that potion you became mine. Everything that you are, your body, your heart and your will, all belong to me."

Beryl snapped her fingers and suddenly an intense pain shot throughout Kunzite's whole body. In less than a second he had totally forgotten about everything he had discovered at Beryl.

"You are now a general of my Dark Kingdom!" Beryl declared as the pain in Kunzite's body started to subside. "And my first command to you is that you will help me lead an assault against the Moon Kingdom!"

The pain that had overtaken Kunzite totally subsided and he fell into what was almost a trance. "As you command, Queen Beryl. I am your devoted servant."

A short time later the other three members of the Shitennou had also fallen under Beryl's control, and soon after the five led a massive army to the Moon where they began a siege of the kingdom. Some time shortly before this attack Venus and her fellow guardians had taken both Serenity and Endymion back to the Moon Kingdom's palace in an attempt to keep them both safe. Venus had decided to protect Endymion not just for Serenity's sake, but also for the hope that he might somehow be able to bring sanity back to his people and end Beryl's reign of terror.

Everything that happened when the attack on the kingdom began all seemed to happen in a matter of seconds. Over the course of the fight, Kunzite and Venus had ended up fighting with one another on the palace grounds. From where they were, they could see what was happening on the palace steps.

As Kunzite charged at Venus with his sword raised, Venus fired a Crescent Beam attack that managed to force him back. "Why are you doing this, Kunzite? I thought you were a good man! How could you be taking part in this insanity against my people?"

"You dare ask my motives after the crimes your people have committed? You turned my kinsmen into monsters in order to try and control our population! Because of you, I was forced to slay my own parents! And now you've captured our prince and let that harpy you call a princess cast a spell upon his mind! I cannot allow this to continue, which is why I will take back our prince and cut out your princess's heart!"

"Over my dead body!" Venus declared as she fired another Crescent Beam at him.

Kunzite dodged the attack and charged at Venus with his sword. Venus had produced a sword of her own and countered his attack. The two of them began to trade blows much more fierce than their original sparring match months ago. Despite the new strength granted to him by Beryl, Kunzite found that he was still at a disadvantage against the blonde. Eventually Venus had backed Kunzite against the wall surrounding the palace, but at the last second hesitated from delivering the finishing blow.

Kunzite took the opening and impaled Venus through the stomach. Shocked at her wound, Venus staggered back and fell to one knee. Just as Kunzite was about to deliver a finishing blow of his own and take off Venus's head, a scream was heard from the palace steps that caused them both to look. They Endymion falling to the ground having taken a fatal wound from Beryl. He had apparently taken the attack while trying to shield Serenity from harm.

Very soon after, Serenity began to weep over Endymion's fallen body. In that moment, Kunzite realized what had happened, and the shock of losing his prince caused him to realize that they had all made a horrible mistake. He had recalled yet again that it had been Beryl who had attacked his homeland, not Venus. Before Kunzite could do anything with this revelation, he suddenly felt something sharp pierce into his chest. He looked and saw that Venus had not only gotten back to her feet but had managed to stab him in the heart.

Venus looked at Kunzite with an expression of utter hate. "You… can go to hell!"

As Venus pulled out her sword, Kunzite fell back against the wall and began to slide to the ground. Before he knew it, his entire world had gone black.

The replay of memories ended and Kunzite found himself back in the studio field, fighting Ace. The whole experience had shaken Kunzite to his core. It seemed that before he still had some memories of his past life that had remained dormant until Ace had stirred them. He had always recalled Endymion's end during that time with great clarity, but had totally forgotten about his battle to the death with Venus. It was that look Venus had given him at the very end that disturbed him the most, a look that made him think that he didn't deserve to live.

Ace let out a triumphant laugh. "You still think you're worthy of protecting Minako after what you did to her? I was there on the scene at that time, you know. I saw with my own eyes the way you tried to kill the woman you claim to love, and how she stabbed you right back in the heart."

"But that wasn't… I didn't mean… I wasn't myself back then!" Kunzite argued. "Beryl had tricked me!"

"And you think that makes it okay? And what about in this life when you and your comrades tried with all your might to kill Minako and her friends? Face it general, you aren't even worthy to even breath the same air as Minako, let alone protect her."

"Damn you!" Kunzite shouted as he charged at Ace with his sword raised.

Ace merely stood where he was, not bothering to raise his own sword to defend himself. As soon as Kunzite came in range, he swung his sword down to take off Ace's head.

"You… can go to hell," Ace calmly spoke as the edge of the blade came close to his neck.

Ace's words cause Kunzite to stop mid-swing, with his blade only inches from Ace's skin. The phrase caused him to flash back to the very last moment of his past life when Venus stabbed him in the heart. Rather than Ace, Kunzite saw Venus's blue hate-filled eyes burning a hole into his very soul.

A smirk of triumph formed on Ace's face. With his opponent frozen, the former idol stabbed Kunzite through the chest. As Ace withdrew his sword, Kunzite's dropped his own weapon and his arms slumped to the sides of his body. The silver-haired warrior fell to the ground on his back as the life drained out of him.

"Our duel is finished," Ace declared as his sword changed back into a playing card with a puff of white spoke. "Therefore, I'll be taking the princess to her final destiny as the bride of the King."

All Kunzite could so ware stare up at the dreary grey sky above him. He heard a name calling out to him, but it was so faint that it felt miles away. He hoped that it was Minako calling out to him, but Kunzite realized that was probably very unlikely, given everything he'd done to her in this life and the previous one. Very quickly the calling of his name faded to nothing, and Kunzite's world went totally black. It seemed that once again he had reached his end.

Author's Note: I hoped everyone enjoyed this latest installment. It ended up being kind of a hard chapter to write because of the flashback scenes. The Shitennou's confrontation with Endymion, by the way was adapted from another brief scene from the original Sailor Moon manga. The opening for the final flashback scene probably could've been done better, but overall I'm pleased with how the whole chapter turned out, especially the very last scene at the end.

On that note, I realize I've left things at a pretty big cliffhanger here, so I'll try to update as soon as I can. Until then though, please review and let me know what you think.